Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has suggested that the latest offensive in Gaza is “very close to a war crime” in a controversial interview with the BBC.
Olmert, who was in office from 2006 to 2009, heavily criticised the approach of his successor (and erstwhile party colleague) Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the Gaza conflict a “war without a purpose”.
Speaking to BBC News, he said: “[It is] a war without a purpose — a war without a chance of achieving anything that can save the lives of the hostages.
"[What Israel] is doing now in Gaza, is very close to a war crime.”
He also claimed that the “obvious appearance” of the war is that thousands of Palestinian civilians, as well as significant numbers of IDF troops, are being killed, adding: “From every point of view, this is obnoxious and outrageous.
"We are fighting the killers of Hamas, we are not fighting innocent civilians.
“That has to be clear.”
The comments prompted fierce backlash from the Israeli government, with Education Minister Yoav Kisch saying: “While IDF soldiers are risking their lives in the face of murderous terror that seeks to destroy us, [Olmert] chooses to incite and stab them in the back.”
Likewise, Social Equality Minister May Golan added: “The only crime in this war is your spitting in the faces of (Israeli army) fighters who are currently fighting the modern-day Nazi enemy.”
"There are innocent people in Gaza - 58 to be exact,” she declared, referencing Israeli captives.
And Nissim Vaturi, an MK for Likud – the party Olmert led – called him a “corrupt prime minister” who was “consumed by self-hatred” and accused him of being a “mouthpiece for Hamas”.
It is the second occasion this week in which comments about the war from a senior Israel official have sparked controversy.
Just yesterday, former IDF deputy chief of staff (and now chair of the Democrats) Yair Golan was accused of invoking “blood libel” and parroting “Hamas talking points” after suggesting that Israel is “killing babies as a hobby”.
Golan has insisted his words were targeted at the “corrupt” government and not the “heroes” of the IDF, adding: “The meaning of my words was clear: This war is the realisation of the fantasies of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich and if we allow them to put this into action, we will become a pariah state.
"It is time for us to have a backbone of hardened steel, we must stand up for our values as a Zionist, Jewish and democratic state.
“The war must be ended, the hostages returned, and Israel rehabilitated.”
