Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has warned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reported plans to fully reoccupy Gaza and settle Israelis there would be a “historic disaster,” calling the ongoing war “illegitimate” and damaging to Israel’s interests.
The government, which argues tighter controls are needed, says it will amend the bill to address the court’s concerns. Left-wing parties have criticised the proposal as inhumane and accuse the administration of yielding to Chega’s anti-immigration agenda, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
In an exclusive interview with Independent Arabia, Olmert who served as Israel’s prime minister from 2006 to 2009, states that the war which is entering its second year has achieved all of its objectives and its continuation runs “counter to Israel’s interests” and serves only the “personal interests” of the country’s current leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Olmert, Netanyahu is determined to keep the war going, and to further escalate it, in order to avoid the political fallout an end to the war would bring. The former premier believes this would likely include the formation of a commission of inquiry into security failures surrounding the October 7 attack, and see the collapse of Netenyahu’s government, which is propped up by what Olmert calls the “messianic faction” led by Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. The far-right ministers were both recently banned from entering the UK for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities”.
Olmert claims this political bloc is singularly focused on waging war and destruction on Gaza and the West Bank, aiming to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, expel its Palestinian residents, and hand it over to Israeli settlers.
“The majority of Israelis reject this agenda”, Olmert insisted, “We are doing everything we can to stop these plans, because they would lead to a historic disaster”.
According to Olmert, the war that began in 2023 was initially launched as a response to “Hamas’s brutal attack on civilians, in which 1,200 people were killed in their homes and bedrooms”. At the time, he says, Israel enjoyed overwhelming support and broad international backing.
However, Olmert later became opposed to the continuation of the war, arguing that Israel had already “achieved everything that could reasonably be achieved”, including killing key Hamas leaders such as Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, along with the majority of the group’s senior and mid-level commanders, as well as the destruction of most of its rockets and command infrastructure.
“What’s happening now is no longer necessary,” he said, noting the large numbers of both Israeli military casualties and the estimated death toll of over 60,000 Palestinians. “What is needed now is to end the violence and bring the hostages home - and the only way to do that is by ending the war, not expanding it - especially as international opposition continues to grow.”
Olmert added that “most former Israeli military and security officials have called for an immediate halt to the war, as there are no further military objectives left to achieve. Continuing this war in the face of mounting civilian deaths on both sides is a crime that cannot be ignored.”
He believes the war should have ended in March, criticising Netanyahu for withdrawing from a ceasefire deal at that time rather than pursuing negotiations for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. “At that point,” Olmert said, “the war became illegitimate.”
