President Biden convinced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the 11th hour to nix a planned strike against Hezbollah days after the Oct. 7 massacre over fears that it would trigger a region-wide war, a new report says.
Israel allegedly had warplanes waiting for orders to target the Lebanese terror group by striking its forces along the Lebanon border Oct. 11 when Biden spoke with Netanyahu about the consequences of such a preemptive attack, given American intelligence finding no evidence of an impending Hezbollah invasion, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
Israeli officials were said to be on edge after Hamas’ slaughter of more than 1,200 people in Israel on Oct 7., with the nation’s own intelligence network suggesting a repeat of the attack was imminent from the Palestinian terrorists’ allies in Lebanon.
But Biden allegedly talked Netanyahu and his war cabinet into taking a more reserved approach rather than risking an all-out war in both Gaza and Lebanon, sources told the Journal.
The US was clued into Israel’s alleged plan against Hezbollah after the Jewish state looked to American officials for support to stop the supposed Hezbollah invasion.
Biden’s call with Israeli officials over the issue lasted 45 minutes, when he attempted to warn them of the consequences of a pre-emptive strike based on conflicting reports. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had allegedly pushed for a go-ahead on the attack, as “a broader war was inevitable,” sources claimed.
With emergency sirens ringing in Israel and the Israel Defense Forces ordered to prepare for an attack on Lebanon, it took about six hours for Netanyahu and his war cabinet to agree to call off the strike, according to the journal.
But Netanyahu on Sunday denied the claims that Biden talked him out of attacking Hezbollah, saying Israel makes its own decisions and is not influenced by the advice of foreign nations.
“I have seen erroneous reports to the effect that the US prevented, and is preventing, us from operational actions in the region. This is incorrect. Israel is a sovereign state,” Netanyahu said. “Our decisions in the war are based on our operational considerations.
“They are not dictated by external pressure. The decision on how to use our forces is an independent decision of the Israel Defense Forces and nobody else,” he added.
The prime minister’s office said in a statement that Israel’s plan has always been to achieve victory against Hamas in the south while working on a “fierce deterrence in the north” against Hezbollah.
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment Sunday.
Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, the US has been working to prevent the same outcome between the Jewish state and its northern neighbor, even as the IDF and Hezbollah exchange rocket fire nearly every day.
The Iran-backed terror group, which operates in Lebanon, has vowed to continue its strikes against Israel over the IDF’s bombardments and ground invasion of Gaza.
On Saturday, Israel touted that it struck several targets linked to Hezbollah along the Lebanon border, a day after the terrorist group killed an IDF soldier in the heated conflicts.
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