Israel's Netanyahu Can Declare Iran War with One Vote
The Israeli parliament voted in favor Monday of granting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the ability to declare war with the sole approval of his defense chief under certain conditions.
Following a 20-minute presentation in which Netanyahu accused Iran of covertly pursuing nuclear weapons, reports emerged that the Israeli Knesset approved 62 to 41 the amendment to Israeli law regarding the authorization for the declaration of war. The new regime included a clause suggested by Netanyahu himself, one that requires only Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman's approval to initiate a war "in extreme situations," according to the state-run
Kann News and Israeli newspaper
Haaretz.
The vote also came as President Donald Trump, seen as a key ally of Netanyahu, mulled scrapping a landmark nuclear deal negotiated with Iran by his predecessor in 2015. Trump has joined his top Middle Eastern allies
Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as conservatives at home, in criticizing the deal for being too lenient and has threatened to walk away if its terms were not renegotiated by May 12.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech on Iran's nuclear program at the defense ministry in Tel Aviv on April 30, 2018. Less than two weeks before President Donald Trump was set to decide whether or not to stay in the 2015 nuclear deal, Netanyahu claimed he had proof of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons activity and was granted the power to go to war with only the defense minister's approval in "extreme situations."