After being released from the IDF, Brigadier General Ofer Winter attacked the conduct of the security establishment over the years.
In an article for the IDF's "Systems Website" Winter wrote: "The Israeli security system's diagnosis of the strategic problem facing the State of Israel in a war is wrong. The way it chose to deal with the problem, and the operative moves the IDF has made so far not only did not solve it - but also put Israel in a much worse situation than it was in when the war broke out."
Regarding the contacts with Hamas and the cease-fire, the former officer wrote that "Sinwar, receives the global status of a kind of modern Saladin, due to the fact that Israel is negotiating with him for an agreement that will return the men and women he kidnapped. In the eyes of the Arabs, the Israelis have absorbed, despite all their symbols of power , a humiliating blow. They activated all the fighting forces, but failed to bring Hamas to a situation where it asks for a cease-fire, and certainly not for its destruction."
Winter continued: "The Israelis give the Gazans and Hamas generous humanitarian supplies, impose legal restrictions on themselves and are therefore unable to exercise their true power."
According to him: "It is not enough in any way to hit the Hamas brigades with severe blows, nor to dismantle its military capabilities. Gaza must become an example and a joke in the mouth of the entire world, and Hamas must be eradicated - with no military or leadership capacity at all," he noted.
He also wrote: "The outcome of the campaign in Gaza will have a direct effect on all the moves in the various sectors. If we are living things, we must achieve a clear and overwhelming decision in Gaza. Only in this way will the leg of deterrence currently lacking in Israel's national security be restored."
"Lebanon is also not deterred"
Winter also referred to the northern sector and did not spare criticism for the IDF: "Lebanon is not deterred and deepens its attacks against Israel. Iran fired directly at Israel, which, according to the Iranians, 'only continues to threaten'. In the international arena - Israel is the one that is isolated"