Israel’s attack on Iran has been branded “lame” by a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s own government.
The state carried out a targeted strike on the Isfahan air base, the headquarters of the Iranian Air Force’s 8th Tactical Air Wing, in the early morning today.
The attack was orchestrated in response to last week’s foiled drone incursion, which saw Israel and its foreign allies shoot down dozens of projectiles launched by Iran.
While it was conducted in an important city known for its nuclear research facilities and close to a site where many of the drones that attempted to hit Israel may have been manufactured, it has not been universally praised by Israeli officials.
One minister from the prime minister’s party has discredited and slammed the move as “lame” with a one-word response on social media.
Likud’s hard-right National security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, responded to news of the strike with a post on X, formerly Twitter.
In a tweet, he used a Hebrew slang word to call the move “scarecrow” which roughly translates to “lame”.
The post did not go unnoticed by Iranian media outlets, who used it to criticise Israel’s government.
Iranian news agency Tasnim said Mr Ben-Gvir’s comments showed the Israeli authorities were “mocking themselves”.
The comments also earned him criticism from fellow Israelis, with opposition leader Yair Lapid condemning his track record.
In his own response, he said the tweet was “unforgivable” and disgraced Israel “from Tehran to Washington”.
He said: “Never before has a minister in the security cabinet done such heavy damage to the country’s security, its image and its international status.”
“In an unforgivable one-word tweet, Ben-Gvir managed to mock and shame Israel from Tehran to Washington.
“Any other prime minister would have thrown him out of the cabinet this morning.”
Mr Ben-Gvir is a controversial figure even in Israel, and Israeli television service Channel 12 reported that a confidant of Mr Netanyahu had reached out to suggest he was harming the state’s national security.
