The bombshell revelations were made in a tape recording obtained by Channel 2.

JPOST

Ehud Barak, the former defense minister, said that a plan to launch an attack against Iran was sabotaged by the hesitancy of fellow cabinet ministers Yuval Steinitz and the man who would replace him at the Kirya Defense Ministry compound, Moshe Ya’alon.

The bombshell revelations were made in a tape recording obtained by Channel 2. The clip was aired on its flagship Friday news magazine.

Barak said that the attack plans against Iran were drawn up and approved by him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sometime between 2009 and 2010.

According to Barak, when the plan went before the so-called “forum of eight” ministers, it was Ya’alon and Steinitz – two of the most vocal anti-Iran hawks in the current administration – who “melted.”

Once it became apparent that Ya’alon and Steinitz were not completely on board with the attack plan, Netanyahu and Barak lost their majority in the “forum of eight,” forcing them to shelve the initiative, the former defense minister is heard saying.

According to Channel 2, Barak tried to prevent the television network from airing the audio, claiming that they violate military censorship rules. However the military censor approved of the contents of the tape, Channel 2 said.

Ya’alon and Steinitz both refused to comment on Barak’s claims. Both men released a statement to Channel 2 expressing bewilderment as to how the contents of sensitive cabinet discussions are permitted by the military censor to be aired in such a public forum.

The Barak tapes were made available to Channel 2 following the completion of a new Hebrew-language biography about the former defense minister titled Milhamot hayay (“my life’s wars”), written by authors Ilan Kfir and Danny Dor.

According to Barak, another critical factor that short-circuited an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was opposition from then-army chief Gabi Ashkenazi.

The IDF chief of staff refused Barak and Netanyahu’s pleas to officially declare that the military was “beyond the threshold of operational capacity.”

“You can’t go to the cabinet [and expect it to endorse an attack on Iran]” when the army chief refused to definitively state that the IDF was fully capable of executing an assault, Barak is heard saying.

Another obstacle standing in the way of Netanyahu and Barak was “the forum of eight.” According to Barak, he was assured by Netanyahu that Ya’alon and Steinitz were on board with the plan. Their support was critical since other more dovish members of the forum – Benny Begin, Dan Meridor, and Eli Yishai – were opposed to the plan, as were senior officials in the Israeli defense and intelligence communities.

Once the “forum of eight” convened to discuss the plan, Barak said that he “saw before my own eyes how Steinitz and Ya’alon were melting.”

“It was their questions, their facial expressions – and these are the men who are the most militant ministers when it comes to Iran,” Barak is heard saying.

After it became clear that Steinitz and Ya’alon were no longer in the “yes” camp, Netanyahu and Barak had lost their majority in the “forum of eight.”

“Without a majority in the ‘forum of eight,’ we didn’t have the legitimacy to bring the plan before the entire cabinet,” Barak said.

Barak said that Israel had another opportunity to launch an attack against Iran – this time in 2012, as has been reported in foreign media outlets.

According to Barak, Israel was set to attack Iran – but there was a major problem. It had scheduled a major joint military drill with the United States, and the Israeli government did not want to embarrass Washington by launching an attack against Iran just as it was set to engage in military exercises since that would give the appearance that the Americans were involved.

Without offering an explanation, Barak had convinced then-defense secretary Leon Panetta to re-schedule the drill, except that the new date still did not allow ample time for Israel to stage the attack against Iran without implicating the Americans.

0 thoughts on “Ehud Barak: Steinitz, Ya'alon got cold feet just before Israel was about to attack Iran”
  1. It is amazing how the Western media does not react to such blatant war-mongering. Instead they accuse Iran of “trouble making” and sponsoring “terrorism”, i.e.helping groups who are merely resisting Zionist aggression against their respective countries.

  2. Info like this doesn’t usually slip out unintentionally . I wonder if there are other motives behind this leak.

  3. Jews have been nothing but soulless cowards from Day One. They like to concoct big-time war stories (cf. the fairytale histories of the Hebrew Bible) about how they are so “butch” and all-conquering, but they are so historically accustomed to working behind the scenes, and hiding their dirty claws from open view, that when they actually have to come out into the light and actually fight for themselves without the aid of their powerful military Gentile slaves, they very quickly lose their nerve and their bogus bravado. The IDF cannot even survive a sustained half hour gunfight with Hizb-allah, and they want to take on Iran’s massive army? I would “pay-per-view” $500 to watch that show! The smart people inside the Israeli military and intelligence apparatus, however, know for a fact that exactly One Half Hour after Israel attacks Iran, Israhell will 100% CEASE TO EXIST. It will find itself burned to the ground by the thousands and thousands of warheads launched upon it by Russia, China, Hizb-allah, and Iran. Now, although I would personally and absolutely love to see that happen (and it couldn’t happen to a more deserving evil nation), I would also hate to see such unnecessary destruction befall the beautiful country of Iran and its people. Ideally, all the countries of this earth should unite for our common survival and protection and just collectively and preemptively wipe the demonic pernicious enemy of Humanity called Israhell from the face of this beautiful planet.

  4. Was talking with a Persian friend. Two days before Bush took
    America into Iraq.
    I asked him, ” how long until we(America) goes into Iran?”
    We were laughing and talking as friends do until then.
    The smile immediately left the face of Hansen, my friend.
    He told me then, “If America goes to war with Iran, “Say
    goodbye to your country”.
    I have a copy of one of his book written in Farsi.
    His book on REAL Persian history he has since found out is being
    taught to Iran’s students in real time.
    It was a piece of pride for my friend.
    It seems that the Zionist mullah have written and defined our
    Western lessons and learnings.
    2+2=173
    Desert = Oasis
    War = Peace
    Ignorance = Strength
    Our own Destruction = Our own Salvation

  5. The last two paras are beat ups; there never was a good time to bomb Iran. That is, the Israelis could have calmly waited some weeks after the conclusion of the joint exercises.
    So, what are the last two paras about ??
    It’s the Jewish way of saying that goyisher Americans will come to our aid in the inevitable Iranian retaliation to our strike against them.
    Putting that aside, why did Ya’alon and Stenitz have a rethink about it ?
    Simple, nothing to do with getting cold feet. I have no doubt that both are brave men, but who know that bravery is not to be squandered on idiotic pursuits.
    War rhetoric uttered by brave men, but secretly in the hope that war does not come, is good politicking, if one has political ambitions.
    Ya’alon and Steinitz know that war with Iran WILL have unpredictable consequences globally, since America will automatically come to Israel’s defence, which certainly will result in Russian involvement on Iran’s side.
    Both men know that the Russians will play it very, very cool, to keep matters well offside of thermonuclear war.
    As a consequence, America would not have the staying power.
    Consider that fourteen years of war of attrition in the war on terruh, will have left America depleted in hardware and, especially, the will to fight yet another war, but this time against an enemy which has well and truly recovered since the war against Iraq ended in 1988.
    Stalemate.
    What will Israel have achieved then ?
    Ignominy.
    Ehud Barack had better think about that too, rather than insinuate that his ranking colleagues lack moral fibre – a euphemism for cowardice.
    I would like to conclude by saying that both Ya’alon and Stenitz are brave men, who know that at the end of the conflict with Iran, that Israel will be in a markedly reduced condition – at best, exposed to the slights and contempt of the whole of the rest of the world, for having recklessly jeopardised the very existence of life on the planet, just to achieve an imaginary oneness with their Stone Age God called YHWH.

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