Israel’s security cabinet meets today for the first time in six weeks, under a caretaker prime minister

Israel’s security cabinet is due to convene on Sunday 15 November, its first session since 5 October, according to Yedioth Ahronoth and the public broadcaster KAN. On the evening of Wednesday 11 November, KAN reported that the cabinet had instructed the IDF to raise readiness for a possible strike on Iran — and had done so without convening, with measures that KAN’s framing said could lead to activity capable of triggering a war. That report is single-sourced and concerns a classified decision; it is a report, not a confirmed order, and nothing in Sunday’s scheduled meeting confirms it. The constitutional backdrop is the harder fact. President Isaac Herzog has tasked opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot with forming the next government after the Knesset elections. Netanyahu continues as prime minister in a caretaker capacity, retaining the powers of the office, oversight of the defence establishment and direction of Iran policy. The Jerusalem Post’s explainer puts the question directly: whether Israeli law permits a caretaker government to launch a new war.

Eisenkot addressed the readiness reports on X on Wednesday 11 November, saying that deploying security forces “in the absence of a direct and immediate threat that cannot be delayed” could have devastating consequences for Israeli democracy. That rendering is from All Israel News; Anadolu carries the same statement, and we have not matched either against the original Hebrew post. Anadolu also reports opposition concern that Netanyahu could order a strike on Iran to remain in power and use a state of emergency to force a unity government including himself. That is a political charge made by his opponents, not a finding by anyone. Separately, CBS News reported at 2:22 PM on 14 November that the Mossad director is in Washington and that a source familiar with the matter said he met CIA Director John Ratcliffe during the week; the source did not confirm the subject of the talks. One unnamed source, subject unknown. The same CBS live blog carries a Netanyahu line on removing the Iran threat “once and for all” that we are holding until the PMO transcript or video is available.

Assessment: The readiness directive and the Washington meeting are both weakly sourced; the authority question is not. A prime minister who has been asked to hand over power retains, for now, the one decision that cannot be reversed by his successor, and his opponents have an obvious interest in saying so loudly while he has an obvious interest in demonstrating that the office still functions. Read Sunday’s meeting for whether it produces a published decision or only the fact of having met. On present evidence the second is likelier, and the absence of a formal cabinet record is itself the mechanism the opposition is objecting to.