Tamir Pardo
Appearances
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
I knew his oldest brother, Yohan Netanyahu, that he was my commander, a unit that I served in 1976. Unfortunately, he was killed less than one feet from me on a table raid.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
What happened in 1976, people were kidnapped, not because of we neglected something, we forgot something. October 7th is because we broke our obligation towards our people. The state of Israel betrayed the first thing that the IDF exists for. to defend our civil people. What happened there was a disaster. There were 2,000 people that managed to break into Israel because we neglected our duty.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
And that's the reason, when you did it, you have to pay the price. And the first price you have to pay is bring them home. And then find a way to solve the problem using the stick, but only after bringing them home.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
I remember before the war... And you can go and check the figures. IDF, Israel Defense Forces, estimated that there are between 20 and 25,000 people that can use weapons in Gaza. Nine months ago, the military spokesman said that more than 17,000 Hamas terrorists were killed. So think about how many were wounded. Let's assume that
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
Another 6,000 were wounded, and we know that more than 3,000 were in prison in Israel. We captured. So, actually, the job was finished. We killed all the generals, the leaders there. the commander of brigades, platoon, whatever, okay? So those who are still there, the vast, vast majority are those who were recruited after the war started, and they don't have any experience, okay?
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
But they can hold a Klachnikov, an AK-47, and kill a soldier here and there, but... The main power, 90% of the power was finished more than nine months ago. So enough. Enough. At the end of the day, the Hamas is not only a military power, terrorist power, okay? It's a political power as well. So thinking that you can erase political power by a military attack... That's wrong. That's wrong.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
And every civilian that is killed today, his brother, his son, his father will hold the gun tomorrow.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
So I think that our prime minister today is trying to solve his personal problems. Not our problems, his problems. And that was what he's doing from the first day that he was indicted. From the first day of his trial. He's not thinking about Israel as a state.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
What is your post-war strategy? in Lebanon? What is your password strategy in Syria? What is your strategy versus Iran? Okay, using the stick, using the stick, thinking that by using the stick you're going to solve problem? It's wrong.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
Exactly. In order to solve problems, you need to negotiate. Negotiate when you have a stick in your hand. Use the stick if it's needed. But understand that at the end of the day, you should negotiate for an agreement. The point is that our government believes in using the sticks. Not one stick, sticks.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
It's not too far. It's wrong. What do you mean? No one... Even Smotrich and Ben-Gurion are not killing babies for fun, okay? I don't agree. They're fascists. They are the KKK in Israel. They're fascists, but they are not killing, even fascists in Israel are not killing babies for fun.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
Look, I hope not. I hope not. But fighting in a place like Gaza, 364 square kilometers, in this small place that squeezed more than 2 million people, fighting using all means, warfare capabilities, many civilians are getting killed, unfortunately. That's the reason in war, in such a place, it should be very, very short. War? Short. Short.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
Because as time is passing, many, many more civilians getting killed. Many more civilians lose their part of their families. losing their homes, losing everything. And to conduct a war for 20 months in such a small place, bad things are happening.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
It's going to be very hard. Okay? And that's what worries us. Should worry every Israeli.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
Stop the war. Because it takes you to nowhere.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
We are already 600 days after October 7th, and we have five divisions deployed in Gaza, and I don't see an end to that war. It's useless. It's accomplishing nothing, nothing. I'm not talking about those people who are living or dying in Gaza. I'm talking about Israel, from Israel's point of view. It's a waste of time, what we're doing there. Waste of lives, waste of money. wasting the future.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
The responsibilities of the Mossad is to avoid our enemies to obtain nuclear weapons, whoever they are, wherever they are. My responsibility was to stop any terrorist attempt against Israelis that are outside the state of Israel. or from terrorists that are trying to hit us from abroad.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
At the end of the day, when I'm thinking about my children, my government children, I would like that they're going to live in a safe country, but in a peaceful country. And in order to achieve peace, from time to time you have to use your sword, but don't think that you can solve the problem with your sword. what's happening here now in Israel. It's insane.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
Our fault, Israel's fault. On October the 8th, it was 24 hours after October the 7th, and I said to my friends within the old boys club, I said, bring the hostages home now. Don't start a war. Negotiate and bring the 251 hostages home now. then solve the problem. That was the biggest mistake of the State of Israel, because those hostages should have been released weeks after.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
You cannot defeat the Hamas and bring the hostages back on the same priority. You have to choose. And our government preferred to kill than to bring the hostages.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
Because those people, children, women, civilians, and soldiers as well, were kidnapped because of our fault as a state. The armed forces in every country is responsible for the safety of those civilians who are living in the country. And this war, the results of October the 7th, was because our armed forces, they failed to do it. Now bring them back and then punish those who did it.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
And I'm saying punishing, not revenge. It's different. What's the difference? I don't believe in revenge. You have to punish and you have to find out and kill all those who did what they did on October the 7th. Okay? Full stop. You don't have to destroy Gaza because it's meaningless.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
I think that we are creating, in the last 20 months, we are creating more problems that we are solving at the end of the day. Okay, yes, okay, we killed 70, 90% of those, let's say, terrorists that are living in Gaza, but we killed many more civilians. And the day after, When we'll see that day after starts, we're gonna have a very big problem there in Gaza.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
Because I think that when you're gonna have 2.1 million people that don't have no housing, no job, no water, no electricity, no healthcare system,
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
we will have to solve the problem no one else will have to solve it we will and then we are creating such a problem that i know how we were able to solve it i'm not expecting uh let's say americans to solve the problem i'm not expecting egypt to solve the problem we are there so we'll have to solve the problem and you created the problem and we created the problem
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
Yeah, that's the first time that it's happening in Israel.
Radio Atlantic
Mossad’s Former Chief Calls the War in Gaza ‘Useless’
That so many veterans... that with their experience, are watching what's happening here in Israel, and there is an understanding that we are taking the wrong path. We are creating a damage, a huge damage to the state of Israel, okay, by what we're doing. We are accomplishing nothing.