Fiamma Nirenstein is an Italian-Israeli journalist, author and senior research fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA). An adviser on antisemitism to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she served in the Italian Parliament (2008-2013) as vice president of the Foreign Affairs Committee. A founding member of the Friends of Israel Initiative, she has written 15 books, including October 7, Antisemitism and the War on the West, and is a leading voice on Israel, the Middle East, Europe and the fight against antisemitism.
(Oct. 21, 2026 / JNS)
The Israeli military is on high alert, while concerns that the vote could be disrupted are being repeated on television. Some believe such a possibility could benefit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while others see it as a problem for him.
But the real story is the risk that a final, and therefore very harsh, war may be just around the corner. The elections could be the burning fuse.
The latest reports, in the Financial Times, say that U.S. President Donald Trump put a stop to Netanyahu’s plan. The Israeli prime minister had reportedly decided to attack in response to the rapid reconstruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities and the rearmament of Hezbollah and Tehran’s other proxies, with everything said to have been ready as early as last weekend.
Alongside this scoop came another report that Israel had conducted air exercises over Syria and Iraq, along the route to Tehran.
What can we understand about the reality behind these reports?
Trump has said several times that he does not intend to reopen the war front before next month’s U.S. midterm elections. His position may certainly have been decisive in Netanyahu’s calculations. It may also be that Trump’s reaffirmation of the alliance with Israel, together with his support for Netanyahu, signals an intention that has merely been postponed and is shared by the two leaders, as Trump himself has suggested.
In any event, Israel has a much greater chance of successfully carrying out an operation against Iran, destroying the enrichment facilities that Netanyahu has just said Tehran is rebuilding, if it acts together with the United States.
Trump therefore appears to have renewed the promise of an alliance in his endorsement, based precisely on mutual support against the common enemy, Iran.
Both sides have an objective interest in seeing the Iranian regime raise its hands in surrender, and they can accomplish that only together.
The rhetoric is extremely harsh. Tehran says it will never agree to move part of its enriched uranium abroad.
Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said, “We are ready to completely uproot the evil”—meaning Israel—“in response to your slightest move.”
This came as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sat down with Netanyahu for a mysterious 90-minute face-to-face meeting, about which little is known except that Iran was the subject.
At Tel-Hai Academic College in Kiryat Shmona, near the Lebanese border, Netanyahu again declared that in the face of the Iranian terrorist regime’s determination to rebuild the nuclear threat and the axis of evil with Hezbollah and Hamas, there is no alternative but to seek to destroy the regime.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Tehran of “Nazi” methods for targeting civilian ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
These are not just words. Major agreements and preparations are taking place behind the scenes, prompting Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei to meet Pakistani army chief Asim Munir, while contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin have intensified.
Both Israel and the United States have elections to get through. Iran has none in sight and is free to sharpen its weapons against Israel and the entire world.
It is significant that Netanyahu, consistent with his chosen course, denounces Iran’s maneuvers every day. The other candidates are silent.
The coming days should reveal the truth.