I don't know who the "defense establishment" is, I do know that this delusional briefing, like quite a few statements by generals past and present in recent times, reflect terrible strategic blindness, and teach that tactical operational capabilities and experience, courage, heroism and dedication, and swords and falafels on the shoulders are absolutely no guarantee of the ability to read a map and think strategically.
Let's sort out some basic strategic truths:
1.
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This war cannot end with any agreement with Hamas, no matter what its terms, simply because according to the goals defined for the war, at the end of it there should not be such a creature called Hamas with which any agreement can be made. Hamas must be destroyed, and not just anyhow.
2.
Destroying Hamas is critical to our security and survival because it makes it clear to all our neighbors that whoever does to us what the Hamas monsters did to us on October 7th is wiped out and will not survive. No matter how much he hurts us and no matter how hard it is and how long it takes, in the end we will win and he will be destroyed. Any other outcome will encourage our enemies to try to recreate what Hamas did to us, in all sectors.
3.
It is difficult to describe how unfounded and disconnected from reality are the claims that "we can always return to fight and thwart Hamas." As if we haven't been here for the past twenty years. These are exactly the same claims that promised us before the disengagement that if only Hamas dared to shoot, or what would we do to it then... the same claims that promised that Nasrallah's missiles would rust if he only dared to shoot after we left southern Lebanon... claims that are disconnected from international and domestic pressures and from the natural dynamics of military and social processes.
If, God forbid, the war ends with Hamas alive and kicking, in an agreement in which the IDF commits to withdraw from all areas of the Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphia axis, with American guarantees to end the war, and when there are still thousands of kilometers of tunnels in Gaza - which is exactly what Hamas is demanding in order to be kind enough to return some of the abductees to us - Hamas will restore its capabilities at lightning speed and in a very short time we will return to the illusory reality that existed until October 6th, when the IDF is returning to attacking dunes and esoteric targets in response to Hamas's terror and strengthening, and we tell ourselves that this time, for real, this time Hamas is truly deterred... Only this time it will be with Hamas, which is much stronger in terms of consciousness, after it managed to bring the State of Israel to its knees and actually prove that it is immune, invincible, and indestructible.
And if this is the mindset regarding a terrorist organization, just imagine what mindset Nasrallah, Khamenei, and the rest of our enemies will have from now on. It's amazing how blind and disconnected senior figures in the security establishment can be.
4.
The truth is that these senior officials are pressing to end the war in the south with an agreement with Hamas, mainly to try to reach an agreement under its auspices that is not worth the paper it is written on, with Hezbollah in the north, and to avoid the need to operate there with military force. This is even more disturbing and infuriating. The residents of the north will not return home if the IDF relies on Hezbollah's goodwill and on assessments, which repeatedly fail the test of reality, that "Nasrallah does not want war.".
For 8 months, the residents of the North have been gritting their teeth bravely, expecting and demanding that this price be worth it. Woe to us if we disappoint them and further erode our deterrence in the region.
And let's be clear, that's exactly what Benny Gantz is striving for. And that's why he left the government irresponsibly and in the midst of the war. Yesterday he said it for the first time in his own voice and explained that he left because Smotrich forced Netanyahu to refuse to stop the war as part of a deal with Hamas. And the truth is, it's not surprising. Gantz grew up in the same beds of senior officials who trained Nadav Eyal.
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That's what Lapid and, of course, Yair Golan and the rest of their friends on the left are striving for. That's what the Biden administration, Europe and the UN are striving for, and that's what will happen, God forbid, if our government falls and a left-wing government is established in its place. All of this, of course, is just a promo for a "regional arrangement" that will lead back to the path of surrender and retreat and the establishment of a Palestinian terrorist state in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, a terrorist state that will endanger the existence of the State of Israel.
Now, our main challenge is to make sure that Israel is a country that has an army, and not the other way around, and to demand that the IDF continue to fight until victory. To prepare to maintain long-term operational control in the Gaza Strip, for a prolonged stay in the corridor, in Philadelphia, and in repeated raids, until the complete destruction of Hamas and the return of all the hostages.
This, in parallel with the defeat of Hezbollah in the north and the return of the residents of the north to their homes in safety. It is not easy but possible, and most importantly, as a people living in the Middle East, we simply have no other choice.
