Gaza plan a disaster, warns former Israeli PM Olmert

Ongoing war only serves ‘personal interests’ of Netanyahu

- KHALIL MOUSA

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, who initially backed the war in Gaza as an “inevitable” response to the 7 October attacks, describes plans to take over the whole strip as a “historic disaster”.

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 that 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 7 October attack, and see the collapse of Netanyahu’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 insists, “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.