Maj. Gen. (ret.) Uzi Dayan, former deputy chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), warned Tuesday that Israel must deliver a far stronger response if Iran launches a direct attack, following recent U.S. strikes on Iranian targets in the Gulf.
Speaking on Channel 14’s “Israel This Morning” with Oded Mishneh, Dayan—who also served as head of Israel’s National Security Council—said Israel needs to be prepared defensively and respond with overwhelming force to any Iranian aggression. “The response must be much stronger and more significant than the Iranian-American strike, and much more significant than our last strike,” he said.
1+Dayan criticized U.S. policy toward Iran as a “mini-war” that doesn’t hurt the Tehran regime enough. He said Washington always leaves the door open for negotiations, which Iran exploits. “The Americans always agree to, let’s call it, a bad deal instead of a just war,” he said. He warned that Iran could strike Israel directly or through its proxies, including Hezbollah and the Houthis.
On Gaza, Dayan endorsed the “eliminate and fold” policy but said fighting terrorism through targeted assassinations is “too personal” for his taste. He argued that “most Gazans themselves are Hamas supporters,” and the only solution is “conquering the Gaza Strip” with full military and civilian control—only then can there be discussion of “the day after Hamas.”
1+Dayan described the Houthi threat as “more of a nuisance than anything else” for Israel and suggested turning it into an international problem. On Lebanon, he praised Israel’s current policy, including the framework agreement that allows the Lebanese to prove they can eliminate terror infrastructure and establish sovereignty. “As long as you don’t do that, we’ll take care of our security,” he said, adding that Israel will continue operating in Lebanon, which keeps the Iranians from “threatening us anymore.”