Benjamin Netanyahu Wanted to Postpone Elections for a War In Gaza

• Benjamin Netanyahu Wanted to Postpone Elections for a War In Gaza
  by ANNA AHRONHEIM, https://www.jpost.com/
  Two days earlier rocket fire interrupted his campaign speech in Ashdod
  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu almost ordered the IDF to go to war in the Gaza Strip, which would have postponed the general elections slated for Tuesday, Haaretz reported on Monday.
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  The newspaper reported that National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat had met with Central Elections Committee head Hana Melcer at the urging of Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit about a possible military operation.
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  According to the report, the action was aborted last Tuesday “at the last moment” by Mandelblit, who said that the plan required the approval of the security cabinet.
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  Following the publication of the report on Monday, Blue and White co-leader and former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz wrote on Twitter that: “Netanyahu did away with ambiguity for political ends. Now he’s lost it and wants to drag us into war to postpone the elections. This is a scenario that belongs [in the TV show] House of Cards, not in the State of Israel.”
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  Democratic Union candidate and former deputy chief of staff Yair Golan said Netanyahu did not decide based on security considerations but only on improving his position before the election.
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  “What led Netanyahu to consider a large-scale military operation, and what was the balance for a measured response? Was there a pure security judgment here, a personal insult, or a desire to improve positions before elections?” he tweeted.”We will probably never know, but to rely on the cynical way in which Netanyahu uses security issues to advance his personal survival campaign, an unbiased judgment based on security was not there.”
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