Born in Netivot, Israel, to frum parents who emigrated from Morocco, Elon Perry joined the Israel Defense Forces at a young age and was enrolled in the elite Golani Brigade. After three years of compulsory duty, which included taking part in the Entebbe rescue operation, and 28 years in the reserves, which included service in the Lebanon War and involvement in numerous antiterrorism operations, Elon Perry has a unique understanding of Israel’s military and its challenges in the Middle East.
Having also worked as a journalist for the past 25 years, these days he writes a popular column from his home in London and lectures on the Israeli-Arab conflict. In April 2024 Elon released his second book, Children in War, which was published by Pen and Sword.
I spoke to him on Sunday.
This morning we heard more bad news coming from Israel. What was your gut reaction when you learned that the soldiers had found the hostages after they were shot to death?
My initial reaction was in accord with my views of the past three months. Hamas is losing the war and has rejected every deal that was offered over the past few months because they aren’t the ones holding all of the hostages. The hostages are being held by six different organizations in Gaza [Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Mujahideen Brigades, the al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades], and many of the hostages are dead. It is estimated that only about 60 are still alive. Hamas clearly feels that it has nothing to offer. Why would they destroy six lives that they can use for negotiations to extort a heavy price from Israel? I think it was an act of desperation.
Do you believe that Hamas is still functional as an organization?
Yes. It is estimated that they still have around 15,000 fighters, but they aren’t well organized because of their communication troubles. The United States has provided Israel with a special sensor that can penetrate underground, so most of Hamas’ communications are intercepted. Sinwar is presently avoiding all digital transmissions and is communicating with his fighters via handwritten notes and human messengers. It’s very hard to fight a war if you can’t communicate with your fighters in real time.
You said that the hostages are spread out among six different organizations. Does Hamas have central command over all of them or are they independent?
Before October 7, when the attack was being planned, all of the groups agreed to participate under the leadership of Hamas. But over the past six months, they’ve had several disagreements with Hamas over the prisoners to be released by Israel in exchange for the hostages. That’s why they aren’t talking to each other anymore and why Hamas hasn’t been able to agree to any deals. If you recall, in the beginning of the war there were several deals, and hostages were released in stages in exchange for prisoners. Why did all of that come to a halt? Because Sinwar has been pushing to release only Hamas terrorists, and the other groups got angry that he wasn’t including their members on the lists of terrorists to be released, so they stopped communicating with him.
Needless to say, every life is of paramount importance to us, but that doesn’t seem to be in line with the goal of completely eradicating Hamas. Is the Israeli government prioritizing total victory over the release of the hostages, and do you believe that that is the correct approach?
I don’t think that either goal can be prioritized over the other. The mission set forth by Netanyahu is to eliminate Hamas while trying to negotiate a deal to release the hostages. However, we know that Biden failed and that Egypt and Qatar both gave up. They don’t trust Hamas anymore and don’t want to speak to them. The negotiation process is stuck. Hamas has concealed the main reason why most of the hostages are dead, and Netanyahu doesn’t want to publicize it so as not to upset the hostages’ families.
To read more, subscribe to Ami
Recent Comments