Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is accused of corruption, claimed that "Iran already had nuclear bombs, and if necessary, we will enter them for the third time," according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

"We entered Iran twice in order to save ourselves from annihilation by means of nuclear bombs that they already had, and no one knows where we would be today," Netanyahu said.

"There will be a third time if necessary, as long as you are prime minister, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon," he said.

Eisenkot refutes Netanyahu's account of "Iran's nuclear bombs"

The head of the "Yachar" party, who announced his candidacy for the post of prime minister of the occupation state, said that Benjamin Netanyahu "makes arrogant statements and fabricates an imaginary reality," stressing during his participation in the Herzliya conference that "Iran did not have any nuclear bombs, and everything Netanyahu says is aimed at causing panic among the Israeli public."

These words came as the strongest direct response to Netanyahu's recent statements, in which he claimed that Israel "entered Iran twice to prevent nuclear annihilation" and that he would prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons "at all costs."

Research centers specialized in Israeli affairs said that Eisenkot's statements clearly reflect the extent of the division within the Israeli political and security establishment over the way Netanyahu manages strategic files, especially the Iranian file, which has turned into a central electoral card in a battle that began early.

It considered that Eisenkot's attack was not just a technical response to a security narrative, but an attempt to present itself as a "rational and responsible" alternative, based on intelligence and military assessments, in the face of Netanyahu's rhetoric that

Lapid vows Netanyahu: "He will not form a government"

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Monday vowed Netanyahu defeat in the general elections scheduled for later this year.

Lapid added, in a press conference that clips of it were published on the "X" platform, that Netanyahu spoke of his support for the formation of a national unity government, asking: "What are you talking about? There will be no other government in Israel. There will be elections and you will lose."

He went on to tell Netanyahu: "Netanyahu will lose, and the State of Israel will be saved. We will form a good, professional and honest government, and we will make a new covenant with the state.We will fix everything that is broken."

Lapid added, "We will gladly form a national unity government with Gadi (Eisenkot), (Avigdor) Lieberman and (Yair) Golan, and hopefully this will be with the Likud party as well after Netanyahu loses and is forced to retire."

Netanyahu promises to form a "national unity" government

Netanyahu said at a news conference in Tel Aviv on Saturday that he would work after the elections to form a "broad-based national unity government," without giving further details.

It is worth noting that Netanyahu has formed 6 Israeli governments in different periods, the first of which was in 1996, and the last of which has been ongoing since 2022.

The Israeli opposition hopes to win more than 61 of the 120 seats in the Knesset to form a government, while opinion polls indicate an advantage for opposition parties over the pro-Netanyahu bloc.

Poll: Eisenkot Ahead of Netanyahu

An Israeli poll on Wednesday showed Eisenkot ahead of Netanyahu on the question of suitability for prime minister, coinciding with the decline in the popularity of traditional opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett.

According to the results of the poll published by Israel's Channel 13, Eisenkot leads Netanyahu by 43 percent to 39 percent on the question, "Who is best suited to head the government?"

The poll also showed Eisenkot ahead of Bennett by 42 percent to 21 percent, while Netanyahu was ahead of Bennett, 44 percent to 41 percent.

In its published results, the channel did not mention the date of the survey, the size of the sample or the margin of error, and only noted that a team of researchers including Shmuel Rosner, Yosef Macleda, Dr. Ariel Ayalon, Dori Dror, and Professor David Steinberg supervised its implementation.

These results come in light of the continued competition between the coalition and opposition camps, with the escalation of political debate in Israel over the files of war, security, and foreign policy, and before any possible electoral entitlement.

A poll published by the Maariv newspaper last Friday showed that the opposition would be able to form a government if elections were held today, with 61 seats, compared to 49 for Netanyahu's camp.