According to News12 journalist Amit Segal, on October 11, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was pushing for a pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah across the Lebanese border, based on intelligence that suggested Hezbollah was about to launch a similar attack to Hamas’s October 7 massacre, against Israel’s northern border settlements.
According to Segal, Prime Minister Netanyahu sent his trusted representative, Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri, to urge National Unity Party Chairman Benny Gantz and his party member, also a former IDF chief of staff, Gadi Eisenkot, to sign a coalition pact immediately because it was “pikuach nefesh” – “saving a life.” But only when Gantz and Eisenkot entered the room did they realize that Deri was not talking about the southern front but the north.
Gallant had the support of two ministers who normally did not get along with him: Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. Segal reports that the cabinet ministers were made to wait in the hallway, and the cabinet meeting’s door remained shut until Gantz and Eisenkot had signed on. All that time, according to Segal, the IAF warplanes were on extreme alert, already in the air, waiting for the order to attack south Lebanon.
It didn’t help that the north of Israel was being saturated with bombing alerts, which later were discovered to have been generated by flocks of birds.
On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal reported that on October 11, President Joe Biden was urging Netanyahu to halt the pre-emptive strike against Hezbollah, and warned the PM that the attack could start a regional war.
The US suggested Israel’s intelligence about a Hezbollah attack was unreliable. In the end, the Israeli attack was canceled, and the White House decided to send an armada of aircraft carriers and destroyers to Israel’s shores to guard against a future flareup.
The initial alert regarding Israel’s preemptive strike plans reached the United States on the morning of October 11, at approximately 6:30 AM. in Washington. Israeli officials urgently informed the White House about their concerns regarding a potential Hezbollah attack. Recognizing the need for collaborative action, Israel sought assistance from the United States, acknowledging that tackling the situation alone was not feasible, according to US officials.
Later that morning, President Biden’s key intelligence, military, and national-security advisers, including CIA Director William Burns, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs CQ Brown, gathered for a meeting chaired by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. The focus was on Israel’s proposed plans, and the assessment revealed a discrepancy between US intelligence and Israel’s claims.
Upon being briefed, Biden engaged in a call with Netanyahu and his war cabinet, urging Israel to de-escalate. Despite Netanyahu’s skepticism, Defense Minister Gallant continued to argue that a broader war was inevitable and pushed for the pre-emptive strike.
Following a 45-minute discussion, Netanyahu concluded the call, stating he would consult with his cabinet on the matter, at which point he sent Deri to bring in Gantz and Eisenkot.
Since then, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in a war of attrition that resulted in eight IDF soldiers and four civilians being killed, and 24 civilians, 29 soldiers, and four foreign workers injured. On the enemy’s side, 121 Hezbollah, seven Hamas, and six Islamic Jihad terrorists have been killed, as well as 26 Syrian soldiers.
Netanyahu preferred to conduct one major campaign at a time, but as things stand now, the all-out war in the north has only been postponed.
