Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the military strikes against Iran, telling Channel 7 that Israel acted preemptively to prevent Tehran from producing several nuclear bombs he said were intended to destroy Israel, and argued that waiting would have given Iran a chance to move closer to acquiring nuclear capability. He said he would brief US President Donald Trump on what Israel intends to do but would not ask him for a green light to strike Iran, adding that he had issued a directive that the only acceptable solution is toppling the regime in Iran and that Israel had crushed its opponents in Gaza, Lebanon and Tehran and completed 90 percent of the mission. In this context, Israel is simulating a wide aerial attack on Iran involving dozens of warplanes to test Iranian air-defense capabilities and identify possible flight corridors, amid expectations of US military reinforcements in the region, while a military analysis says the long distance, aerial refueling and intelligence and logistical support are decisive factors in any long-range Israeli attack.
On the other hand, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel does not intend to launch an attack on Iran, but he does not rule out that Tehran will try to target Israel or disrupt the elections due in the coming days, while i24 reported Netanyahu as saying Israel would respond "with unusual force" if Iran disrupts the elections. A Reuters analysis sees the Israeli elections scheduled for next Tuesday as unlikely to bring any notable change in how Israel deals with its adversaries or its position on the Palestinian issue, with confronting Iran remaining a security priority and Netanyahu possibly heading toward greater escalation if he retains power with far-right support.
Five days before the 26th Knesset elections, a Channel 12 poll showed Likud under Netanyahu falling to 19 seats, its lowest level in the current campaign, while Naftali Bennett's Together party rose to 15 seats and Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar held the lead with 23 seats; the bloc opposing Netanyahu reached 69 seats against 51 for Netanyahu's bloc, with some small parties at risk of falling below the threshold. Bennett settled his position by rejecting the establishment of a Palestinian state before the elections, the Israeli president warned against political violence and stressed that elections are not a civil war, a headline indicated that Likud lost a sensitive electoral tool due to a surprise judicial decision before the polls, and the Hebrew Yanir Kozin page warned that an Arabic-language sign on Begin Road in Jerusalem in the colors of the Yashar campaign, listing Eisenkot, Golan, Liberman, Bennett, al-Tibi and Mansour Abbas, is in fact an AI-designed Likud sign.
In other matters, Yedioth Ahronoth quoted Ben Gvir as saying, in comment on Israel's failure on October 7, that Netanyahu is not innocent of blame but that there are those more blameworthy than him, while a headline said an Israeli official had stated the deal could have been closed earlier and escalated against Netanyahu's office. Political analyst Sarkis Naoum told "Spot Shot" that Israel is ready to expand the security belt as far as Nabatieh, citing information that a large Israeli military operation will begin after the Israeli elections. Economically, Israel Aerospace Industries chief Boaz Levy said he is 100 percent confident that an offering of about 50 percent of the company's shares on the stock exchange will happen in the coming year while control remains with the state, citing regulatory and security obstacles and noting the company develops AI tools internally because of security restrictions.