Liberman Demands Treason Probe of Netanyahu Over Alleged Push Toward Iran Clash Before Election

By Kacee Allen Network News Desk.

Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman on Monday asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to open an immediate criminal inquiry into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on allegations of “treason,” saying the premier has pushed security chiefs toward moves that risk a dangerous misread with Iran just before Tuesday’s vote.

Editor’s note: This report is based on Times of Israel, Jerusalem Post, Ynet, and Channel 12/N12 coverage of Liberman’s letter and the reported Netanyahu–Zamir clash, plus Netanyahu’s and Defense Minister Israel Katz’s denials, through Oct. 26, 2026. A demand for a probe is not an opened investigation and is not a finding of guilt. Times of Israel notes Liberman’s letter lacks particular examples and that such a probe is highly unlikely on that letter alone. The Network’s analysis is labeled below. The story reached the desk via Mario Nawfal’s Oct. 26 X post amplifying Liberman’s demand.

In the letter, Liberman argued that over recent weeks Netanyahu has leaned on Israel’s security leadership to pursue actions that could produce a flare-up with Tehran, and that seeking war on the election’s doorstep — while ready to put IDF troops at risk out of fear of defeat — amounts to betrayal of the country, its defenses, and its soldiers, according to Ynet and Times of Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that Liberman cast the alleged effort as an attempt to pull Israel into fighting so the Oct. 27 ballot could be delayed or blocked. Israelis vote Tuesday.

Channel 12 report and denials

The letter followed an N12/Channel 12 account Sunday of an “unprecedented confrontation” involving Netanyahu and IDF Chief Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir. Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post said Netanyahu directed unspecified military steps that defense officials fear could quickly put Israel on a collision course with Iran before the election; Zamir pushed back, asked for more deliberation, and sought signed legal authorization. Military sources voiced worry that the Iran file was being leveraged for political gain.

Netanyahu dismissed the Channel 12 account as “nonsense” and denied any clash with Zamir, Times of Israel reported. Katz said Israel had no plan to start an Iran attack before the elections and branded the reports false, according to the Jerusalem Post. Opposition frontrunner Gadi Eisenkot warned Netanyahu against ranking political survival above national security and said he would not let the IDF become a campaign instrument, the same outlets reported.

Viral tip and legal caution

Mario Nawfal’s X post highlighting Liberman’s demand — and asking, in his framing, whether Netanyahu could end up in prison if he loses — helped surface the story to wider audiences. That framing is Nawfal’s commentary, not a court finding. Liberman’s letter is a political and legal demand. It does not equal an opened investigation, and it does not prove guilt.

Network analysis: power, delay, and legal risk

Network analysis: Read together, the Channel 12 account of a resisted order that could scramble the pre-election calendar and Liberman’s claim that Netanyahu sought confrontation to stop or disrupt the vote fit a familiar incentive: a premier fighting to stay in power. Losing office would strip the political shield that has accompanied Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial and would open him to fuller legal and political reckoning — including any new probe critics may pursue. The Network does not claim a life sentence is the statutory outcome of his current cases. Critics argue that the risk of prison rises if he loses power; Nawfal’s viral question channels that argument. Netanyahu and Katz deny any plan to strike Iran before Tuesday. Whether voters accept the denials or the accusations will be measured at the ballot box — unless events intervene first.