Cannot let ‘monster of Hezbollah’ be so close to Israel, says former Israeli national security advisor

We were joined by Major General Yaakov Amidror, who served as the National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu between 2011 and 2013.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Can you tell us what would be the military strategy if a ground invasion goes ahead?

Yaakov Amidror: We have two goals in this war in Lebanon. One is to move Hezbollah north, so Hezbollah cannot do a Hezbollah version of the 7th of October, to ride into Israel. For that, we have to push them to the north. If will not be done with an agreement, it will be done by military forces, ground forces, which will go into south Lebanon, cleaning from Hezbollah, killing those Hezbollah terrorists which are still in the south, and destroy all the infrastructure of Hezbollah in the south. The second goal is to erode the the ability of Hezbollah to launch missiles, rockets to Israel. Remember, the war begin in the north in the 8th of October, where Hezbollah, without any provocation of the state of Israel, begin to launch missiles, rockets and drones into Israel. By the way, in the last 11 months, more than 9,000 rockets and missiles. I didn’t see the world there extending and doing whatever is needed to stop Hezbollah.

But then the IDF moved to offensive and show its capabilities. Many countries are rising and saying, hey, stop, it’s bad. Well, they had been in the last 11 months, during which Hezbollah launched thousands of rockets and missiles into Israel. So now we are well in the momentum. We don’t have any interest to stop. You will say that it is the extreme right wing of the coalition who is pressing Bibi. Benny Gantz is not right wing. I am not extremist in right wing. I think that professionally, not because of ideology, we should not stop the momentum of the IDF. We are now in the momentum. Hezbollah is weaker because we killed many of its leadership, a big part of its leadership, and we destroyed many of its missiles. We should continue.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: But how do you get out of that situation? Wherever you push Hezbollah back, they will still have more rockets to fire on you. Are you talking about an occupation, an indefinite occupation of southern Lebanon again?

Yaakov Amidror: As I said, we have two goals. One is to push Hezbollah back. If they fall back, we will have to be in south Lebanon, we will be in south Lebanon. We will not let the monster of Hezbollah to be 500 metres from Israeli communities. It will not happen. The mistake that we did in Gaza, we are not going to do again in Lebanon. And it is not well connected to the other goal, which is to erode its its ability to launch rockets and missiles, simply that. What is the alternative? To let Hezbollah, with all its forces, to be 500 metres from Israeli communities. And whenever Hezbollah decides, like it decided in the 8th of October, without any provocation of Israel, to attack, and we will have another 7th of October. But that will not happen.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: But isn’t the alternative a ceasefire in Gaza, which is what so much of your own allies, including Britain, are now pressing for. That is what Hezbollah says would end its attacks to the north of Israel.

Yaakov Amidror: So what you are offering now is saying, guys, because Hezbollah needs a ceasefire and you have to stop the momentum, you have to give up your demand to get the hostages in Gaza back and stop the fire in Gaza. Very logical, I must say.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Isn’t it the war in Gaza that stops the hostages coming back?

Yaakov Amidror: No, what’s stopping that is the fact that Hamas doesn’t want to give the hostages. Hamas can give those tomorrow morning and it will be much easier for Hamas. But Hamas wants to keep the hostages. This is the only asset that Hamas has, and after the 7th of October, we will not let Hamas regroup in Gaza. We will smash Hamas to the level in which Hamas cannot threatening Israel in the future. What is the alternative? Is to give Hamas regroup and to build again its capabilities and to wait for another 7th of October. It’s not what I’m saying, it’s what they said that they will do whenever they will have the opportunity. They will not have the opportunity.