Netanyahu rejects 'untrue' WSJ claim Biden halted IDF attack on Hezbollah

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “erroneous” a Wall Street Journal report that the IDF halted plans to preemptively attack Hezbollah in Lebanon in the first days after the start of the Gaza war in October.

“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 on Sunday.

“Our decisions in the war are based on our operational considerations, and I will not expand further. They are not dictated by external pressure. The decision on how to use our forces is an independent decision of the IDF and nobody else,” he told the government at the start of its weekly meeting.

Netanyahu issued his statement in response to a Wall Street Journal article, still prominently displayed on its website, which quoted unnamed sources about a war cabinet debate about whether to attack Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border on October 11.

Cross-border attacks had increased in 2023 and there was a fear following Hamas October 7 infiltration across Israel’s southern border, that Hezbollah would execute a similar style attack in the north.

WSJ described situation in which Israel had intelligence on Hezbollah

The WSJ described a situation in which Israel had intelligence that Hezbollah intended to execute a “multi-pronged” attack against Israel. In response, it had planes in the air ready to respond when Biden called Netanyahu asking that those aircraft stand down.

It took six hours of back-and-forth debate, including conversations with the war cabinet before, Netanyahu, who had not favored the attack in the first place, agreed to call it off. Hezbollah also never issued the anticipated attack.

The article corresponds to already known information about an initial difference of opinion between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Netanyahu in the early days of the war, in which Gallant supported a preemptive strike against Hezbollah and Netanyahu opposed it.

Netanyahu has been clear from the start that he doesn’t believe it's in Israel's best interest to fight a two-front war, but would not hesitate to do so if necessary.

Biden has also issued repeated statements warning regional actors to use the October 7th attack to launch a war against Israel.