Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have almost finally decided on an Israeli strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities this fall, and a final decision will be taken soon, Israel’s main TV news broadcast reported on Friday evening.

Channel 2 News, the country’s leading news program, devoted much of its Friday night broadcast to the issue, detailing the pros and cons that, it said, have taken Netanyahu and Barak to the brink of approving an Israeli military attack despite opposition from many Israeli security chiefs and public opinion.

US President Barack Obama does not want to intervene militarily before the presidential elections in November, and it is doubtful that he would act afterwards, runs the Israeli assessment, the TV report said. As for presidential challenger Mitt Romney, he takes a more forceful position, but would probably not have the domestic support necessary to act in the first year of his presidency, if elected, and after that it would be “too late”.

According to “Haaretz”: “The threat concerning the home front is dwarfed by another threat – Iranian nuclear power,” said Netanyahu on Sunday morning at the start of the cabinet meeting. Netanyahu added that, nonetheless, every two weeks he convenes a special debate dealing with the home front’s preparedness for war.