YouSaid · the spoken record

Uzi Arad

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71
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2025-01-27
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2025-01-27
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  1. “He did not do it as according to the Israeli law on the War Powers Act. Activities of that kind of thing have to be approved by the cabinet, and he did it without such approval. Now my capacity as head of the National Security Counsel was that decisions were taken appropriately, legally, but not because of the legality of it, because these were lessons learned how one should proceed with such decisions, and he shortcut those decisions. So I told him you're acting against the law, against the law in the extent to which it regulates decisions of that kind, and that, of course, offended him, and what offended him and plus is that the head of the security services, the chief of staff,”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “Believe that, and he couldn't believe it either. He thought that I was a Boy Scout, that I was just a purist. The first issue became one in which there was a decision by him and the defense minister to call on some kind of a so-called countdown in anticipation of an attack on Iran, a military attack. And he had ordered this cantan to take place, which is a reversible process. It does not mean that a decision has been taken, but sometimes you have to start making the necessary preparations well in advance in accordance with a certain protocol so that you would have the option, should you wish so at the time and all would be ready. So he ordered such cantown. I asked him whether that was reversible. He said, of course, it would be reversible. And besides”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Not in my case. He was, I think, disappointed. He expected me to support him no matter what. He expected me to have gratitude to the fact that he appointed me twice that I would not position myself with those who took issue with him. And when he noticed that he looked sad and disappointed rather than vindictive or anything of that kind. He became vindictive after that when I criticized what had happened to be and that his complicity in some of the defense corruption problems that we've had. But yes, I told him I tendered my resignation.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “Dislike. They don't like to have that. So they develop an antagonism there. And sometimes they prefer among the analyst those whose views resemble theirs. Netanyahu once explained why he chose me. By the way, I voted against him and he knew it. So I took it to his credit that he chose me, confided in me, knowing that I voted for his opponent. That to me was a mark of a guy. But then it turned that when he explained why he chose me, he said that on one occasion he alone was within the group with had a different view from the intelligence, and I was the only one.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “No, not necessarily Barak. We're talking in this particular case, I saw it in action when Amnol Lipkin Shahak, a very distinguished man and an honest man, but Sili all knew that in a matter of two years he will retire from the military, join the opposition and lead the campaign against Netanyahu. Now Netanyahu sits on the other side of the table, looks at him, and cannot help but wonder to what extent this man is once in my success. There are other things, sometimes the politicians do not like have intelligence that tells them that their policies are wrong. They think they are trying to defeat their policies, but even if they are not trying to defeat their policies, they are just pouring water, cold water on some of those political aspirations, they are treated with”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “Are two separate questions, but it's really important in today's life. In a quay Annetano, well, in the first place, let me tell you that there is a grain of truth. When he suspected that some say generals, who then headed the intelligence, were telling him things that were motivated by political consideration rather than being professional, he was right, because some of them were aspiring future politicians. He was talking to a guy whom he knew in two years time will shed his uniform and run on the early elections against whom against his prime minister. So how can he relate to him knowing that and that's a complication?”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Primarily, and now we have with Netanyahu, a very awkward situation to be in, but it is there. The effects of politicization are many and ideally they should be prevented at all costs. The whole value of intelligence in its being truthful.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “And in Israel, a condition in which the elected political leaders hate and resent their intelligence communities. It's an adversarial relationship, and I was talking just to a colleague, what do we do? And how can we provide our political masters with the intelligence that they need which should be honest and truthful irrespective of whether it pleases or not? But at the same time we know that they think that we are trying to sabotage their policies or that we are hostile to them, and therefore they suspect us, and sometimes they even undercut us. What do we do? Rebel? We cannot rebel. What do we do? This is a situation that the American intelligence community is facing, has faced from Trump.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Well, you know, it's very interesting that in the past, let's call it this difficulty, the tension or the difficulties that prevail between the top consumers of intelligence, the leaders, and the providers of intelligence, was known to be of a certain kind. Today, it takes many, many, many forms. To give you just one example, it is not only that intelligence is sometimes politicized by the politicians, and therefore it is no longer objective and truthful, and as we say, it's not saying things like they are, but sometimes there is intelligence to please, and sometimes that there is intelligence which is demanded as happened in two thousand three.