Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Wednesday that over the years, the Israel Defense Forces “systematically” abandoned its commitment to “victory,” saying some former senior military officials had caved to global pressure and embraced unsuitable political solutions over military success.

Those solutions, which include the establishment of a Palestinian state, amount to surrender and defeat, he stated.

“We have achieved great victories… against Hamas, against Hezbollah, against the murderous Assad regime in Syria, against Iran, and also in other arenas,” Netanyahu said, speaking in Hebrew during opening remarks at an event hosted by the Newsmax news outlet in Jerusalem. “We did this because we fought together… the IDF, the Mossad, and the Shin Bet — each in its own field, each in its own sector and in close cooperation — did outstanding work under the guidance of the political leadership.”

Netanyahu was referring to Israel’s military successes since October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating invasion of southern Israel which triggered the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip. After Iranian proxies also attacked in support of Gaza, Israel battled against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran itself, in both cases delivering bruising blows.

While though those battles have ceased, the war in Gaza has dragged on, drawing growing criticism from the public and some former top defense officials over how the government is managing the conflict, with opinion polls showing a majority of Israelis support ending the war against the Hamas in exchange for the return of all the hostages.

Netanyahu, who has repeatedly refused to accept responsibility for the failures leading to October 7 — the deadliest attack in Israeli history,  spoke of “former officials who once led Israel’s security branches,” recalling that he had served alongside or worked with many during his 18 years as prime minister and held “great appreciation” for their bravery and sacrifice.

“But something happened after they left service… systemically, gradually, over the years,” these officials gradually lost faith in the concept of “victory.” He claimed this shift took place not on an individual level but as part of a broader, systemic change within the defense establishment. “One word disappeared from the lexicon of the Israel Defense Forces — and that word is ‘victory.'”

Netanyahu vowed to restore that ethos: “We are bringing that word back, because without it there is no meaning to our existence here. Either we win, or those who seek to destroy us will win.”

According to Netanyahu, the loss of focus “eroded [the] confidence” of some security veterans, pushing them to seek “an alternative” in the face of global opinion, namely the mounting international calls for Israel to end the war and for a Palestinian state to be established. “The global tide is essentially calling on us to lose ourselves — to embrace some illusion… the mirage of a Palestinian state whose entire purpose is to destroy us,” he said.

“In the search for an alternative to victory, this idea emerged — what they call a ‘political solution,’ which is nothing more than another term for defeat and surrender. That will not happen. That will not be.”

He accused those “who stopped believing in victory” of being drawn into “extreme political movements that undermine the very spirit of combat… the willingness to fight to the bitter end and to victory, based on the belief that it is wrong and will yield nothing.”

“I deeply regret what has happened to these people, whom I greatly respected during their service,” Netanyahu concluded. “I will not give up on victory. The people of Israel will not give up on victory.”

Last week, 19 former senior Israeli security officials issued a joint video message with a call to end the war in Gaza, arguing that Israel has racked up more losses than victories and that the fighting has dragged on for political reasons rather than strategic military need.

In his opening remarks Wednesday, Netanyahu also hailed Israel’s fight against “savagery” and “barbarism,” condemning what he called pro-Hamas sentiment on American college campuses and alleged atrocities committed against the Druze minority in Syria last month.

Netanyahu said that “some have fallen victim” to Hamas propaganda — “to these lies, and have followed them, and swallowed hook, line and sinker” — echoing criticism he voiced at a press conference for foreign media earlier this week.

Despite Hamas’s record of brutal acts of terrorism, he says, many students on American campuses “are siding with Hamas” by embracing pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel movements.

Addressing prominent American lawyer and academic Alan Dershowitz, who is present in the audience, Netanyahu asked: “Can you say something in their defense right now? No. Yeah, I figured. Neither can I, because I think it’s atrocious.”

Netanyahu stressed that “most Americans [recognize] that Israel stands for the same values as America,” adding: “They recognize that we are fighting the barbarians at the gate.” He also thanks US President Donald Trump for being “a great ally.”

“It’s not only the savagery of Hamas and the Iranian terror axis. In Syria, just a few weeks ago, we stopped the savage massacre of the Druze,” Netanyahu continued, referring to last month’s deadly attacks in and around the southern Syrian city of Sweida, a Druze stronghold, where sectarian clashes with local Bedouin drew in Syrian regime forces and IDF intervention.

“They went into their town of Sweida, and they butchered the men,” Netanyahu said, without clarifying which assailants he was referring to. “They raped the women, the nurses, and then shot them. They burnt babies, and they added a few things,” Netanyahu says.

Referencing a widely circulated video purportedly from the attack, he continued: “You saw it live, and you have to see it to understand this. I mean, you see a Druze civilian wounded, lying on the ground. And one of these fanatics, these unbelievable savages, they go in, knife the guy, tear out his heart, and then eat it. The victim has his heart eaten while he’s still alive. This is savagery. This is barbarism. This is what Israel is fighting on behalf of Western civilization, on behalf of civilization.”

“But we now have to muster all the forces that seek to defend our common civilization against this mutilation of the truth that threatens our common future,” Netanyahu concluded.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.