Amos Yadlin, the former head of the IDF’s military intelligence directorate, said at the Aspen Security Forum on Thursday that Israel needs to “re-define the goals of the war” in Gaza against Hamas, while offering strong criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Arguing that it will be impossible for Israel to kill every Hamas terrorist, Yadlin proposed a set of three goals for the war: freeing the hostages, returning to and rebuilding communities in southern Israel and ensuring that Hamas can no longer pose a threat to Israel. 

He said those goals would be accomplished in part by the cease-fire deal on the table, which would allow Israel to pull back from Gaza, potentially lead to normalization with Saudi Arabia and a strengthened counter-Iran coalition.

“This can be a strategic victory for Israel, instead of dreaming of some absolute victory that, unfortunately, my prime minister is trying to sell to his people,” Yadlin said. “This is the time to say enough is enough with Gaza, bring back these people — it’s important to our national unity and sense of security — and start to solve the strategic problem that this war created. “

Yadlin said that Hamas had already been significantly degraded to the level of an insurgency, rather than a full military as it was on Oct. 7. And he said that Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar is under immense pressure from Hamas commanders to end the war.

He argued that the post-war status of Gaza and the deradicalization of its population — eliminating the ideology of Hamas — is “not our job” and “we cannot do it.” He has argued in the past for a Palestinian bureaucracy — not run by the current PA — supported by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to take over the enclave.

“If there is hostage release, there is cease-fire in the south — which is important also to the innocent people in Gaza, that Sinwar doesn’t care about, but I care about, and they deserve a cease-fire — there will be a cease-fire in the North,” he added.

He said Israel should remain in the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt until the U.S., Egypt and Israel can agree on a plan to ensure that smuggling into Gaza cannot resume.

“And as long as the issue of demilitarization will be solved, let’s say, by partnership with the Egyptians — we can build an underground wall … we don’t have to be in Philadelphi,” he said. “But this cooperation and plan should be agreed before we withdraw, to make sure that Hamas will not rebuild itself.”

Yadlin said that the Oct. 7 attack occurred as a result of intelligence failures in Israel’s early warning systems, operational failures by Israel’s Southern Command to respond to the attack and political failures by Netanyahu.

“I never thought that such a failure could happen,” Yadlin said. “I was the head of intelligence 14 years ago, and the intelligence has become even better since then.”

He blamed Netanyahu for refusing to negotiate with reformers in the PA and allowing Hamas, backed by Qatar, to build their capacity in Gaza, saying Netanyahu “didn’t want to go on the political track, and he preferred the terrorists in Gaza.”

In further criticism of Netanyahu, Yadlin said that the Israeli leader had a chance to cement his legacy as among the most successful and consequential leaders in Israel’s history if he had stepped down in 2019. But he will now “enter history as one of the worst prime ministers of Israel” as a result of his and his coalition’s actions since retaking office at the end of 2022.

Now, Yadlin said, Netanyahu’s best path to salvage his legacy is to end the war and finalize a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia. He said that the Israeli opposition would provide the necessary votes to approve a deal if Netanyahu calls a new election.

The former Israeli intelligence chief warned that Iran is already close to a nuclear weapon, having enough fissile material for eight or nine bombs and the missiles with which to deliver them. 

Yadlin recommended focusing on Iran’s progress toward weaponization as the third key component in a nuclear attack. And he said that the top priority for Israeli intelligence should be determining if the Iranian supreme leader has decided to pursue a bomb after Iran’s April missile attack on Israel failed.

Yadlin said that the U.S. and Israel should be focused on making an agreement together on how they will stop Iran from obtaining a bomb, what their “red lines” are for the Iranian nuclear program and what operational strategy they would use in that eventuality.

“Be ready,” Yadlin said. “Because I have a concern that Iran, looking at what’s going on on the global stage, having Russia and China behind them — which was not the case a decade ago — they may break out to the bomb.”

Yadlin also pushed back aggressively against a characterization by the previous panelist, former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, that Israel was responsible for the failure of the Oslo Accords peace process.

Yadlin countered that the PLO was responsible for violating the agreements by supporting the Second Intifada in 2000.

And he added that Fayyad’s proposal to bring Hamas into the PLO was unwise, unless Hamas agrees to internationally agreed-upon principles for the PLO, including recognizing Israel, renouncing terrorism and supporting the agreement between Israel and the PLO.

At the same time, Yadlin described himself as an optimist about the possibilities for peace, saying that he and Fayyad likely agree on 90% of the issues needed to resolve the conflict. But, he added, Fayyad is not currently negotiating on behalf of the Palestinans, who, he noted, largely support Hamas and its Oct. 7 attack.

Yadlin said he’s still hopeful that “this awful war will lead to peace,” as the Yom Kippur War ultimately produced peace with Egypt.

“Five years later, [Egyptian Leader Anwar] Sadat came to Jerusalem and said, no more war, no more bloodshed,” he said. “So I’m waiting five years from now for an Israeli Sadat, for a Palestinian Sadat.”