Report: IDF chief pushes back on Netanyahu's order

You're watching France 24. We're going to start with an extraordinary confrontation at the top of Israel's leadership just two days before the election. Israeli media are reporting that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Military Chief Eyal Zamir are at odds over Iran. Zamir reportedly fears government instructions could trigger an immediate military escalation and has demanded written authorization. Netanyahu denies any confrontation. The report's all coming as Netanyahu warns that Iran could attack Israel to disrupt Tuesday's vote. This is what he said today. We have intelligence indicating that our enemies, Iran and its proxies, could threaten us with attacks to disrupt the elections. I warn them, do not test us or you will suffer a disproportionate and devastating response, far greater than anything you can imagine. Make no mistake. Let's get the latest reaction with Noga Tarnopolski. She's joining us from Jerusalem. Noga, thank you so, so much as always. This is now breaking out across the media channels in Israel. What exactly has gone on? What do we know? Well, this is an almost cinematic story, Jean-Emile. 36 hours before we'll have the first exit polls here in Israel. Our colleague from Channel 12 News here in Israel, Yaron Avraham, revealed just a little while ago that the chief of staff of the army is basically halting personally what appear to be Netanyahu's efforts to provoke or ignite some sort of military exercise operation regarding Iran. I have to tell you, this astonishing news was published with the permission of the Israeli army military censor. So this is, you know, as official as it can get, but it's limited in scope. I haven't seen the denial from the Prime Minister that you mentioned, but since the initial story came out, which described Chief of Staff Zamir and Prime Minister Netanyahu in a heated confrontation when meeting at a military base, also in cabinet, with the Chief of Staff, who is obliged under Israeli law to reject any patently illegal orders, incidentally, with the chief of staff demanding, as you said, written clarifications and legal advice in the face of what appeared to be, this is now my words, appeared to be some sort of really extreme gobsmacking instructions he received from the executive. Since the original story came out, you know, reporters as distinguished as Haaretz's senior military analyst, Amos Harel, have confirmed this, and we're simply waiting on more news. this does come on the tails of other reports, also not denied, in recent days that the Israeli military launched attack formations of Israeli Air Force fighter jets all the way to the Iranian border and then brought them back. And that there were concerns by the American observers that Israel may have been trying to provoke some kind of Iranian miscalculation. So all of this is very hot just off the press and still unfolding. Noga, I wonder in your analysis, if you can tell us, is this a sign that Israel's army chief is deciding which horse to back in the elections? I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say that at all. And I really think that General Zamir is in a very unenviable situation. He's almost mute in public. Incidentally, he's not someone who's become well known in the Israeli space. We do know of tensions with the army, between the government and the army, principally because the prime minister has accused the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, of treason, nothing less than that, regarding October 7th. And of course, the military echelon are not allowed to respond. So we have known of tensions, tensions also regarding future plans for Gaza, where as far as I know, the military supports Donald Trump's Board of Peace plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, which the Israeli government is attempting to thwart. So we have heard of tensions. We've heard of misaccords in this relationship. But this new revelation is simply, as far as I understand it, without precedent in the history of Israel, that the chief of staff of the army mid-war or at any time would receive what appear to be such irregular orders from the prime minister from the government that he is requesting legal clarifications and basically halting whatever operation this is with his own body for now it is honestly quite astonishing just the way that you're fleshing this all out for us in real time and if i can just to remind our viewers we are a couple of hours away from those first exit polls as you say Gadi Eisenkot's been holding another rally in Tel Aviv today he's just got a message for us if we can just hear what he's had to say just to try and rally even further support here's Gadi Eisenkot tonight i look at all of you here and see thousands of patriots who care deeply about this country who dream of a better Israel and who are determined to make it a reality Thanks to you, we will win and bring major change to Israel. Noga, when we just look at the polls as they stand, it seems like neck and neck, but no one's coming out really on top. And given that latest news with Netanyahu talking about an Iran intervention, talking about all of the problems that could happen. I wonder if when he hears Eisenkot speaking like this, he feels like this is the way to garner those votes. This is the way he's going to get everyone on side to say, if you go for Eisenkot, this could happen to Israel. Right. Well, I mean, far be it for me to guess what goes on in the prime minister's mind. But he has been saying these things explicitly. The prime minister has made an astonishing series of, I would have to tell you, increasingly unhinged accusations, accusing Gadi Eisenkot of wanting to be the founder of the state of Palestine. Eisenkot, incidentally, a former chief of staff of the military himself, a father who lost his son and two nephews during this war, he's been accused of everything by the prime minister, who today posted an extremely strange AI image of an atomic bomb, exactly what we're seeing now exploding over Tel Aviv, and basically warned Israelis of incineration and a second Holocaust if they vote for his rival. It's not my impression that all of this is being taken particularly seriously by Israelis, or that it's going to sway many votes right now. To the contrary, I should say the Israeli army is much more popular and much more credible in the eyes of Israelis than the political leadership as a whole. So the prime minister is really taking a risk and the only question of politicization that i asked myself tonight as this news was emerging was whether the IDF military censor took into account that he was trying to protect the honor of the military when he authorized the publication of such astonishing news as this kind of an overt clash between the military chief and the chief of government Noga thank you so so much i