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Diplomacy as Cover
A report on Monday said a regional power urged another Middle Eastern state to reach an agreement with Israel as part of a strategy to “put Israel to sleep” while preparations were made for a larger military confrontation.
““put Israel to sleep” while preparations were made for a larger military confrontation”
The report, citing sources familiar with the matter, said officials suggested the agreement could later be violated once preparations were complete, and that the identities of the two countries were not disclosed.
Jonatan Urich, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, weighed in Tuesday after adviser Itzik Alrov publicly suggested that Egypt was at the center of the report.
Urich rejected that identification, writing on X: “It is not Egypt,” while the Kan report did not identify the country allegedly proposing the strategy or the country it was advising.
The central allegation described in the report was that diplomacy with Israel was being considered not as a lasting settlement but as a means of lowering Israeli vigilance while military preparations continued in parallel.
Secret Flight Swap
In a separate development, The Times of Israel reported that US President Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey last month when he and the White House said he was flying aboard Air Force One.
The report said Trump and the White House described transferring between planes while hiding in a catering truck, prompted by an Iranian assassination threat, and that the trip to NATO was the first international travel for a newly renovated Qatari-donated jet to Ankara.
Before departing Ankara, Trump said on Truth Social that he would use an older baby blue Air Force One plane “for old time’s sake” to RAF Mildenhall in Britain, while the new Qatari-gifted plane stopped at the same base so US service members could tour the aircraft.
The report said that after Trump boarded the old Air Force One in front of cameras in Ankara, he was secretly shuttled by an airport catering truck to a smaller plane, an Air Force C-32A.
It also said Trump told the press he had to keep their window shades closed because they were “probably on a dangerous flight,” and that the C-32A carrying Trump flew to Britain and arrived at around 10:20 p.m.