Operation Opera impossible for the Iraqis to take the necessary steps without being discovered. In Israel, discussions on which strategy to adopt in response to the Iraqi reactor development were taking place as early as [[Yitzhak Rabin|Yitzhak Rabin's]] [[Seventeenth government of Israel|first term in office]] (1974–1977). Reportedly, planning and training for the operation began during this time. After [[Menachem Begin]] became Prime Minister in 1977 the preparations intensified; Begin authorized the building of a full-scale model of the Iraqi reactor which Israeli pilots could practice bombing. Three Israeli pilots died in accidents while training for the mission. Israel's Foreign Minister [[Moshe Dayan]]
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia accepted the view put to him by McEwen that to commission a Liberal temporarily as Prime Minister would give that person an unfair advantage in the forthcoming party room ballot for the permanent leader. McEwen's appointment was in keeping with the previous occasion when the main non-Labor party was without a leader; Earle Page of the Country Party was interim Prime Minister between 7 and 26 April 1939—the period between Joseph Lyons' sudden death and the United Australia Party naming Robert Menzies his successor. Since 1968 only two Deputy Prime Ministers have gone on to become Prime Minister: Paul Keating