Former PM: Israel committing ‘monstrous’ war crimes in Gaza

In a blistering op-ed, Ehud Olmert condemned the Netanyahu government’s Gaza campaign as “indefensible.”

By World Israel News Staff

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert blasted the Netanyahu government for the ongoing war in an op-ed published on Tuesday, claiming that under the coalition’s directions, the IDF is “committing war crimes” in the embattled enclave.

Olmert wrote that the war is now “indefensible” and that “pointless victims among the Palestinian population” had reached “monstrous proportions.”

“What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians,” Olmert, who served as prime minister from 2006 to 2009, wrote in left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “It’s the result of government policy – knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated.”

Olmert concluded the essay by emphasizing that “yes, Israel is committing war crimes.”

After the op-ed was published, Olmert launched a round of interviews with international media outlets, doubling down on his claims.

Speaking to the American National Public Radio (NPR), Olmert claimed that the expanded operation in Gaza is “not going to save the hostages” or “achieve any important national interest.”

Olmert added that “hundreds of people are killed on a daily basis, who are not involved. This is a crime.”

Notably, Olmert did not cite any sources for the number of casualties he claimed.

The Hamas-controlled Gazan Health Ministry has repeatedly exaggerated the number of those killed in the Strip, as well as conflating the deaths of terrorists fighting IDF soldiers with civilians.

Olmert, a bitter political rival of Netanyahu, has previously called for mass civil rebellion among Israelis to topple the current governing coalition in order to prevent the judicial reform legislation from passing.

“What is needed is to move to the next stage, the stage of war, and war is not waged with speeches. War is waged in a face-to-face battle, head-to-head and hand-to-hand, and that is what will happen here,” he said in an interview with DemocraTV in February 2023.

“It’s good to see 100,000 people, but that’s not what will lead the real fight. The real fight will break through these fences and enter into a real war,” he added.

In 2016, Olmert, began serving a 27-month prison sentence, but he was released on parole after 16 months. He was convicted of fraud, breach of trust and tax evasion.