Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror recently discussed the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran as well as the assassination of Hezbollah official Fuad Shukr in the Dahiya district of Beirut on 103FM radio.
Amidror said about the assassination in Beirut, "Regarding intelligence, one of the most difficult decisions is that of priorities. You can't do everything. In the last 20 years, Israel has estimated that its most important enemy is Hezbollah, and therefore all of our intelligence options against it are deeper and broader because of this effort. On the day when they put 100 grams of effort against Hezbollah, they put 1 gram of effort against Hamas."
"This explains why the basic intelligence is much better against Iran and Hezbollah and much less good against Hamas. It does not explain the mistakes of October 7, but building capabilities and recruiting agents is a slow, complex, and complicated process. The more you invest, the better results you will have over the years. It is impossible to do everything."
The fear regarding a multi-front campaign
"We are alarming ourselves with a multi-arena campaign. Hamas has totally failed in recruiting the Palestinians outside of Gaza, and the Palestinians have not revolted anywhere and have not created an extraordinary problem anywhere. I don't see that because of these assassinations, the Arabs of the West Bank will violently revolt."
He continued, "As for whoever invented the concept of the 'Ring of Fire', in the current case it did not work for Hamas, and the Arabs of Israel continue their normal lives. Nasrallah was also very careful until the attack in Majdal Shams. He already had 450 dead from the defensive activities of the IDF. We don't need to turn every shooting or event into a big war."
Regarding the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, Amidror stated, "Regarding the Iranian issue, it's Haniyeh, it's not the leadership of the Quds Force. Even so, the IDF must not act according to my [optimistic] assessment of the situation. There is no reason for Israel to announce that it is responsible for the assassination. No one can be certain that it was us. The security system should look at the worst possibility and prepare for it."
"Why now? Because of October 7. Hamas embarked on the most barbaric war imaginable. Each of its leaders is mortal. Their entire leadership, without exception, should disappear from the world and has no right on earth."
"If in the past I would have given Hamas a score of 100, today I would give it a 30. This is what remains in the relationship of forces between us and Hamas. Regarding the launch capabilities of the missiles it has in the field - its production capability dropped from 100 to 10 and its smuggling capability from 100 to 0. [Hamas] has no real launch capability from the Strip. Everything it fires is immediately taken off the list, and nothing can be produced or smuggled in its place."
On a personal note, Amidror concluded, "I want to say to all of my students who remained in the security system - well done. I'm proud of you."