For the first time since completing his tenure as IDF chief of staff and retiring from military service a year and a half ago, Lt. Gen. (ret.) Gadi Eizenkot is hinting at a possible career in politics. "I want to come back and make a difference," he tells Israel Hayom in an exclusive interview.
Eizenkot says that after nearly 18 months of personal comfort, he wants to come back. "I'm looking at my predecessors -- Benny [Gantz], Gabi [Ashkenazi], Bogie [Moshe Ya'alon], and farther back, [Ehud] Barak and [Yitzhak] Rabin and others. After some time off and winding down, you look at what's going on here, and you want to make a better country and to make a difference, and to wake up with a spark in your eye. What is this spark? Wait just a little longer."
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Q: In the past, people who know you said politics was out of the question for you. It doesn't sound like that's the case today.
"I was the military secretary for two prime ministers, Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, and I was at their sides 12-16 hours a day. I saw up close that the way to make a difference is through leadership and action from within the system. Sharon told me he very much appreciated thought and planning, but that the most important thing is implementation. Because unlike in the army -- where the moment you decide, everyone carries out what you decided -- in politics, the moment you decide, everyone works to sidetrack your decision. And yes, I think that military people have qualities that are perhaps less suitable for politics, but it's important we preserve them. Practicality, stateliness, and personal example."
Eizenkot goes on to expand on the campaign against Iran. "This is a decision that was approved by the cabinet in early 2017. Now that I see people are talking about it and saying all sorts of things, I will say that this decision by the cabinet, with my pushing and recommendation, is a major decision. The Israeli public perhaps isn't aware, but this decision affects it in Gaza, too, and everywhere else. The Iranians, and the Quds Force in particular, suffered serious blows over the past four years. What they've managed to do to us isn't proportionate to what they've gotten from us."
Q: Outgoing Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said this week that the Iranians are starting to withdraw from Syria.
"We need to set the goal of getting them out of there, but whoever thinks they can attack a few times and this will happen is bitterly mistaken. The actions I spearheaded, which are continuing to this day, are preventing Iran from entrenching itself in Syria and opening another front against Israel, and are blocking Hezbollah's armament efforts, mainly its precision missile project."
For the first time, meanwhile, Eizenkot goes into detail about the botched undercover operation in Khan Yunis at the end of his tenure.
"The operation unfolded as it did, and I immediately realized it was the gravest situation for an operation of that sort, but I had tremendous confidence that the team in the field was the strongest in the Middle East," he recounts. "I heard them, and saw Col. H and his poise, and I trusted them, together with the understanding that we had a serious event on our hands that could get even worse. I had already started to consider a broad attack and the possibility of sending in ground forces because I wasn't prepared for another Gilad Schalit affair.
"I picked up the phone and called [then-air force chief Amikam] Norkin, and I told him to be ready with all the capabilities of the air force to smash anything and everything to get them out of there. From my perspective, there was never a question that we would do whatever needed to be done to get them back."
Q: Even to the point of going to war?
"Yes, even going to war. It didn't cross my mind to leave soldiers there."
Q: And what about Gaza? Can we come to agreements with Hamas?
"Yes, but they need to be based on the agreements that were reached in Cairo on the last day of Operation Protective Edge: a complete cease-fire; opening the border crossings and fishing zones, returning the Palestinian Authority to Gaza and starting to rehabilitate [the enclave]; finalizing the matter of prisoners and missing soldiers; opening the airport in Dahaniya (in souther Gaza) and building a seaport in Gaza."
Q: How far should Israel go in a deal to bring back the captives and missing soldiers?
"Many deals have been done in the past. We must not have a repeat of the Schalit model, because ultimately, a large number of terrorists were released and it gave a serious boost to terror. We've paid heavy prices for it."
Q: What do you suggest, then?
"I think the right price was paid in the Goldwasser-Regev deal. They received Samir Kuntar and another four prisoners, along with 120 bodies. Therefore we need to bring them to the understanding that they are paying price for holding two Israeli citizens who entered Gaza peacefully, and for holding the bodies of soldiers and abusing the families."
