Bombay Durpun - Netanyahu, rivals trade attacks over Iran as clock counts down to Israel vote

Over the course of a neck-and-neck race, Netanyahu has campaigned heavily on his security credentials, insisting only he can "finish the job" against Tehran and painting his main challenger, ex-army chief Gadi Eisenkot, as soft on Israel's sworn foe.

Eisenkot has in turn accused the premier of playing politics with security on the election's eve and citing the Iran threat when it suits him -- a line of attack that came after reports of friction with military brass concerned on what Netanyahu wanted to do for political gain.

"I think this is a fateful moment for the future of the state, because we have enemies who want to annihilate us," Netanyahu told Channel 14 the day before Tuesday's vote.

"Only if we remove this fanatical, zealous regime from the face of the earth will we, of course, secure our future."

"Gadi Eisenkot will not strike Iran," he added.

Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, his close ally, have already twice claimed to have devastated Iran's capabilities in bombing campaigns in 2025 and this year.

Israel's Channel 12 reported on Sunday that Netanyahu and army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir had clashed over an unspecified new directive on Iran, citing unnamed sources as saying there were concerns within the army that the war was being politicised.

The broadcaster said Zamir had demanded a detailed discussion as well as legal guarantees and the signatures of the political leadership before carrying out the directive, which Channel 12 did not describe.

The premier has dismissed the report as "rubbish", and Defence Minister Israel Katz said any reports of a gap between the army and political leadership were "entirely baseless and false".

Katz said he could state "unequivocally that there was no intention on Israel's part to initiate an attack on Iran before the elections".

But that was precisely the accusation levelled by the opposition camp, with Yisrael Beiteinu party founder Avigdor Lieberman -- a former minister of defence -- saying he had asked Israel's attorney general to open an investigation into the prime minister.

"The attempt to drag the State of Israel into war on the eve of elections, together with the willingness to sacrifice IDF soldiers solely due to fear of losing the elections, constitutes treason against the state," Lieberman said on X.

- 'Utter chaos' -

The election is the first since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack and the opposition had sought to focus on Netanyahu's failure to prevent Israel's deadliest ever day.

Eisenkot said Zamir had his complete trust, adding he would not stand for the military being "turned into a tool in Netanyahu's survival campaign".

"I warn Netanyahu: Do not dare place your political interests above the state's security," Eisenkot wrote on X Sunday night.

Opposition leaders from the right to centre-left have all said they would work to form a coalition with Eisenkot, who held a slight lead in the last polls.

Tel Aviv resident Or Horning told AFP he hoped the premier was on his way out, describing the last three years as "utter chaos".

"I think he's been (in power) for too long and has done too much damage" at home and abroad, the 39-year-old tech worker said. "He's a great manipulator and a great sales guy, and also a very smart individual, but I think his time is up."

On the campaign trail, the premier has sought to portray Eisenkot as weak on Iran and beholden to Arab and Palestinian interests, playing to voters' opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu has also repeatedly alleged that Iran will seek to disrupt the election and that it wants him to lose.

But Iran's foreign ministry said it did not matter who prevailed in the vote.

"It makes no difference to us who, in these elections, takes the helm of a regime that has brought nothing but violence and massacres to our region," said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.

R.Altobelli--BD