Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is promoting a legal amendment that would give him more power to declare war without consulting the full cabinet the Israeli TV Channel Two reported Sunday.
The report said that Netanyahu intends to introduce legislation to the Knesset after the summer recess that would allow him to declare war – or a military operation that could trigger a war – without the prior authorization of the entire cabinet but rather just the security cabinet.
Netanyahu reportedly covets the change which would require amending one of Israel’s Basic Laws in order to prevent leaks from the full cabinet according to the sources.
Two months ago the Israeli mini or security Cabinet approved an amendment that would allow the government to authorize the Cabinet at the beginning of each term to launch a major military operation or war.
“The amendment was passed in order to prevent leaks of sensitive information from (full) Cabinet meetings.”
According to the reports the reason Netanyahu is promoting the newest amendment is an incident that took place seven years ago when Netanyahu and his Army Minister Ehud Barak ordered the Chief of Staff at the time Gabi Ashkenazi and the head of the Mossad at the time Meir Dagan to carry out a certain covert operation.
Dagan and Ashkenazi refused to obey the order and said that the operation in question was illegal since it could lead to war with Iran.
