Jerusalem Post: Former Mossad and Shin Bet officials ask Trump to force Netanyahu to end the war in the Gaza Strip

Former heads of Israel’s security establishments, including the Mossad, Shin Bet, and the army, called on US President Donald Trump in a letter to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war in Gaza.

The Jerusalem Post published a letter from former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter, and former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Matan Vilnai.

These senior officials, along with former senior police and Foreign Ministry officials, run the “Leaders for Israel’s Security” group, which now includes more than 600 former senior security officials, in their call for Trump to intervene.

This isn’t the first time the group has pressured the government to change course and focus more on returning Israeli prisoners and developing a post-war plan for Gaza.

However, it underscored the extent to which Israel’s global legitimacy has deteriorated, as well as Trump’s recent public criticism of Israel for causing famine in Gaza.

“Stop the Gaza War! On behalf of Commanders for Israel’s Security, the largest group of former IDF generals and their counterparts in the Mossad, Shin Bet, police, and diplomatic corps, we urge you to end the Gaza War… You did it in Lebanon… It’s time to do it in Gaza, too,” the group wrote in the letter to Trump.

The group stated, “Israeli forces have long since achieved the two objectives that can be achieved by force: dismantling Hamas’s military and governance structures… The third and most important objective can only be achieved through a deal: returning all hostages to their homes”.

Furthermore, they said, “From our professional perspective, Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel, and our experience tells us that Israel has everything it takes to deal with Hamas’s remaining terrorist capabilities, remotely or otherwise… Hamas’s remaining senior leaders can be pursued later… Our hostages cannot wait”.

The group added, “Your credibility with the vast majority of Israelis enhances your ability to steer Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government in the right direction: ending the war, returning the hostages, stopping the suffering, and forming a regional and international coalition that will help the Palestinian Authority (after a reformed one) provide an alternative to Hamas and its evil ideology for the people of Gaza”.

The group has had success in the past in influencing the policies of the Biden administration, and in the more distant past, sometimes the policies of the Netanyahu government.

However, Trump and Netanyahu have recently been more vocal in their opposition to the generals when confronted by defense chiefs who disagree with their policies.

What remains unknown is Trump’s current position on ending the war, and whether these high-ranking Israeli defense officials can influence his approach.

When the group was asked what Trump should do if Hamas avoids negotiations, senior defense officials responded that what Israel needs to do is announce its acceptance of an end to the war in exchange for the return of all remaining hostages—an offer Hamas has consistently made since the beginning of the war.

The group also wants Israel to accept the proposed international framework in which Egypt, the UAE, the Saudis, and a reconstituted Palestinian Authority would administer Gaza after the war.

In doing so, they hope that Trump will pressure Netanyahu to make such an offer, although Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected this position, arguing that it would allow Hamas to return, and he also seeks to prevent his far-right coalition partners from toppling his government if he ends the war.

Opposition officials told Netanyahu they would intervene to preserve his government for a period of time if he struck such a deal with Hamas, but he rejected this option as well.

Netanyahu also refused to grant the Palestinian Authority any foothold in Gaza, given that he now strongly opposes any approach that advances the possibility of a Palestinian state, even if its administered by the Palestinian Authority rather than Hamas.

According to the group, only after presenting an offer to end the war to Hamas will Israel know for certain whether the Gaza terrorist group is willing to return all the captives or whether it was merely playing games when it offered to return them all.

However, the group said such an offer is necessary for Israel to be able to claim it did everything it could to return the captives.