Former senior Israeli security officials are warning that a deliberate security escalation could be used to disrupt or delay the upcoming election, arguing that political actors may have both the incentive and the ability to inflame tensions ahead of the vote.
The warning appears in a video featuring former prime minister, defense minister and IDF chief of staff Ehud Barak; former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon; former Mossad director Tamir Pardo; and former police commissioner Moshe Karadi.
The video was produced by the Forum of Protest Organizations, an umbrella group of protest movements, and distributed on social media.
“A security escalation before elections serves the interests of certain players,” the video states. “They have both the ability and the incentive. Any scenario that prevents the elections from taking place on time is a scenario that must be prepared for.”
Barak said that “a security escalation on the eve of elections serves political campaigns,” adding that those who benefit from such a development “also have both the ability and the incentive.”
Karadi described the coming election as potentially “the most dramatic since the establishment of the State of Israel” and warned that Israel should prepare for any scenario that could prevent it from taking place as scheduled.
He also accused Jewish extremists in the West Bank of trying to trigger a broader confrontation.
“Everything being done today in Judea and Samaria by Jewish terrorists is being done for one purpose: to bring the IDF into a major campaign in the area that would serve as a legitimate pretext to declare the elections canceled,” Karadi said.
Former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon
(Photo: Yuval Chen)
Ya’alon issued a similar warning, saying: “Jewish pogromists are trying to foment war. This must be stopped before it happens.”
Pardo pointed to the possibility of a wider regional confrontation, including tensions involving Turkey.
“The danger facing us is the postponement and cancellation of the elections,” he said. “We have another front with Turkey, in an attempt to reach the coming elections with the option of canceling or postponing them by creating another state of war.”
The former officials did not present evidence in the video of a specific plan to provoke an escalation or postpone the election.
The Forum of Protest Organizations said the video is part of a broader campaign focused on safeguarding the integrity of the election. The group also launched a website collecting warnings and commentary from other figures who have raised concerns about the possibility of a politically driven security escalation before the vote.