Former Israel PM Ehud Olmert Declares Israel Committing War Crimes in Gaza and West Bank
[quote]Ehud Olmert says forcing people into camp would be ethnic cleansing, and anger at Israel over Gaza war is not all down to antisemitism
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[quote]The “humanitarian city” Israel’s defence minister has proposed building on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians inside would be ethnic cleansing, Israel’s former prime minister Ehud Olmert has told the Guardian. Israel was already committing war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank, Olmert said, and construction of the camp would mark an escalation.
[quote]“It is a concentration camp. I am sorry,” he said, when asked about the plans laid out by Israel Katz last week. Once inside, Palestinians would not be allowed to leave, except to go to other countries, Katz said.
[quote]“In the United States there is more and more and more expanding expressions of hatred to Israel,” he said. “We make a discount to ourselves saying: ‘They are antisemites.’ I don’t think that they are only antisemites, I think many of them are anti-Israel because of what they watch on television, what they watch on social networks.
[quote]“This is a painful but normal reaction of people who say: ‘Hey, you guys have crossed every possible line.’”
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | July 15, 2025 4:24 PM
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ANTI-SEMITIC!!! JEW HATER!!!
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | July 15, 2025 11:53 AM
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Is that how Ehud Olmert's seen in Israel today? I imagine so, his views seem FAR from the mainstream there. I'm not well versed on leaders of the region. I thought he was a Likud party member, but these comments seem pretty Left Wing for that country.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | July 15, 2025 12:55 PM
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R2, I don't know if they let themselves hear comments like this.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | July 15, 2025 1:04 PM
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The disgraced, convicted felon Olmert would have fit perfectly with the people who claimed the U.S. government was committing ethnic cleansing by helping black people get housing outside of the city since their old housing was uninhabitable. These people will scream if the Palestinians are left in the rubble and will scream if the Palestinians are moved away from the rubble and into habitable housing.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | July 15, 2025 2:27 PM
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[quote] The disgraced, convicted felon Olmert would have fit perfectly with the people who claimed the U.S. government was committing ethnic cleansing by helping black people get housing outside of New Orleans after Katrina since their old housing was uninhabitable.
Sorry, I edited out a sentence and it removed that I was referring to New Orleans.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | July 15, 2025 2:34 PM
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Well, he's not alone.
And, yes, "humanitarian city" does sound like a really ominous euphemism for concentration camp. Very Orwell.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | July 15, 2025 2:49 PM
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R6, it's true that many Israelis are angry at Netanyahu and his handling of the war, but is there any polling showing that that anger is due to sympathy for Palestinians, the kind of which Olmert expressed in that interview? My impression is, that anger at Netanyahu is due to his well documented corruption, the many IDF soldier deaths in the conflict and what most see as his mishandling of the hostage situation. I know there's a very small Peace movement in Israel, but they're a tiny minority, right?
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | July 15, 2025 3:09 PM
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[quote] My impression is, that anger at Netanyahu is due to his well documented corruption, the many IDF soldier deaths in the conflict and what most see as his mishandling of the hostage situation.
While anti-Israel stories focus exclusively on Palestinians, it’s important to know that almost 900 Israeli soldiers have been killed and over 6000 wounded. Being part of the civilized world and having the same high regard for human life as other Western countries, the Israeli Jews don’t celebrate and take delight in being killed like the Palestinians do with their concept of “martyrdom”. Again, like other Western countries, Israelis tire of their people being killed or wounded and so one would expect support for any war to wane over time.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | July 15, 2025 4:24 PM
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