FALCON POWERS – Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, the former head of the National Security Council of the occupation, said that “exactly ten years ago, the ‘Protective Edge’ operation was carried out against Gaza, which lasted about two months, during which 74 soldiers and settlers were killed. In the concepts of that time, it was particularly long, and the price we paid was particularly high. But the war in Gaza today is much more difficult.”
He added in an article published in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper that “the starting point for the strategic change for the worse is the plan drawn up by the axis hostile to the occupation led by Iran about a decade ago, as the ‘ring of fire’ around Israel, and it has five dimensions: creating a threat from the Iran-backed militias in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, providing the most advanced Iranian weapons, including long-range missiles, drones and advanced anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, establishing a commando force of thousands of trained fighters deployed near the borders with Lebanon and Gaza, and in the future in the Golan.”
He stressed that “it is frustrating to know that the Israeli intelligence correctly identified the elements of the Iranian vision, and received a general warning in March 2023, but did not care about it, to the extent that some senior Israeli intelligence officers identified additional worrying aspects in early 2023 and published them in a military journal, indicating that the ‘golden age’ in which Israel enjoyed the ability to manage limited conflicts, American hegemony and a shared spirit has ended, which we did not understand on the eve of the October 7 attack,” as he described it.
“What we must understand and address now is that Israel’s strategic position has deteriorated, and Iran’s position has become stronger, in part due to the axis with Russia and China. Iran has succeeded in bridging a large part of the technological gap that we had with it, and it is ready to drag us into a protracted war of attrition on several fronts,” according to his statements.
