“I believe that the government of Israel and the heads of the Armed Forces and the Security Services had the – mistaken as it turned out – belief that Hamas was in decline. That she was now inactive. They mightn’t imagine that he had the ability to carry out the attack he did.” This is former Mossad commander General (retd) Danny Yatom’s view on the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas in Israel.
The discussion between the Israeli military and politician and the journalist Vassilis Nedos took place in the context of the 9th Delphi Economic Forum, which takes place in Delphi, April 10-13 and is under the auspices of A.E. of the President of the Republic, Mrs. Katerina Sakellaropoulou.
In his intervention, Mr. Yatom referred in detail to the attack by Hamas on Israeli settlements on October 7. “It was a violent terrorist attack that Israel had never experienced before. “Hamas terrorists killed and raped men, women, the elderly and children, without any discrimination of gender or age,” said Mr. Yatom.
Asked by Vassilis Nedos if the reason for this underestimation on the part of Israel was the overconfidence in its technological and military superiority, but also in the collection of intelligence, so that more “traditional” methods of security and intelligence were not given due importance, Mr. Yatom replied:
“I don’t think it’s that much. The main problem is hubris. The chiefs of the Armed Forces and the prime minister have convinced themselves that Hamas is in decline, disarmed. So they had no reason to attack her. On the contrary, they had reason to exist in some version in Gaza to function as an opponent of the Palestinian Authority. And he cites as an example the phone call between top Israeli officials on the night between October 6 and 7. “They had signs that something was going to happen, but still they were talking regarding maybe 70 terrorists. They might not conceive of the attack of 3,000.”
Mr. Yatom believes that Hamas does not really want to release the 133 hostages it is currently holding. “We don’t even know how many and who are alive. Israel’s armed forces now have two targets in Gaza. To release the hostages and destroy all the systems, political and military, that allow it to control Gaza. It is important to say that they conduct operations there that go beyond the three fields: air, land, sea. Here is also the underground, with the network of hundreds of kilometers of tunnels built by Hamas.”
Iran is a bigger threat
The veteran military and security expert sees Iran as the biggest threat to Israel. “Iran does not want to engage in a full-scale war with Israel as long as it is not a nuclear power. He’s close to it but not yet. That is why he prefers proxy conflict.
It is a real axis of evil that includes Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other organizations and is supported by Russia and China. I think the US should form an alliance with Israel and moderate Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan to counter him. Israel is currently superior to Iran militarily and technologically. But if Iran builds an atomic bomb, it will be an existential threat to Israel.”
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