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How Israel had a military coup and no one cared

The IDF allegedly refused to obey a legal government order. Yet this threat to democracy is being ignored.

Gabi Ashkenazi with Binyamin Netanyahu
Photo by: REUTERS/POOL New
Given how important the American-Israeli relationship is to Israel, it’s not surprising that last week’s US presidential election garnered massive media and political attention. But even with a news event of such magnitude as competition, it’s shocking that what ought to have been an earth-shaking scandal received no more than passing notice.

Last week, Channel 2 television reported that in fall 2010, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the army to its highest level of alert, known as P-plus, in preparation for a possible strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. But the order was never carried out – and therein lies the scandal. For depending on whose version of events you believe, either our top defense officials effectively carried out a coup against the elected civilian government by refusing to obey it, or they betrayed their primary responsibility by failing to prepare the army for war.

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