Eisenkot continued: "As long as Binyamin Netanyahu is in power, Hamas will remain in power. The man who hangs signs saying 'We will not surrender' is the first to surrender: to draft dodgers, to his coalition partners, and to Hamas."
"There has never been a government in Israel that received so much room to maneuver and legitimacy from the public and from the world, and suffered such a resounding strategic failure," he said. "Three years after the October 7th massacre, Hamas is still the sovereign in the Gaza Strip, armed, rearming, and rehabilitating its military capabilities."
Eisenkot concluded: "In Iran, in Lebanon, and in Gaza, there is a gaping chasm between the achievements of the fighters in the field and Netanyahu's failure to meet the goals he himself defined. We must not conduct ourselves with the approach that failures are fate; there is a way to prevent the next disaster. We will make courageous decisions, formulate a national strategy, investigate October 7th in a state commission of inquiry, and implement the lessons. This is not a privilege, it is a necessity and an urgent security need. I have the knowledge and experience to lead the IDF, the Mossad, and the Shin Bet professionally."
