Hamas is no longer a threat to Israel, 500 ex-spies tell Trump

Irish Independent

a day ago

In an open letter to the White House, the retired officials said the campaign, now approaching its 23rd month, has ceased to be a 'just war' and that it was 'leading the state of Israel to lose its security and identity' as a result.
The 550 signatories urge Mr Trump to pressure Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to agree to a ceasefire that would return the remaining hostages.
They include former heads of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, the Mossad, its foreign spy agency, three former chiefs of the military, including a former prime minister, Ehud Barak, and two former defence ministers.
It comes amid speculation that the government will announce a new direction for the campaign in Gaza in the coming days, in the absence of a hostage-return deal.
Operation Gideon's Chariot, a dramatic expansion of the IDF's offensive, which was launched in May, has now effectively concluded.
However, it has not succeeded either in defeating Hamas or in pressuring it to release the hostages, aims which were given as justification at the start.
At the same time, Israel's international reputation has deteriorated as the humanitarian crisis, including mass displacement and widespread hunger, has worsened.
Military analysts generally agree that Israel smashed Hamas's ability to fight as an organised terror army last year.
Since then, the group has been operating as small groups of guerrilla fighters, but still inflicting a painful death toll on the IDF.
'It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,' the letter stated.
'At first this war was a just war, a defensive war, but when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war,' said Ami Aylon, a former Shin Bet director and one of the senior signatories.
The letter argued that Israel has 'long accomplished' the objectives that can be achieved by military force, namely dismantling Hamas's military formations and governance.
'The third, and most important, can only be achieved through a deal: bringing the hostages home', it read.
On Sunday, Mr Netanyahu said Israel was seeking a 'decisive military victory', in a message that elicited concern from hostage families.
Using the momentum from the perceived victory over Iran in June, the White House put both Israel and Hamas under huge pressure to restart talks.
The negotiations lasted for weeks but fell apart without a deal, with both sides accusing the other of making unrealistic demands.
Although staunch in his support for Israel and Mr Netanyahu personally, Mr Trump criticised the plight of ordinary Gazans in recent weeks and made it clear he wants the conflict to end.
But it is not known if he would go so far as effectively ordering Mr Netanyahu to stop fighting, or, if he did, whether the Israeli prime minister would comply.
Yesterday, the Israeli press reported the future of the campaign could be decided at a security cabinet later this week.
Options said to be on the table are a reduced offensive that allows in more military aid, total military occupation of the strip, or an 'encirclement' strategy, whereby the IDF withdraws to a number of zones around key Hamas areas and launches raids from those. (© Telegraph Media Group Holdings Ltd)