Israel monitoring Iran protests closely as officials are wary of commenting

Israel is closely monitoring the protests in Iran even as government officials are wary of commenting openly about the demonstrations. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed cabinet ministers to refrain from public comment, according to an Israeli source, so as not to give the regime any additional excuse to blame Israel.

“From Israel’s viewpoint, this is not the right time to intervene,” a former senior Israeli official told CNN. “There’s no reason to disrupt the internal weakening of the regime or to give it a pretext to rally domestic support.”

At the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said Israel identifies with “the struggle of the Iranian people and their aspirations for freedom, liberty, and justice.” He said, “It is very possible that we are standing at the moment when the Iranian people are taking their fate into their own hands.”

Netanyahu has, on occasion, tried to address the Iranian people directly, including during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June. But Israel’s silence now suggests that the government is taking the demonstrations in Iran seriously.