Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he now believes his nation’s relentless assault on the Palestinian individuals quantities to “war crimes” and have to be stopped.
Addressing the individuals of Israel in an article written in Hebrew and revealed by Haaretz on Thursday, Olmert, who served from 2006 to 2009, condemned present Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his authorities for “waging a pointless war, without a clear goal or plan, and with no chance of success,” in accordance with Google’s translation of the piece.
Whereas Olmert wrote that he had beforehand defended his nation in opposition to “accusations of genocide and war crimes,” the Israeli politician mentioned he can not see the widespread slaughter of civilians, together with ladies, youngsters and the aged, or the marketing campaign to starve Gaza as mere collateral injury in “a brutal war.”
“What we are doing in Gaza is a war of extermination: indiscriminate, unrestrained, brutal, and criminal killing of civilians,” he mentioned.
“We are doing this not because of an accidental loss of control in a particular sector, not because of a disproportionate outburst of fighters in some unit — but as a result of a policy dictated by the government, knowingly, intentionally, viciously, maliciously, recklessly,” Olmert’s op-ed continued. “Yes, we are committing war crimes.”
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Olmert additionally wrote that the present administration can not dismiss criticism of the navy onslaught or the monthslong blockade of meals and medical provides as antisemitism, as Netanyahu as soon as once more did final week.
When French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.Ok. Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a joint assertion calling for Israel to “stop its military operations in Gaza” and “immediately allow humanitarian aid” into the area, Netanyahu accused the trio of “emboldening Hamas” and its goals to “annihilate the Jewish people.”
“When mass murderers, rapists, baby killers and kidnappers thank you, you’re on the wrong side of justice,” he wrote in a publish on X, previously Twitter.
Describing such deflections from Netanyahu and his “gang of criminals” as disingenuous, Olmert wrote, “The Netanyahu government’s chorus of thugs and the poison machine it operates will immediately leap up with characteristic shrieks of rapprochement: The gentiles are anti-Semites. They hate us. They have always been against us. They support terrorism — and we fight terrorism.”
“The truth is, these governments are not anti-Israel, they are anti-the Israeli government,” he mentioned.
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On the finish of his piece, Olmert warned that Israel should heed these warnings “before we are all ostracized from the family of nations and summoned to the International Criminal Court for war crimes, and a good defense won’t stand a chance against us.”
After blocking meals and medical help from coming into Gaza for two-and-a-half months, Israel started permitting a restricted quantity of provides into the area final week.
United Nations Secretary-Common António Guterres mentioned the extent of help was nonetheless woefully inadequate and condemned Israel’s navy offensive for “intensifying with atrocious levels of death and destruction.”
Based on Could numbers from the Gaza Health Ministry, 52,615 individuals have been killed since battle within the area ignited after the Oct. 7, 2023, assaults by Hamas 19 months in the past that killed greater than 1,200 Israelis.
