Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former National Security Advisor and head of research in the IDF Military Intelligence, said that Israel continues to have powerful deterrence despite recent terrorist and rocket attacks.
Speaking to Israel National News – Arutz Sheva, Amidror dismissed criticism over the decision to release Jordanian MP Imad al-Adwan this morning (Sunday), who was suspected of smuggling weapons into Israel.
“It was said that we should have kept the [Jordanian] MP in our custody, but what would we have gained from that? The answer is nothing. It would have been better to receive some political gain from the Kingdom of Jordan. This is not a normal prisoner and he would not be rehabilitated by virtue of being in prison,” Amidror said.
“If we had attempted to use the incident with the prisoner to bring up issues related to the Temple Mount, we’d just get the middle finger from the Jordanians, because they don’t really have much interest in the prisoner and we would only lose an opportunity to improve the relations between us,” he said.
Amidror noted that Israel’s longest border is with Jordan and this border is usually quiet, “there are infiltrations from smugglers, from time to time, we have a give and take relationship with the Jordanians and this is a good thing for the State of Israel.”
He addressed the recent launching of dozens of rockets from Lebanon and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and said: “I am one of those who claim that there is no multi-front escalation. The coordination between the terrorist groups [Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad] is only partial. Sometimes there is coordination between the terrorist organizations on the various fronts and sometimes there isn’t. There is no connection between the firing of the Katyushas by Hamas and the death of the security detainee, which triggered the firing from Gaza by Islamic Jihad. Through its firing from Lebanon, Hamas hoped to drag Hezbollah into several days of conflict. This was its main goal to draw Israel into the fighting, but Israel did not act as it wanted. We acted with pinpoint accuracy, without causing an escalation throughout the region. Therefore, as far as Hamas is concerned, this is a failure. If I was a Hamas person, I would say it’s a waste of ammunition and nothing more.”
On the strategic level, Amidror explained: “How many Israelis have heard the Katyushas in the north and the Golan Heights? It all depends on what explanation the government provides to the citizens about the complex situation, not the media hype over each incident claiming that Hamas is coordinating with the other terrorist organizations in each arena. This whole event is just strategically unimportant. Everyone knows that Hamas is in Lebanon, the damage to the State of Israel is zero and Hamas was not able to create any incident, even though it wanted to drag Israel into a conflict. That’s what’s important. There is zero strategic significance from the understanding of the damage to Israel. In the end, it’s important to remember, there hasn’t been such a quiet month of Ramadan for a long time, and this is an important achievement.”
“You can present things in all kinds of ways, but the main question is this: there was a security incident, are we ready to go into action following it? And based on the answer, we determine what we do. If the answer is yes: can we respond with a vigorous response? If not: also fine – but then the response is different. By the way, even if we respond ten times as vigorously, and there will be as a result a major operation in which we will fight Gaza and they will shoot at Tel Aviv, we must remember that the Gaza problem will not be resolved as a result,” he said.

“And the question is not a question of deterrence, because in fact there is no problem of deterrence for the State of Israel. Everyone in the Middle East knows that every point the Prime Minister puts the IDF on the map and orders that it be destroyed, even within 1,000 km from Tel Aviv – will be destroyed. The only question is whether it will be within 72 hours or 90 hours, therefore our enemy is looking for a way that will annoy us but will be below the threshold where we will react with force, because we also do not want large operations that disturb the State of Israel except in special cases,” Amidror claimed.
“I strongly believe that one of the most important roles of the government is to postpone major wars that hinder us from developing. We must be prepared for challenges from Iran and Hezbollah, whether we start or they, but against Hamas, what will we gain? We will give them a hard blow and then what? What next? Both the government and the people of Israel do not want to embark on such a large operation for an unclear purpose, instead of focusing our efforts on Iran and Hezbollah.”