Civilians have been needing to choose between running to shelters or letting terrorists "slaughter" their children, said Brig.-Gen. (res.) Dedi Simchi, former Home Front Command chief of staff, in an interview with 103FM on Thursday.
“They say the choice is between alternatives: to run to shelters for a year, or they will slaughter your children, behead them, and burn them in the safe room,” Simchi said on Nissim Mishal and Anat Davidov's program.
The former HFC officer declared that he believes Hezbollah can be defeated in Lebanon, noting that the terrorist group's current ability to threaten Israel’s home front is significantly lower than in the past.
"We have taken away capabilities they built over the years. The volume of fire Hezbollah is launching now at the State of Israel is very small compared to what we thought they would fire at us, or what they fired in recent years,” he said. Simchi added that besides the situation struggle, he tries to "put things into proportion.”
Simchi noted that, to defeat Hezbollah, Israel needs to force the Lebanese government to fight the terrorist group. "One option is to create a million Shi'ite refugees in Beirut who will pressure them and force them to fight Hezbollah. The second option is to bomb infrastructure. Let’s start with phase one,” he said.
“We will explain to the president of Lebanon, ‘Sir, get a grip on your country once and for all,’” Simchi added.
Simchi: Israel must rethink defense strategy now
Regarding the remaining protection gaps on the home front, he said, “A lot of safe rooms have been built, but I argue that after October 7, we need to rethink whether the approach of fortifying ourselves endlessly is correct, or whether to do other things, let’s think outside the box.”
Simchi compared Hezbollah’s current firepower to what the Israeli home front experienced from Hamas on October 7. “They fired 5,000 rockets at us in six hours. Look at what’s happening today, in the end, there is a reward for courage, bravery, and the planning the army is carrying out."
He recognized that dealing with frequent missile barrages has not been easy, but, thanks to the IDF's work, the damage and trouble quantity this time is "dozens of times lower than what we thought it would be.”
However, he stressed that, “The State of Israel needs to create a situation in which they no longer fire at communities in the north, and not say ‘hello, I’m glad you live here, take a safe room for 150,000 shekels.’"
Simchi noted that, even after getting used to threats in the past, such as the Gulf war in the 1990's, when Israelis needed to use gas masks and seal their houses, the state should start to think differently and stop getting used to threats. "I say, friends, enough, not all at once and not with an axe blow, but let’s start thinking differently.”
He added, “The solution for the north will not be fortifying it, but establishing a university in Tel Hai, building factories, and turning it into a VAT-free zone, the solution will not be in fortification.”
On the campaign in Iran, Simchi said, “It doesn’t seem to me that this is getting complicated. They are operating according to a plan prepared months in advance. We are degrading capabilities that will not be available to them in the coming years.”
He added, “I think the cumulative achievements will be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”