Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot claimed Wednesday that he had been unable to reach Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for approximately two hours in 2018, when, as IDF chief, he decided to launch a large-scale attack against Syrian air defenses after an Israeli F-16 was downed by Syrian fire.
Eisenkot’s remarks came after Netanyahu provoked uproar by claiming that military chiefs had caused catastrophe by choosing not to wake him up in the middle of the night over suspicious Hamas activity in the early hours of October 7, 2023, immediately before the terror group led a devastating invasion of southern Israel.
“I viewed [the downing] as a very serious incident. I was chief of staff, and together with the head of Military Intelligence and the Air Force commander, I decided to carry out a very extensive strike and destroy Syrian air defense batteries,” Eisenkot said in an interview at a Yedioth Ahronoth conference held in cooperation with the Israel Democracy Institute.
“I sought to update and consult with the prime minister, but I could not reach him for an hour or two. So I made the decision to carry out very extensive strikes to destroy Syrian anti-aircraft batteries and Iranian targets,” he said.
