Latest news with #AmosYadlin
Fox News
10-08-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Former head of Israeli military intel explains the goals Israel wants to achieve if Hamas agrees to a ceasefire
Former head of Israeli military intel Major General Amos Yadlin discusses the current state of the Israel-Hamas conflict on 'Fox Report.'
Middle East Eye
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Ex-Israeli intel chief warns Gaza occupation would doom cap
A former head of Israeli military intelligence has spoken out against a full occupation of Gaza, warning it would be catastrophic for both Israel and the captives still held in the enclave. 'We're talking about two million people and military rule; desperate people with destroyed homes, no hospitals or schools,' Amos Yadlin told Israel's Maariv newspaper. Yadlin, who led military intelligence between 2011 and 2012, said taking control of Gaza would saddle Israel with enormous responsibility and endanger the lives of the remaining captives. 'If I were in the cabinet today, I would lay out the implications of occupying Gaza,' he said. 'In my view, it would doom the hostages. After 22 months, the [Israeli military] knows how to conquer above-ground Gaza, but it doesn't know how to conquer underground Gaza or rescue the hostages.'
The Age
23-06-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Trump's strike on Iran supercharges Netanyahu's comeback
Alternatively, if the Iranian response is limited, the Israeli government may wind down the war, satisfied that it has achieved most of what it hoped for, and conscious that a longer conflict risks straining Israel's air-defence system. 'The ball is in the Iranian yard,' said Major General Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence. 'If Iran keeps on firing missiles, Israel will continue its own strikes and pursue more achievements, targeting Iran's missile launchers and missile factories, its oil industry and its civilian leadership.' Regardless of what happens next in Iran, Netanyahu's success has already changed the political landscape in Israel. After Israel began striking Iran more than a week ago, broadcasters published opinion polling that suggested his coalition had greater support than at almost any point since the start of Israel's war with Hamas in late 2023. On Sunday morning, Jerusalem time, his biggest domestic critics even applauded the success of his campaign, including his achievement in persuading US President Donald Trump to join the battle and destroy targets that Israeli warplanes could not reach. 'I don't have a problem with him enjoying this moment,' Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, said of Netanyahu in a radio interview. 'This is a success for Netanyahu, a success for Trump, and a success for the free world. This is what needed to happen.' Buoyed by the blow against Iran, Netanyahu could show greater flexibility in the negotiations to reach a new truce and hostage release deal in the Gaza Strip, analysts said. Loading For most of the war, he has avoided reaching a deal in Gaza that would allow Hamas' remnant leadership to retain significant influence in the territory. Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners repeatedly threatened to quit the government if the Gaza war ended without Hamas' total defeat. And with Netanyahu's party languishing in the polls, he appeared unwilling to make concessions in the talks that risked the collapse of his political alliance, most recently during renewed negotiations in May. Now, Netanyahu has options. Having exacted a price from Iran, Hamas' biggest benefactor, Netanyahu may be able to persuade his coalition to compromise in the talks with Hamas itself, according to his former adviser, Nadav Shtrauchler. 'Soon he hopefully will be able to say: 'We changed the Middle East. Now we need to be more flexible on other fronts – in Gaza and regarding the hostages',' Shtrauchler said. 'It will not happen tomorrow, but a window of opportunity has been opened.' If he does agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, that in turn would raise the chances of Netanyahu's achieving another long-held ambition: the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's most powerful country. In talks last year with US diplomats, officials said, Saudi Arabia signalled its openness to such a landmark deal – if the war ends in Gaza and if Netanyahu agrees to Palestinian sovereignty. Loading The former is still a long shot, and the latter is even less likely, given Netanyahu's resistance to a Palestinian state. But since he may be less beholden to his far-right allies, the prime minister could have more room to manoeuvre. 'It's now easier for him to make big diplomatic moves like a Saudi deal,' Shtrauchler said.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump's strike on Iran supercharges Netanyahu's comeback
Alternatively, if the Iranian response is limited, the Israeli government may wind down the war, satisfied that it has achieved most of what it hoped for, and conscious that a longer conflict risks straining Israel's air-defence system. 'The ball is in the Iranian yard,' said Major General Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israeli military intelligence. 'If Iran keeps on firing missiles, Israel will continue its own strikes and pursue more achievements, targeting Iran's missile launchers and missile factories, its oil industry and its civilian leadership.' Regardless of what happens next in Iran, Netanyahu's success has already changed the political landscape in Israel. After Israel began striking Iran more than a week ago, broadcasters published opinion polling that suggested his coalition had greater support than at almost any point since the start of Israel's war with Hamas in late 2023. On Sunday morning, Jerusalem time, his biggest domestic critics even applauded the success of his campaign, including his achievement in persuading US President Donald Trump to join the battle and destroy targets that Israeli warplanes could not reach. 'I don't have a problem with him enjoying this moment,' Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, said of Netanyahu in a radio interview. 