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Already preparing something was evident also at the time. And I was involved working with allies America, primarily Britain and others on stopping leakage of missile technology to Iran and nuclear. And that was at that time. All these things occupied our attention. And at the same time, the two other risks, the Islamic terrorist, violent type which develops in cold kind of varieties call it Hamas, call it Daesh, call it that it's there. And the ever-present conflict we have with our Palestinian neighbors. And all these very, very complicated. And I did it with a sense of, I wouldn't say timidity, but I was so glad that the responsibility was not I was just an advisor.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “Immediately it became clear that it is a very high risk position to be in. And you constantly have the feeling that on your shoulders rests a degree of responsibility which is greater than say my other friends, colleagues in the same position because none of those people in the same position in other countries, although they dealt with extremely complicated global issues, but they were not facing a situation in which their countries was exposed immediately to hostile action, some of which very close to its borders, and some of which could be very, very dangerous. The agenda then was Iraq two thousand three, but the Iraqi weapons of Nazion were watched and we view that as a high-risk issue, that Iran was”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “While I was recruited, thy Netanyahu from my position as director of intelligence, I wanted to retire and go and have a great time on some American campus. And I asked for early retirement, but I was declined. He said I will not approve your early retirement”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “So I always, always thought that this is a high risk area. In fact, I said it so in a few words. I said it even to National Security Advisor today, that I think that he is serving during the most difficult and perilous period in Israel's history. And that was told into his face four days before.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Well, I don't blame Sullivan for that because that attitude was also shared by other Israelis. They were complacent. I think it was a failure, a profound failure of the understanding of the situation. I've always believed that our condition, the Israeli condition is very fragile. Israel is not a solid being which stands and pillar of security, which give us sufficient strength so as to maintain stability, and neither do other states behind the facade of sometimes of status quo or relative tranquility, the elements of instability, the elements of conflict which could erupt, and the weaknesses that invulnerabilities that call for such action are many.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “But I think we are recovering. You could see that in some operations we had good intelligence, and sometimes even surprisingly good intelligence. Well, that's life.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “Wrong, and also adjust to the current situation because things have changed even in the world of intelligence and you practice intelligence and you produce intelligence differently today than we used to in the past.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “We forgot lessons learned if ever there were ever lessons learned, we forgot them. We had serious deficiencies in some critical part of the process primarily between the intelligence and the policy makers. Remember in the first few hours our Prime Minister was completely isolated on his seaside town, not knowing what's happening. I mean, this is a total collapse of command and control, incredible that it can happen in a country which sometimes has to take fatal decisions like employing all kind of munitions. And that's a glaring, glaring mistake. So we are now in the process, I think, of calling for a massive intelligence community reform, first to rectify the many things that were done.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Barbarism that they exhibited which of course went to length of committing atrocities which do not shock us because of the extent of barbarism in them, but because it reflected hatred, it reflected the degree we are not very much liked in that neighborhood. So it's dramatic. Professionally speaking, we are now looking into the causes of this intelligence failure, and it is shaming because we failed as a result of some typical pathologies that afflict intelligence services. We did not have sufficiently good collection. We should have known better. We had people who were not sufficiently well trained in some key positions. We entered a period in which there was a lot of people were not alert.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Because in the first place, it was a severe blow because we were militarily attacked. Now, look, there is nothing in the encyclopedia of war and peace that is more cruel than to be first attacked because it's very unpleasant the enemy has the initiative and the advantage, and then to be by surprise it's deadly. It is a multiplier of your problems, and we are severely surprised and attack brutally, savagely to an extent that shocked many by the scope, by the audacity of the attackers, and by the”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “excited by some of these adventures. And we also do not necessarily excel in everything. There are many things others are doing better, and sometimes we underperform, but we are serious about our business. I think it's the seriousness that characterizes what we do.”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “They rise and fall with the performance of the nation at that point. Anyway, I could tell you about Mossad, usually unlike other members of a similar organization who go for the fun and some go for the game, the big game, and some enjoy the exotica of espionage and the many exploits. Most of the Israelis come there because of the simple understanding that it is a national security issue and that we are still in a struggle and intelligence is just one branch which conducts and serves the nation's security. And if we do anything well at all, it is because with a seriousness and determination that people have. We are not really”

    2025-01-27 · The Rest Is Politics: Leading · 118. Ex-Head of Mossad: Hamas, Ceasefire, and Netanyahu (Uzi Arad) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source