Naftali Bennett's Revelations: I Ordered 'Attacks on Iran' Twice

Naftali Bennett, former Prime Minister of Israel, revealed in an article published in the Wall Street Journal that during his tenure, he ordered attacks on Iran twice. In the article published on Thursday, January 7, he argued that Israel and the United States should overthrow the Islamic Republic, which he described as 'a source of wars, terrorism, and endless suffering around the world.' According to him, the US and Israel must confront the Islamic Republic directly and make the Ayatollahs pay for sowing chaos through proxy groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. He stated that the dictators of the Islamic Republic send others to die for them, but when they are struck at home, they suddenly become cowardly. Bennett disclosed that the first Israeli attack on Iran under his command occurred in February 2022, when he authorized an attack on a drone base inside Iran in response to two failed drone attacks by the Islamic Republic against Israel. In the second instance, in March 2022, following an attempt by the Islamic Republic to kill Israeli tourists in Turkey, he ordered his security forces to assassinate a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Although Bennett did not name the commander, it is likely he was referring to Hassan Sayad Khodai, who was assassinated on May 23, 2022, in Tehran. Israel has been responsible for several attacks against the Islamic Republic in recent years, particularly targeting its nuclear facilities and assassinating its figures, but has rarely acknowledged its role in these actions. In his article, Bennett emphasized that instead of fighting the Islamic Republic's proxy groups throughout the Middle East, Israel and the US should focus directly on overthrowing the Islamic Republic. He pointed out that the Islamic Republic is at the center of most problems in the Middle East and global terrorist actions. He suggested that strengthening opposition forces within Iran, ensuring access to the internet for protesting Iranians, bolstering enemies of the Islamic Republic, and increasing sanctions and economic pressures are other measures to weaken and overthrow the regime. Following the publication of Bennett's article, several Israeli officials criticized him for allegedly revealing classified information and potentially jeopardizing national security. Yuli Edelstein, a senior Likud lawmaker and chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, posted a critical message on social media, stating, 'There are those who mobilize for the government and those who mobilize the government for themselves.' In response, Bennett stated that the US and Israel must mobilize to overthrow the Islamic Republic as a fundamental goal. He argued that the issue with the Islamic Republic is not the revelation of actions that the public already knows about, but the previous governments' failure to make its leaders pay for their policies. Iranian officials have attributed the killing of Reza Mousavi, a senior member of the IRGC and responsible for sending weapons to pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon, to Israel and threatened retaliatory action. On Tuesday, Kamal Panahsi, a Persian-speaking spokesman for the Israeli army, while refusing to confirm or deny Israel's involvement in the killing of Reza Mousavi in Syria, stated that any attack on Israeli borders would be met with a decisive response from the Israeli army.