'This is a success for Netanyahu, a success for Trump, and a success for the free world. This is what needed to happen.' Buoyed by the blow against Iran, Netanyahu could show greater flexibility in the negotiations to reach a new truce and hostage release deal in the Gaza Strip, analysts said. Loading For most of the war, he has avoided reaching a deal in Gaza that would allow Hamas' remnant leadership to retain significant influence in the territory. Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners repeatedly threatened to quit the government if the Gaza war ended without Hamas' total defeat. And with Netanyahu's party languishing in the polls, he appeared unwilling to make concessions in the talks that risked the collapse of his political alliance, most recently during renewed negotiations in May. Now, Netanyahu has options. Having exacted a price from Iran, Hamas' biggest benefactor, Netanyahu may be able to persuade his coalition to compromise in the talks with Hamas itself, according to his former adviser, Nadav Shtrauchler. 'Soon he hopefully will be able to say: 'We changed the Middle East. Now we need to be more flexible on other fronts – in Gaza and regarding the hostages',' Shtrauchler said. 'It will not happen tomorrow, but a window of opportunity has been opened.' If he does agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, that in turn would raise the chances of Netanyahu's achieving another long-held ambition: the normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's most powerful country. In talks last year with US diplomats, officials said, Saudi Arabia signalled its openness to such a landmark deal – if the war ends in Gaza and if Netanyahu agrees to Palestinian sovereignty. Loading The former is still a long shot, and the latter is even less likely, given Netanyahu's resistance to a Palestinian state. But since he may be less beholden to his far-right allies, the prime minister could have more room to manoeuvre. 'It's now easier for him to make big diplomatic moves like a Saudi deal,' Shtrauchler said.
Fox News
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Israel weighs options to destroy Fordow if it has to go it alone without help from the US
If President Trump decides not to order a strike on Iran's main underground enrichment site at Fordow, Israel has a number of options to destroy Iran's nuclear enrichment facility buried deep under a mountain south of Tehran. One option includes sending elite Israeli Air Force commandos from Unit 5101, known as Shaldag, which, in Hebrew, means kingfisher, a bird known to be patient and dive deep under water to find its prey. In September, members of this elite unit surprised the world by entering an underground missile factory used by Iran in Syria. "There was a site that similarly looked like Fordow," former Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin told Fox News in an exclusive interview. "Even though smaller, the Syrian facility produced advanced ballistic missiles, precise ballistic missiles using Iranian technology, as well as Iranian money." Israel attacked the site from the air a few times but was not able to destroy the site. Unit 5101 (Shaldag) used the cover of darkness and diversionary airstrikes to enter the secret site, plant explosives and destroy the complex. Like Iran's Fordow mountain complex south of Tehran, it was 300 feet underground. "The Air Force took care of all the guards around the perimeter, and Shaldag got in, and the place is gone, destroyed," Yadlin said with a slight smile. It's not the first time Israel has had to plan to take out a secret nuclear complex against the odds and alone. In 1981, Israel flew a daring mission to bomb Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak. Yadlin was one of eight young Israeli F-16 pilots who carried out the secret attack. "We didn't have air refueling at that time. We didn't have GPS. It was dumb bombs, smart pilot, but a very difficult operational mission when Iraq was in a war (with Iran). So, the state of alert was very, very high," Yadlin recalled. He and the other pilots believed it might be a suicide mission, and they might not have enough fuel to return home. More recently, retired Maj. Gen. Yadlin served as the head of Israel's Military Intelligence in 2007, when Israel blew up a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor that the world did not know about. The White House at the time did not want to assist in the strike. Yadlin has seen history change after Israel has acted alone carrying out daring missions like the exploding pagers that killed most of the top commanders of Iran's proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. In 2008, when it was determined that Israeli F-16s could not reach Iran's nuclear sites, Yadlin ordered Mossad to come up with another way to take out Iran's uranium enrichment at Natanz. Two years later, Israeli and American cyber warriors introduced Stuxnet, a malicious computer worm that caused thousands of Natanz centrifuges to spin out of control, setting back Iran's nuclear enrichment. The decision to strike Fordow, the crown jewel and heart of Iran's nuclear program, is different, and Israel prefers the U.S. to use its B-2 stealth bombers and 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs. "Anybody who wants the war to be over soon, to be finished quickly, have to find a way to deal with Fordow," Yadlin said. "Those who think that attacking Fordow will escalate the war, in my judgment, it can de-escalate and terminate the war." And it could serve as a deterrent to China and Russia, who will see the power and capability of the U.S. military's unique capability. Another option would be to cut power to Fordow. Without power, the centrifuges enriching the uranium could become permanently disabled. When asked if Israel could take out Fordow without American B-2 bombers, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox's Bret Baier in an exclusive interview last Sunday, "We have quite a few startups too and quite a few rabbits up our sleeve. And I don't think that I should get into that."
