NATO announced yesterday (Wednesday) that it is preparing to deal with any potential Iranian threat and defend all its member states, after indications emerged that Tehran was considering targeting American military assets in Europe, in conjunction with warnings to countries hosting American refueling planes.
A NATO official said that its deterrence and defense capabilities are “in a strong and effective position,” noting that NATO defenses intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles heading to Turkey on four occasions this year, according to Reuters.
These statements came in response to a report published by the Financial Times, citing two sources within the Iranian regime, that Iranian forces evaluated striking American assets in southeastern Europe, including Bulgaria and Cyprus, and studied targeting fiber-optic cables in the Strait of Hormuz if the war expands.
Iranian Chief of Staff Ali Abdullahi said that the presence of American military aircraft, especially refueling aircraft, at bases outside the United States without the knowledge of the host countries “seems unlikely,” adding that any “aid or facilitation” to the American army would be considered by Tehran to be “participation” with it.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that Tehran had decided to move to a “full attack” if diplomacy failed.
A new opinion poll in Israel, conducted by the Kan news channel, showed that the Yashar Party, headed by former Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, tops the list of parties by winning 24 seats, one seat ahead of the previous poll. While Likud came in second place with 23 seats, with no change in its strength despite the party’s primary elections, while the “Together” party headed by Naftali Bennett came third with 14 seats.
The Democratic Party, headed by Yair Golan, maintained its strength with 10 seats, while Otzma Yehudit, headed by Itamar Ben Gvir, and Yisrael Our Home, headed by Avigdor Lieberman, each won 9 seats, a decrease for each.
United Torah Judaism also maintained 9 seats, Shas 7, while the Arab Front for Change coalition won 6 seats, and the United Arab List won 5 seats. As for “Religious Zionism,” headed by Bezalel Smotrich, it increased to 5 seats, an increase of one seat from the previous poll.
Despite the changes in the distribution of seats, there has been no significant change in the image of the blocs. The current coalition parties won 52 seats compared to 57 for the opposition parties, while the Arab parties maintain their strength with 11 seats.
This is the first opinion poll after the Likud primaries, which shows that its announced list did not bring it more votes.
The participants were asked whether the Likud list that was chosen in the primary elections was better or worse than its previous list for the Knesset, and 44 percent of the participants said that there was no difference between the two, while 24 percent answered that they did not know, while 18 percent thought that the new list was better, compared to 14 percent who said that it was worse than the previous one.
Among those who intend to vote for Likud in the upcoming elections, 41 percent said that the new list is better than the previous one.
The other question in the poll was: “Does the new Likud list enhance or harm the party’s chances of success in the elections?” 26 percent responded that it enhances Likud's chances of success, while 26 percent believed that it harms it. 48 percent said they did not know.
When participants were asked whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, if he fails to form a government, should agree to join a unity government even if he is not the one to head it, 37 percent answered in the affirmative, compared to 36 percent who answered in the negative, while 27 percent said they did not know. Among those who intend to vote for Likud, 43 percent said that Netanyahu should agree to join a unity government that he does not head.
Regarding the scenario of forming a government from the current opposition headed by Eisenkot or others, participants were asked what should be the first decision of this government, and 28 percent said that it should be the formation of an official investigation committee into the events of October 7, 2023, while 20 percent believe that the prime minister’s term should be limited to two terms only, while 23 percent want the first decision to be to enact a conscription law for all, including the Haredi population. 9 percent believed that the decision should be to repeal the law that changed the composition of the committee responsible for selecting judges. 20 percent said they did not know.
Eisenkot is considered Netanyahu's biggest competitor, but the head of the "Together" party, Naftali Bennett, is also presenting himself as a potential prime minister.
Bennett explained his “security concept” on Wednesday, during a conference organized by his party. He said at the beginning of his speech: “Not only did the defense line facing Gaza collapse on October 7th, but also on October 7th an entire security concept that Netanyahu had established for years collapsed.”
He attacked Netanyahu's government, saying: "The October 7 government is still captive to the concepts of October 6."
Bennett claimed that he would change four concepts, which he would modify in the next government if elected, the first of which was “reversing the equation” and striking Iran immediately with every Hezbollah shot.
He also pledged to classify Qatar as an “enemy state,” adding that anyone who does not understand this after October 7 “does not deserve to lead Israel.”
He also stressed that he would “remove Qatar and Turkey from Gaza” while maintaining freedom of work in the Strip.
He also touched on the crisis of the Israeli army, and said: “It is unreasonable for the army to suffer from a shortage of 20,000 soldiers, while 100,000 healthy Haredi young men are not serving. In the next government that I will head, we will recruit everyone without exceptions or concessions.”
On the other hand, Israeli Channel 12 said that it had been agreed to revive the Joint Arab List to run in the upcoming Knesset elections.
The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, the National Democratic Rally, and the Arab Movement for Change agreed to form the Joint Arab List to run in the elections together. The Front's secretary, Amjad Shubita, wrote that the agreement would be announced soon.
