U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slipped into Israel without any public notice and sat down with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a meeting that unfolded as Washington and Jerusalem quietly weigh whether to resume major combat operations against Iran. The talks happened just over a week before Israel's Oct. 27 national election, a vote widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu's leadership.
Multiple reports place the meeting on Monday, Oct. 19, including Reuters, which cited two sources with knowledge of the visit. A Times of Israel liveblog, however, reported the encounter as happening on Oct. 20, describing it as occurring “today” and noting it fell seven days ahead of the Oct. 27 vote. The original scoop on the visit came from Axios, whose reporting was cited across the other outlets covering the story.
The leaders met at Ovda Air Base in southern Israel. The Jerusalem Post also reported that Hegseth met with U.S. troops stationed at the base. The outlet noted the base is where the United States deploys refueling planes and fighter jets. No details of what Hegseth and Netanyahu actually discussed have been made public, per a report from Ynetnews.
Iran Strike Talk Hangs Over the Visit
The meeting took place amid U.S.-Israeli discussions about potentially resuming major combat operations against Iran, the Jerusalem Post reported. That backdrop follows earlier reporting from Axios that the Pentagon had instructed U.S. Central Command several days earlier to conclude preparations for resuming major combat operations in Iran. U.S. and Israeli officials told the outlet any such action could happen before the U.S. midterm elections and possibly before Israel's elections a week earlier, though the same report said discussion of a resumption had increased without the chance of action before the elections being considered high.
Ynetnews separately reported that the United States had been moving additional forces into the region for weeks as the possibility of a strike on Iran loomed despite ongoing negotiations. Satellite imagery published by MizarVision and cited by the outlet showed 11 U.S. F-22 fighter jets at Ovda Air Base, including four positioned on the runway. Ynetnews also reported that the directive to prepare did not specify an attack date and that administration officials stressed no final decision had been made. The White House, according to the same Ynetnews report, denied that Donald Trump and Netanyahu had discussed resuming the war and said the United States would not attack Iran before the U.S. midterm elections.
A Politically Delicate Moment for Netanyahu
The timing lands squarely inside Israel's election cycle. The Jerusalem Post separately reported that Israel would prefer military action against Iran to begin only after the Oct. 27 Knesset election, and that Netanyahu fears a security escalation before the vote could change the electoral picture. The Washington Post has described the Oct. 27 election as a referendum on Netanyahu's handling of the deadliest attack on Israel since its founding and the three years of wars that followed.
Arab News, citing reporting on the race, said opinion polls project Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition to lose its governing majority, though the opposition may also struggle to form a government. Against that backdrop, a secret trip by Washington's top defense official carries obvious weight, even with its substance kept under wraps.
Officials Stay Silent on the Meeting
Hegseth addressed the trip only in broad terms, saying in a social media post that he had visited U.S. service members in the Central Command area of responsibility, according to Reuters. He did not confirm the meeting with Netanyahu directly in that post.
Requests for comment went largely unanswered. The Pentagon and the Israeli Embassy both declined to comment on the visit, while the Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not immediately respond, Axios reported. With no official account from any of the three offices and conflicting reports over whether the meeting happened Monday or Tuesday, much about the visit remains unconfirmed as Israel heads toward its election.
