Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed willingness to join Ehud Olmert's government in 2007 if Israel initiated an attack on Iran, a document from the Israeli WikiLeaks collection has revealed.
On July 20, 2007, Marc J. Sievers, the political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, sent a telegram to the State Department in Washington on the matter. The telegram was classified "Confidential," the level between "Unclassified" and "Secret."
Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu, March 31, 2009. Photo by: AP
Sievers' message dealt with the formation of a new Israeli government and was written on the eve of the release of the state comptroller's report on the Second Lebanon War, a year after it started. Ehud Olmert was still prime minister and headed the Kadima party. The Labor Party was his senior partner in the ruling coalition. Two days before Sievers sent his message, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, the head of Labor, resigned as defense minister and deputy prime minister.
Part of the telegram was devoted to the possibility of the establishment of a national unity government, in which the Likud Party would join Kadima, with Olmert as prime minister.
One of Netanyahu's advisers, whose name was not revealed in the message, spoke with American officials on the matter. "The adviser commented that the possibility of a national unity government, bruited in the press, is a possibility, but only if Olmert initiated such a move in order to galvanize Israel for action against Iran. He said that in such a scenario, Netanyahu would probably accept an offer of the Foreign Ministry," wrote Sievers.
This was the second time Netanyahu expressed willingness to support the prime minister if he initiated an attack against Iran. In the summer of 2005, Netanyahu resigned as finance minister in Ariel Sharon's cabinet over the Gaza disengagement plan. In December that year, Sharon left the Likud and founded Kadima. At the time, Netanyahu told Sharon he would "support him if he acted against Iran before the elections," reported Aluf Benn in Haaretz two years ago.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu actively pushed for a military strike on Iran, according to a report published in the Israeli newspaper  on Thursday.

A document revealed by Wikileaks, dated July 20, 2007, shows that Mr. Netanyahu, leader of the Likud party, urged an attack on Iran in exchange for joining the government at the time, led by Ehud Olmert.

Mr. Netanyahu's request was made as part of discussions to form a government of national unity between Likud and Mr. Olmert's Kadima party, according to the leaked cable, classified as "confidential" and penned by Marc. J. Sievers, who was at the US embassy in Tel Aviv as a political counselor.

An advisor to Mr. Netanyahu told American officials at the time that the Likud leader was willing to take the post of foreign minister, while Mr. Olmert would have become prime minister. 

However, Mr. Netanyahu demanded military action against Iran as the price for his participation in the proposed coalition. According to the advisor cited in the US cable, Mr. Netanyahu urged the Kadima leader to "galvanize Israel for action against Iran."

Israel has previously entertained the possibility of military strikes to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons capability. In November 2010, Iran announced uranium enrichment activities had been disrupted by the  computer virus. The Iranian government later accused the US and Israel of responsibility for the malware.

Israel and Western powers have accused Iran, whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," of seeking to obtain nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear program.


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