Netanyahu assails ex-security chiefs, says IDF had abandoned its commitment to ‘victory’

Speaking in Hebrew during opening remarks at an event hosted by the Newsmax news outlet in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that over the years, the Israel Defense Forces had abandoned its commitment to “victory,” and that some former senior military officials caved to global pressure and embraced unsuitable political solutions over military success.

“We have achieved great victories… against Hamas, against Hezbollah, against the murderous Assad regime in Syria, against Iran, and also in other arenas,” Netanyahu says. “We did this because we fought together… the IDF, the Mossad, and the Shin Bet — each in its own field, each in its own sector and in close cooperation — did outstanding work under the guidance of the political leadership.”

Netanyahu then turns to address unnamed “former officials who once led Israel’s security branches,” recalling that he had served alongside or worked with many during his 18 years as prime minister and held “great appreciation” for their bravery and sacrifice.

“But something happened when they left service,” he continues, “And it didn’t happen on a personal level—it happened on a systemic level. Gradually, over these years, one word disappeared from the lexicon of the Israel Defense Forces, and that word is ‘victory.’”

He vows to restore that ethos: “We are bringing that word back, because without it there is no meaning to our existence here. Either we win, or those who seek to destroy us will win. We are winning.”

According to Netanyahu, this loss of focus “eroded [the] confidence” of some security veterans, pushing them to seek “an alternative” in the face of global opinion, namely the mounting international calls for Israel to end the war and for a Palestinian state to be established. “The global tide is essentially calling on us to lose ourselves — to embrace some illusion… the mirage of a Palestinian state whose entire purpose is to destroy us,” he says.

“In the search for an alternative to victory, this idea emerged — what they call a ‘political solution,’ which is nothing more than another term for defeat and surrender. That will not happen. That will not be.”

He accuses those “who stopped believing in victory” of being drawn into “extreme political movements that undermine the very spirit of combat… the willingness to fight to the bitter end and to victory, based on the belief that it is wrong and will yield nothing.”

“I deeply regret what has happened to these people, whom I greatly respected during their service,” Netanyahu concludes. “I will not give up on victory. The people of Israel will not give up on victory.”

Last week, 19 former senior Israeli security officials issued a joint video message with a call to end the war in Gaza, arguing that Israel has racked up more losses than victories and that the fighting has dragged on for political reasons rather than strategic military need.