Why Ehud Olmert thinks his country is committing war crimes

Last week, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert publicly condemned his successors Benjamin Netanyahu and Netanyahu wars have been ongoing in Gaza. exist piece for HarezOlmert called the current government a “crime gang” led by Netanyahu, titled “Enough.” He wrote: “What we are doing in Gaza is a destructive war: indiscriminate, infinite, cruel and criminal charges of killing civilians. We did not do so because of the loss of control of any particular department, rather than because of the outbreak of some soldiers in certain units, but as a result of government policy. Olmert’s comment comes after Israel’s decision to finally allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip, after more than two months of nearly two lockdowns, the United Nations and even the Trump administration have issued a warning that the population is facing hunger. But Israel’s attempt to allocate aid according to a new program warned by humanitarian organizations and the United Nations is insufficient and dangerous, in part because it requires many Gazans to travel long distances to get aid. In the past few days, Fraction Gaza people were killed By Israeli forces Try to get food and other essentials in several places offered.

Olmert served as prime minister from 2006 to 2009, and was a member of Netanyahu Likud, before joining and then leading the more middle Kadima party. As prime minister, he took measures to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians, but did not do so. Corruption accusations shortened his political career. (Finally Olmert Serve Since 2016, more than a year has been imprisoned. ) Recently, I talked to Olmert over the phone about his criticism of the war. We also went through a long and clear edit in our conversation, and we also discussed his understanding of Netanyahu’s motivations, whether the Israeli government has developed plans for Palestinians in Gaza, and why Israel’s crisis is far beyond Netanyahu’s ability to continue to rule.

In your recent Harez You wrote: “I took this opportunity to distinguish between the crimes we were charged, the crimes I refused to admit, and the carelessness and indifference to the victims of Gaza, and the uncomfortable human costs we imposed there. I rejected the first charge. The second I admit is that I am no longer able to do this.” What do you mean, what changed?

Look, there is no government, or even a bibi government. As we all know, I do not support it, and of course it is not the high command of the army. They all clearly order wanton killing. No matter what, no matter what, no matter what, it doesn’t matter. This is not the case. War has long been considered legal, and I defend the government on this ground. The Israeli counterattack was believed to be considered only in consideration of the brutal attacks of Hamas on October 7. It is necessary to find Hamas leaders in hidden places and public facilities. And, even if there are relatively high victims among those living in Gaza, you cannot recognize on the one hand the right of Israel to find Hamas leaders and combatants, and on the other hand the denial they are embedded in densely populated areas, many of which have many civilians. And you can’t find them without causing collateral damage, which is not disliked, but it’s not the purpose of military efforts. Therefore, no matter the number of victims is high, it is accepted by the international community.

What has happened recently is that for everyone, there is no purpose to justify the expansion of these military activities. There is no goal to justify continuing military operations, risking the loss of hostages, risking the loss of the lives of Israeli soldiers, and the loss of many lives of Gaza’s non-involved people. No purpose. Israel’s view is that it is a personal war or an illegal war, which is only carried out due to the political interests of the Prime Minister. This is a crime. This is not something to defend. Moreover, the fact that there are many victims is unreasonable. Just as simple as that.

At the beginning, the war had greater international legitimacy, but in the early days of December 2023, President Biden was a supporter of the war, actually armed Israel, known as the Israeli bombing “indiscriminate favor”. Israel cut off aid at different times and created a real humanitarian crisis.

Cutting aid is a different aspect. You didn’t ask me directly about Biden, but I have a huge positive emotional attitude towards President Biden. Personally, I like him. I know him. We have been there for many years. I don’t think there is a better friend than Biden, a more dedicated Zionist in the White House, who criticizes him as totally arrogant, unacceptable, intolerable.

OK, OK, we don’t need to debate President Biden.

OK, I don’t want to debate, but I want to record it in the case of recording about him.

I just want to make it clear that recent concerns about Israel’s behavior in the war have not appeared recently.

No, no, criticism of the act of war is true. But there is still a difference between criticism and thorough charges of war crimes, and I think even those who criticize Israel are cautious. I’m not talking about NGOs, pro-Palestinian organizations. I’m talking about governments friendly to Israel, such as the US government, such as the British government, such as the French government. Macron criticized Israel for a long time. Half a year ago, he didn’t speak. The difference is that it is considered the result of a non-legislative expansion of military operations and understands that Netanyahu does not want to reach an agreement with Hamas to free the hostages.

Yes, but people have been saying that Netanyahu wants to delay the war for more than a year of political reasons.

I’ve been saying it all the time. More than a year ago, I called to end the war.

You also wrote: “I do not share the opinion of former Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon, who said that Israel is undergoing ethnic cleansing. However, the point we are close is undeniable that this is an inevitable result of what the government, military and our brave soldiers have done in practice.” Can you expand this and why you don’t share Yaalon’s opinion?

I think the current policy of the government has not yet actively worked to deport the Gaza people from where they live. But when you hear [the right-wing ministers] Itama Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich – They are not bystanders, they are not outsiders. They are key members of this government. They are the main spokespersons of this government. When they say that all Gaza is Hamas, so no one deserves food and all have to be deported, that’s the truth. [Smotrich and Ben-Gvir proposed denying aid to Gazans and expelling them from the Strip in the first months of the war.] It can be interpreted as ethnic cleansing. That’s not to say we’re really forcing hundreds of thousands to spread across the border. But when you hear these things, you can’t stay indifferent, you can’t ignore it. You can’t hear it say, “Okay, let’s keep going.” No, no. This is completely unbearable. Anyone who has no position to draw an inevitable conclusion may be a very, very serious crime companion.

This reminds me of what happened later in your article. You wrote: “Yes, as part of a clear policy, we have been denying the food, medicine and basic living needs of Gazans. Netanyahu is often trying to blur the type of order he has been giving in order to evade legal and criminal responsibility in due course. So you think hunger is intentional, but cleaning Gaza (even if it can happen in practice, and what the ministers of the Netanyahu government want) isn’t it? It seems you have the intention to distinguish Israel from hunger and ethnic cleansing. Is this accurate?

Let’s say so. First, for a period of time, hunger was the actual policy of the Israeli government. Humanitarian supplies were rejected. deny. Actively deny and stop and hold. At any time, there is no positive policy to actively drive people out. [Ethnic cleansing is not by itself a crime in international law, but usually refers to the intentional forcible displacement of an ethnic population from a certain area regardless of whether it includes crossing a border.] But in terms of humanitarian needs and the expulsion or purge of their residents Gaza, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich are both preparing record-breaking advocacy for them, pushing for them, supporting them, calling on them, and threatening the government that they will collapse if they don’t achieve them.