India should have gone after the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba for the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, says Efraim Halevy, a former director of Mossad, Israel’s super-secret, super-lethal external intelligence agency.

They will have nothing to fear if and when they wish to carry out a similar attack, Halevy said in an interview to Hindustan Times on the sidelines of the HT Leadership Summit, where he was a speaker.

He said this when asked what he would have recommended to his prime minister if such an attack had taken place in Israel during his term as director of Mossad.

“It’s for India to decide what kind of response was needed,” Halevy said. It could be a hot pursuit or a surgical strike.

Even at the risk of war?

“That’s for India to decide,” Halevy said, adding, “I don’t think Pakistan would have gone to war if India had retaliated to 26/11 by hitting Lashkar targets.”

Halevy is a legend in the world of espionage. Among the stories of his exploits, the one that stands out is about his masterminding the snatching of a Kurdish rebel for Turkey. He denies it.

But he is convinced the only way to deal with terrorism is to retaliate, hitting the terrorists hard. The only way to dissuade them is by making them pay for it.