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The former prime minister of Israel Ehud Olmert has said Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza, and that “thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed, as well as many Israeli soldiers”.
Olmert, who was the 12th prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009, wrote in an opinion piece for the Israeli newspaper and website Haaretz that “the government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success”.
He added: “Never since its establishment has the state of Israel waged such a war … The criminal gang headed by Benjamin Netanyahu has set a precedent without equal in Israel’s history in this area, too.
The former Israeli PM and former member of Likud, the same party as Netanyahu, wrote that the “pointless victims among the Palestinian population” were reaching “monstrous proportions” in recent weeks.
“Recent operations in Gaza have nothing to do with legitimate war goals,” he wrote. “This is now a private political war. Its immediate result is the transformation of Gaza into a humanitarian disaster area.”
Olmert said he had often asserted that Israel was not committing war crimes in Gaza and claimed with conviction that “in no case did a government official give orders to hit Gazan civilians indiscriminately”.
However, in recent weeks, “I’ve been no longer able to do so,” he said. “What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians. It’s the result of government policy – knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated.”
“Yes, Israel is committing war crimes,” he concluded.
In an interview with the BBC last week, Olmert described the continuing conflict as “a war without a purpose – a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the hostages.”
His comments to the British broadcaster caused a row in Israel. The far-right parties condemned his words, which followed the Democrats party head, Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of staff of the Israeli army, who told the Kan national broadcaster that “a sane country does not fight against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not give itself the aim of expelling populations”.
The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, accused Olmert and Golan of “taking an active part in a diplomatic campaign, in a propaganda war and in legal warfare against the state of Israel and the IDF”.
The education minister, Yoav Kisch, said that Olmert and Golan had joined a “radical leftist chorus defaming Israel in the international arena”.
“While IDF troops are risking their lives against murderous terrorists seeking our annihilation, he decides to incite and stick a knife in their backs,” Kisch said.
The social equality minister, May Golan, accused Olmert of “spitting in the face” of Israeli soldiers. “To be exact, there are innocents in Gaza – 58 of them,” she said, referring to the Israeli hostages held captive in the territory.
Some Israeli media outlets have framed Olmert’s remarks as a response to far-right outrage over the resumption of aid into Gaza, and to the inflammatory rhetoric of several Israeli politicians.
The far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said Israel is “destroying everything that’s left of the Gaza Strip” and that “the army is leaving no stone unturned”. He declared: “We are conquering, cleansing and remaining in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed.”
Smotrich said the IDF was “finally” targeting Hamas’s civilian infrastructure. “We’re eliminating ministers, bureaucrats, money handlers – everyone who holds up Hamas’s civilian rule.”
On 22 May, the Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin told TV Channel 14: “The enemy is not Hamas, nor is it the military wing of Hamas.” Feiglin is a former member of the Israeli parliament.
“Every child in Gaza is the enemy. We need to occupy Gaza and settle it, and not a single Gazan child will be left there. There is no other victory.”
