Inside Israel's plot to kill Hezbollah chief as Netanyahu warned Biden aide would 'jump out of his skin'

As Israel prepared to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in September 2024, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior defense officials disagreed over whether to notify the Biden administration ahead of the operation, fearing Washington could try to stop the mission, according to Wall Street Journal editorial writer Elliot Kaufman and a second source familiar with the deliberations.

"140%, they won't approve of the mission," Netanyahu told senior Israeli defense officials, according to Kaufman, co-author of "In the War Room: The Inside Story of Israel's Fight Against Hamas and the Iranian Axis," who recounted the exchange in an interview with Fox News Digital.

Then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi favored informing Washington, believing the Americans might support a strike against a Hezbollah leader linked to the deaths of U.S. service members, according to Kaufman. Netanyahu, however, warned that then-U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan would "jump out of his skin" if he learned of the plans.

The disagreement reflected a widening divide between Jerusalem and Washington over Israel's military campaign against Iran's regional proxies, as the Biden administration sought to prevent the fighting from escalating into a broader regional war.

When Israeli jetsIsrael's campaign against Hezbollah, which opened a second front against Israel on October 8, 2023, a day after Hamas' deadly attack in southern Israel, and had since launched repeated rocket and missile attacks on northern Israeli communities.

Kaufman argued that Israel had spent nearly a year waiting for American diplomacy to end Hezbollah's attacks on its northern communities, without success.

"From Israel's point of view, it had been sitting and waiting for 10, 11 months while Hezbollah had been pounding the north of Israel with rockets and with anti-tank missiles, waiting for American diplomacy to succeed," he said. "It didn't work. Something had to change on the northern front."

Kaufman said the confrontation exposed a fundamental difference in how the two governments approached the war.

"The United States may not have been in Israel's war room, but it could never be denied a seat at the table when it asked," he said.

"What I was told from the Israeli prime minister's office is ‘America's goal is to de-escalate the war. Our goal is to win the war,' and we saw that clash at every point, especially during the Biden administration."

The book, written by Kaufman and Jerusalem Post senior military analyst Yonah Jeremy Bob, also describes how Netanyahu initially resisted launching a full-scale ground invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, only to emerge later as one of the strongest advocates for continuing the war.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu had just seen the IDF, Israel's military, fail miserably on Oct. 7, and Israel's intelligence services fail miserably on October 7," Kaufman told Fox News Digital.

Senior American generals dispatched by President Biden also warned Israeli leaders that a ground invasion could end in military defeat, even in Gaza City, according to Kaufman.

Netanyahu eventually approved the ground operation on Oct. 27, 2023, after weeks of internal debate.

"Over time, he would gain confidence in the IDF, regain confidence in the military, in Israel's intelligence services, and end up outlasting, exhausting, or simply firing all of his war room rivals," Kaufman said.

Kaufman was more critical when asked about Netanyahu's accountability for Oct. 7.

"I have spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu several times in person, even more on the phone. I had a three hour conversation with him extending well past midnight in Israel," Kaufman said. "I have not heard him take responsibility for what happened on October 7th."

Instead, Kaufman said, Netanyahu consistently points to the failure of senior military officials to alert him before the Hamas assault began. "What he says is, 6:29. They didn't wake me up until 6:29 in the morning on the day of October 7th," Kaufman recounted.

Those remarks came as a new controversy erupted in Israel over the official record of Netanyahu's actions on the morning of the attack.

In a Operation Midnight Hammer.

"Vice President Vance played a critical role in ultimately securing American participation in the highly successful 12-day war," Kaufman said.

The account challenges the notion that Trump was reluctantly drawn into the conflict by Netanyahu, Kaufman argued, portraying the president instead as responding to an opportunity created by Israel's demonstrated military capabilities.

Jake Sullivan's response was not received by the deadline.