What went wrong on October 7th that led to a coordinated attack that killed more than 1,200 people?
Despite the controversies and complicated political situation in Israel, there was something that most Israelis believed in: the security of the army. The first serious blow was that our armed arm, something we relied on, failed. It shouldn’t have happened. The military apparatus should have cooperated with any government, whether right, left, stupid or intelligent. With binoculars from the Falklands War that would have been stopped, there was no need for high technology. We pay with life itself for things that we thought high technology would overcome and help us live. We can know what is happening in every square meter of Tehran, and we cannot know what is happening here, half a kilometer away, to stop what is coming.
The idea promoted by Netanyahu and all security services is that peace with the Arab world can be achieved without having to attack the Palestinian conflict. Some of us thought it was the other way around, that we wanted to settle things with the Palestinians first. But time proved Netanyahu right, because things were going too well for him at the moment. What he did wrong internally was the judicial reform of his last term in office. But the agreement with Saudi Arabia was already in danger of failing before October 7th.
Many Israelis want Gaza to become Singapore, Las Vegas… Hamas has become a drinkable enemy, the classic enemy we want. Israel turned a blind eye to all the money coming in, even though they knew it was also being used for weapons, for tunnels. But people believed in Israel’s superior power. From this perspective, Hamas was a rational actor. Despite the fiery dialogues we had. For example, sometimes they only participated in Islamic Jihad and Hamas did not enter. They didn’t want to have internal problems. When they entered into these heated dialogues, Israel came to nothing. Without trying to kill. And the same applies to Gaza: they shot, not killed. But we rest on our laurels. We did not see the trap that Hamas set for us. Who would have thought of this idea? Yahya Sinwar (the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip) is a teacher. He won the match. He simply understood the Israeli mentality. He understood the Western world. You can clearly see the international reaction, the feeling that Israel has the right to defend itself, but no. He knows exactly what he wants. And Israel’s reaction is within their calculations. If I do that, Israel will kill half of Gaza, it doesn’t care about the lives of Gazans. He wins the war.
He says Sinwar has read the international community. What do you think of Biden’s criticism and calls for a change of government in Israel?
It’s another mismatch that also surprised me. The truth is that the only support we receive from abroad is the radical right. The fascists of Europe. The old anti-Semites are the pro-Jews. And the left that courted us in the 1960s is now completely at the level of anti-Semitism. They accuse Israel of genocide… If we really wanted to do it, it would be done in two minutes. 18,000 deaths are a lot, but not genocide. How can you fight differently? As for the United Nations, it is surprising that only Israel is being asked to cease fire. They are simply demanding a ceasefire from Israel.
Do they fear even greater isolation given the majority that rejects Israel in the United Nations?
The most important thing for us is the United States. For the rest, there is discomfort, there is anger. But our great fear is for the United States. Joe Biden faces a structural problem that cannot be solved. The truth is that Israel would be better off with a Donald Trump, although he is somewhat unpredictable. There is a kind of incomprehensibility when it comes to the rest of the world. Liberal Europe is now against Israel. We took Meloni, Le Pen, Orbán with us in Hungary. I am with the one who supports me. It’s enough for me to be pro-Israel. We are in an existential moment.