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Monday, July 27, 2026
In rare interview, outgoing defense chief pans war’s strategic ‘resounding failure’
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A outgoing senior Defense Ministry official launches a broadside against the government’s strategic conduct throughout the multifront war, accusing the leadership of squandering a series of military achievements.
“Strategically, this war is a resounding failure,” says Brig. Gen. (ret.) Dror Shalom, who, until several months ago, headed the Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Bureau, during an interview at a conference organized by the Institute for National Security Studies.
“We didn’t bring a decisive result on all the fronts. Hamas is still on its feet; Hezbollah is far from disarming; Iran — we moved back the nuclear program a bit, but it still exists; and Israel’s [international] status is at a record low and relations with the United States are also not at their best,” he argues.
It is the first-ever on-camera interview for Shalom, who currently serves as a senior adviser at JPMorgan Chase.
“The whole strategic standing in Israel today is weak,” Shalom says, arguing that the next government must create an alternative to Hamas and reach diplomatic breakthroughs with Syria and Lebanon.
Regarding Iran, Shalom claims that “whoever thought the regime can be toppled with airstrikes and the Kurds — delusional, simply delusional.” He is referring to a botched plan for Kurdish militias to invade Iran during the US-Israeli war, which aimed to “create the conditions” for the Islamic Republic’s fall. The plan was abandoned after it was leaked before the invasion happened.
Turning to Gaza, Shalom says “one of the only achievements is that we returned the hostages,” though he credits anti-government protests for pushing the US to act on the matter, and asserts that the abductees could have been returned earlier and in greater numbers.
He also argues that relations with Egypt and Jordan are being “neglected.”
He says he is waiting for a state commission of inquiry to be formed into Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, saying he would be “the first” to come and testify.
The Times of Israel Community.