The United States gave Israel notification on Friday, August 30, that it is about to launch a military strike against Syria within 24 to 48 hours, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Friday.

According to the channel’s veteran security affairs correspondent, Ronny Daniel, “in Israel, phone calls were received both by the prime minister and the defense minister, as the Americans had promised, to give us prior notification – and they gave us notification of 24 to 48 hours. They told us – we are going to attack Syria within 24 to 48 hours.”

Also on August 30, Secretary of State John Kerry gave a dramatic speech that appeared to signal an imminent strike on Syria. 

“This crime against conscience, this crime against humanity, this crime against the most fundamental principles of international community…this matters to us,” he said. “And it matters to who we are. And it matters to leadership and to our credibility in the world. My friends, it matters here if nothing is done. It matters if the world speaks out in condemnation and then nothing happens.”

The next day, noted Daniel, President Obama “took a walk on the White House lawn and there he suddenly changed his mind.”

“He put his cannon in the Middle East and left the ammunition in the hands of Congress,” Daniel summed up.

Daniel and the channel’s diplomatic correspondent, Udi Segal, both said that Israel currently sees Obama as being in “the formative stages” of his Middle East policy, although he is in the fifth year of his presidency.