ERUSALEM, Oct. 6 — Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, warned his cabinet ministers today not to talk about American plans for Iraq, urging them to overcome for the good of the possible war effort what often seems a national compulsion to share one's insights as widely as possible.
Prodded by the Bush administration, Mr. Sharon concluded that it was time to address what one senior Israeli official today called "the blabbering thing that occurs here."
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Given the rollicking tumult of Israeli politics, it is not uncommon to see leaks in the news media about official anger over leaks, or to read an inside account of one high official dressing down another for talking too much to reporters. The Israeli media have been awash recently with officials' views on Iraq.
The Israeli media have also been reporting that the Bush administration is furious about the chatter.
"Everybody wants to voice his opinion on any lively subject," the senior Israeli official said. "This is healthy. But there are times when you need to be responsible, to take responsibility, and to shut up."
Late last week, Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, who in the past has shared too much for the Bush administration's taste, ventured that the Americans would attack Iraq at the end of November. His comment captured banner headlines, even though his hasty clarification said that he was merely voicing a "personal assessment" and that he meant the attack would begin at the end of November or later.
Mr. Sharon is planning to go to Washington this month, at President Bush's invitation, to discuss Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
After today's cabinet meeting, the official public summary reported tersely, "Prime Minister Sharon requested that ministers cease making remarks about Iraq."
Even as Mr. Bush has sought in recent days to play up the imminence and potency of the Iraqi threat, some of Israel's top security officials have played both down.
Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, Israel's chief of staff, was quoted in the newspaper Maariv today as telling a trade group in a speech over the weekend, "I'm not losing any sleep over the Iraqi threat." The reason, he said, was that the military strength of Israel and Iraq had diverged so sharply in the last decade.
Israel's chief of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aharon Farkash, disputed contentions that Iraq was 18 months away from nuclear capability. In an interview on Saturday with Israeli television, he said army intelligence had concluded that Iraq's time frame was more like four years, and he said Iran's nuclear threat was as great as Iraq's.
General Farkash also said Iraq had grown militarily weaker since the Persian Gulf war in 1991 and had not deployed any missiles that could strike Israel.
The torrent of newspaper articles continued today with Yediot Ahronot elaborating on reports in the United States about the details of American-Israeli plans for coordination in the event of war. It said that Mr. Bush would give Mr. Sharon 72 hours notice and that the two nations had agreed on targets in Iraq. It also mentioned previously published reports that the Americans would offer Israel a satellite to provide early warning of Iraqi missile strikes and that spare parts and other American equipment would be stored in Israel.
The Bush administration wants to dissuade Israel from responding should Iraq attack it after an American invasion, fearing that Israeli action would rally Arab support for the Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein.