Ehud Olmert instructed Israeli officials to avoid making public threats against Iran.
The Israeli prime minister told his Cabinet Tuesday that government officials should “refrain from discussing sensitive matters publicly” – an allusion to Iran’s nuclear program, political sources said.
Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz, an Olmert deputy, helped fuel record-high oil prices last week by saying in a newspaper interview that Israel will have to attack Iran if international sanctions failed to rein in its uranium
enrichment.
Another Cabinet member, Minister without Portfolio Ami Ayalon, came out fiercely against Mofaz, whom many commentators believe rattled his saber as part of preparations to challenge Olmert for leadership of Israel’s Kadima Party.
“This is inappropriate, unethical politics, which I believe harms the State of Israel and its fundamental
interests,” Ayalon told Army Radio.
“It is best to speak about this as little as possible,” he said, referring to Iran. “If something has to be done,
then we’ll do it.”
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