Former senior defense official: "Opportunities for a deal were deliberately rejected. I suspect they waited for Trump to be elected to torpedo it"
Brigadier General (res.) Dror Shalom, former head of the IDF Military Intelligence Research Division and former head of the political-security department at the Ministry of Defense during the war, claims in an interview with Kan News that earlier opportunities to close a hostage deal were deliberately rejected. He suspects that elements in the system waited and hoped that Trump would be elected, thinking it would allow them to torpedo the 'day after' plan and buy time. Shalom also criticized Jonathan Urich, an advisor to the Prime Minister, saying he fears for the country's security with that man in the Prime Minister's Office.
Brigadier General (res.) Dror Shalom, former head of the IDF Military Intelligence Research Division and former head of the political-security department at the Ministry of Defense during the war, claims in an interview with Kan News that earlier opportunities to close a hostage deal were deliberately rejected. Shalom suspects that elements in the system waited and hoped that Trump would be elected, thinking it would allow them to torpedo the 'day after' plan and buy time. According to him, ironically and horrifyingly, it also succeeded. Shalom added that if President Trump and his people had not acted, he doubts the hostages would have returned. He also referred to Jonathan Urich, an advisor to the Prime Minister, and said that in retrospect he understands things he did not understand in real time, and that he fears for the security of the state with that man in the Prime Minister's Office.