Israel made a big mistake in putting the destruction of Hamas over rescuing the hostages, former high-ranking Israeli diplomat Alon Liel said on The Jerusalem Post Podcast with Tamar Uriel-Beeri and Sarah Ben-Nun.
Liel, the former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, was asked about his thoughts on the ongoing hostage deal talks.
His response was to point out how, in the wake of October 7, Israel failed to make saving the hostages the No. 1 priority rather than the elimination of Hamas.
"This transmitted the message to the families and to the Israeli public that the government doesn't really take responsibility for them becoming hostages," Liel explained. "So I think this decision to put the elimination of Hamas [above saving the hostages] was a mistake that later caused additional mistakes in the handling of the crisis."
He continued, "The tendency for revenge was so strong that the commitment to [save] the hostages came after the wish for revenge... And I think this caused the delay in releasing the hostages."
Did Israel take the bait? Hamas's success in getting Israel to invade Gaza
When asked about what Israel should have done differently, Liel noted that Hamas's biggest achievement was not the October 7 massacre but the fact that it led Israel to launch a total ground invasion of Gaza.
He explained that before the ground invasion started, he had wondered if Hamas's initial plan was to drag Israel into Gaza.
"If we had not militarily and only surrounded Gaza and continued the war from the air, we wouldn't see this unbelievable damage that was caused to Gaza, the unbelievable number of casualties, and the pictures that the whole world saw during the last six months that have dramatically changed our status internationally," the former ambassador said.
He explained that Israel has lost twice over, once when letting Hamas attack on October 7, and again when they entered Gaza.
"I don't know if they really planned it this way," Liel clarified. But the fact that we handled this war as revenge and did not think about the overall strategic picture, including our international standing, caused us to play into their hands."
On October 6, Israel had very good standing on the world stage, he noted.
"We never had such a strong international standing as we did during 2023," Liel explained. "Especially during the autumn of 2023, when we were on the verge of forging relations with Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
"This collapsed on October 7, and the collapse itself was a kind of humiliation for Israel and an total surprise – not only militarily, but diplomatically. And this led to the further mistake of attacking on the ground in a massive war that we were not prepared for. And we launched it in such a way that brought us to the International Court of Justice in The Hague."