An increasingly cornered Benjamin Netanyahu, now Israel’s caretaker prime minister, called together his security cabinet yesterday and, as reported last night by Israeli public broadcaster KAN, ordered the military to step up preparations for an attack on Iran. The Times of Israel cited KAN’s report: “The directives issued by the security cabinet to the Israeli military could lead it to carry out activities that could trigger a war.”

Netanyahu has pressured Gadi Eisenkot, the man selected to form the next government, and his anti-Netanyahu political coalition. The goal is to cause them to ignore the massive vote against Netanyahu, and instead form a government with him to save Israel from destruction by a conspiracy of Israel’s Arab voters and Iran. Day after day, Eisenkot and his bloc have escalated their drive to consolidate a new government as fast as possible, as Netanyahu, even in a caretaker position, is a security threat. Eisenkot has demanded that Netanyahu not deploy the military “without a direct and immediate threat.”

In the last 24 hours, Netanyahu has defied all warnings and appears to be in a flight forward. Yesterday, Netanyahu’s Likud party leaders in the Knesset performed a strange maneuver. With the majority in the new Knesset, Eisenkot’s bloc established a temporary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, with Yisrael Beiteinu party leader Avigdor Lieberman named as its chair. That position gives Lieberman, and the Eisenkot bloc, access to classified intelligence—and the capacity to check any representations by Netanyahu regarding an emergency need to attack Iran. Netanyahu’s Likud leaders managed to get a five-day delay in Lieberman’s installment, keeping the classified intelligence out of his sight through Monday.