Israeli journalist Ariel Kahana (Israel Hayom) details former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot's consistent stance that Israel must do everything to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capability. The briefing clarifies Eisenkot's support for a maximal response to Iran's April 2024 missile attack, his 2018 essay in Ma'arachot journal, and distinguishes his actual positions from commentary by journalist Amir Oren.
In a Sunday morning Telegram briefing, Israel Hayom journalist Ariel Kahana laid out the full contours of former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot's approach to Iran's nuclear program. According to Kahana, Eisenkot's core position — then and now — is that Israel must do everything in its power to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear capability.
The briefing provides new context around Eisenkot's position after Iran's first direct missile attack on Israel in April 2024 (the night of approximately 400 missiles and UAVs). Kahana reports that Eisenkot supported the most aggressive response option proposed by then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. That position was not adopted; Prime Minister Netanyahu instead favored the more limited response that became known as "Dardrel'eh" (a colloquial reference to a restrained, calibrated strike).
Kahana also reviews Eisenkot's 2018 essay in the IDF journal Ma'arachot, written when he was Chief of Staff. In it, Eisenkot wrote that the IDF must "adapt itself to the possibility of weapons of mass destruction entering the Middle East, by formulating a concept that includes both defensive and offensive responses, and its implementation." Kahana emphasizes that Iran was not explicitly mentioned in that 2018 essay, and that attributable comments by journalist Amir Oren suggesting Eisenkot was preparing Israel to 'live under a nuclear threat' go beyond what Eisenkot himself wrote.
The briefing notes that as Chief of Staff, Eisenkot directed resources toward intelligence collection and capability-building that later served Israel in operations both 'Operation Roaring Lion' (Sha'agat HaAri) and 'Operation Rising Lion' (Am KeLavi). Kahana concludes that Eisenkot's long-term assumption is that it may be impossible to prevent all regional states from developing nuclear capability — but that his concept includes an offensive component. The essay closes with the phrase 'peace from strength'. The all-BACKGROUND zioneer context items relate to related Iran-Israel tensions but do not inform this specific personnel statement.
- DevelopingAriel Kahana: Eisenkot opposed striking Iran's nuclear program during two key junctures
- DevelopingFormer IDF chief Eisenkot slams political leadership, demands answers on Iran and war goals
- StrongEisenkot and Bennett accuse Netanyahu of inventing Iran nuclear threat
- DevelopingSenior Israeli figure: Iran will never give up its nuclear ambitions
Source and signal
A single-sourced dispatch is never rated Confirmed or Strong. Its Signal strengthens only when a second, independent source corroborates it.
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