‘Baseless and false’: Israel def min rejects Netanyahu-army chief rift reports

Israeli defence minister Israel Katz on Monday denied reports of a major confrontation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and military chief lieutenant general Eyal Zamir over possible military action against Iran, saying Israel had no plans to launch an attack before the country’s election.“The reports of disagreements between the political leadership and the IDF on Iran are completely baseless and false,” Katz said in a statement reported by the Times of Israel.Katz said Israel had no intention of initiating an attack on Iran before the election but warned that any Iranian attack would prompt a forceful response.“I state unequivocally that Israel had no intention of initiating an attack on Iran before the elections in Israel, while making clear that if Iran attacks Israel, we will respond with great force,” Katz said, adding that “all reports on this matter are completely false”.The denial followed reports by Channel 12 on Saturday that Netanyahu and Zamir had clashed over an instruction from the prime minister for unspecified military action. Defence officials reportedly believed the move could trigger a rapid confrontation with Iran shortly before the election.State-owned Army Radio published similar details on Sunday, citing two senior security officials, the Times of Israel reported.

Netanyahu also rejected the reports during an interview with Channel 14, calling them “nonsense” and saying “there was no fight” with Zamir. Earlier in the interview, he said he had recently “instructed the IDF and Mossad to topple the [Iranian] regime”, although it was unclear whether the remark was connected to the reported instruction.The reports came as US President Donald Trump renewed his endorsement of Netanyahu on Sunday, urging Israelis to vote for the prime minister in Tuesday’s election.In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised their relationship and called Netanyahu an “outstanding Warrior Prime Minister”. He also urged voters to back Netanyahu, writing: “Vote for Bibi Netanyahu for Prime Minister, we have to finish the job that we started.”Netanyahu also posted an AI-generated image depicting a nuclear explosion in Tel Aviv on Sunday. Two days before the election, he warned that voting for anyone other than him could expose Israelis to the danger of a “second Holocaust”.