Israel’s war in Gaza must come to an immediate end – that is the demand from 19 former high-ranking leaders of the country’s military and intelligence services.
They argue that the invasion has long lacked military purpose and is now driven by political forces with religiously fanatical motives.
Although the Israeli government describes its invasion of Gaza as a defensive war against Hamas, increasing international voices have pointed out that the Israelis are engaging in ethnic cleansing and genocide and intend to permanently displace the Palestinian population and take over their land.
Now a number of Israel’s most experienced former military and security chiefs are joining the condemnations. In a joint video, 19 former high-ranking officials from the defense forces, intelligence services and police call for an immediate end to the war.
They argue that the war could have been concluded long ago – but that it is now being continued for political and religiously fanatical reasons, not out of military necessity.
Among the signatories are former Prime Minister and IDF (Israel Defense Forces) chief Ehud Barak, as well as former defense chiefs of staff Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Halutz, former Shin Bet (Israeli internal security service) directors Yoram Cohen, Ami Ayalon and Nadav Argaman, and former Mossad (Israeli foreign intelligence service) chief Tamir Pardo.
“Achieved all military objectives”
— We have a duty to stand up and say what we need to say. This war started as a just war. It was a defensive war. But once we achieved all its military objectives, once we achieved a brilliant military victory against all our enemies, this war stopped being a just war. It is leading the State of Israel to the loss of its security and identity, says Ami Ayalon in the video.
A narrator’s voice opens the film by emphasizing the weight of the participants’ collective experience and explains that the men now demanding an end to the war have all operated in Israel’s innermost circles and been involved in the most sensitive decision-making processes.
— Together, they have more than a thousand years’ experience in national security and diplomacy, it is proclaimed.
The message in the video is clear: the war could have been ended long ago, and must now be replaced with a permanent ceasefire and an agreement that leads to the release of the approximately 50 remaining Israeli hostages in one comprehensive deal.
“On the precipice of defeat”
Former military intelligence chief Amos Malka says that Israel is “well over a year past the point when we could have ended the war with a sufficient operational result”.
— We are now mostly offsetting losses, states Nadav Argaman.
— We are on the precipice of defeat, warns Tamir Pardo.
He directs sharp criticism at the Israeli war strategy and the humanitarian catastrophe created in Gaza:
— What the world sees today is of our own creation. We are hiding behind a lie that we wrought. This lie was sold to the Israeli public, and the world has long since understood that it doesn’t reflect the real picture.
“The minority controls the policy”
Moshe Ya’alon points to what he describes as a religiously extremist power constellation controlling the government’s actions:
— There are moments that represent a black flag in which one must stand firm and say: This far and no further. Right now, we have a government that the messianic zealots have pulled in a certain, irrational direction.
— They are a minority – but the problem is that the minority controls the policy, adds Yoram Cohen.
He also criticizes the idea of total victory over Hamas as a dangerous illusion:
— Anyone who believes Israel can reach every terrorist and every pit and every weapon, and at the same time bring our hostages home, is entertaining a fantasy.
Urging others to take a stand
In their closing message, the security veterans turn to those who now hold their former positions within the defense and intelligence establishments. They are urged to take a stand and dare to speak out.
— They must bravely stand up before the prime minister and before the cabinet and say their piece about this war and its futility, says Nadav Argaman.
— It is their duty to say what they can do and what cannot be done, even if someone really wants it.
