Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Accuses Israeli Govt of Committing War Crimes in Gaza
h/t to Etienne de la Boetie and Edward Griffin
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Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Accuses Israeli Govt of Committing War Crimes in Gaza
May 27, 2025 CNN and Republic World 1
He said that he believes that a group of messianic right-winger extremists (Chabad-Lubavitch) are now leading the government and dictating to Netanyahu what should be done and how to do it.
Olmert was especially critical of Israel’s deliberate blockade of food and medical supplies into Gaza that is causing starvation and he says is a clear example of a policy that targets civilians. The article marks a rare moment in Israeli politics — a former prime minister openly accusing his own country of criminal conduct in wartime.
He hopes that Trump will persuade Netanyahu to stop the war soon.
In a stunning shift from his previous stance, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accused his country of committing war crimes in Gaza. Writing in an opinion piece for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Olmert described Israel’s ongoing military campaign as “indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians.”
Olmert, who led Israel between 2006 and 2009, said he had initially rejected accusations of genocide and war crimes, arguing that while “excessive killing happened,” the Israeli government was not targeting civilians deliberately. That view, however, has changed in recent weeks.
This is government policy, suggests Olmert
According to Olmert, the devastation in Gaza is not the result of battlefield chaos or isolated misconduct by individual soldiers. “We’re not doing this due to loss of control in any specific sector, not due to some disproportionate outburst by some soldiers in some unit,” he wrote. “Rather, it’s the result of government policy – knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated. Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.”
Starvation as a weapon of war
Olmert was especially critical of Israel’s deliberate blockade of food and medical supplies into Gaza. He argued that the denial of basic necessities is a clear example of a policy that targets civilians. “Yes, we’ve been denying Gazans food, medicine and basic living needs as part of an explicit policy,” he said.
He accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to blur the lines of responsibility: “Netanyahu, typically, is trying to blur the type of orders he’s been giving, in order to evade legal and criminal responsibility in due course.”
All Gazans are Hamas – a dangerous mindset
Olmert also condemned the dehumanizing rhetoric used by members of Netanyahu’s government. “Some of his lackeys are saying so outright, in public, even with pride: Yes, we will starve out Gaza. Because all Gazans are Hamas, there’s no moral or operational limitation on exterminating them all, over two million people,” he wrote.
A rare voice from within
The article marks a rare moment in Israeli politics — a former prime minister openly accusing his own country of criminal conduct in wartime. As international scrutiny intensifies, Olmert’s comments may add to growing pressure on the Israeli government to explain its actions in Gaza and defend them before both legal bodies and the court of global public opinion.
Olmert’s powerful statement has already drawn attention worldwide and may mark a turning point in the debate over Israel’s ongoing military operations.
The Chabad movement was started in the Russian empire in 1775 and was later expanded to Brooklyn, New York; between 1951 and 1994, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson transformed the movement. During his life and after his death, Schneerson has been believed by some of his followers to be the Messiah.
Schneerson reportedly told a young Netanyahu that he would become prime minister of Israel one day and he would be the last leader before handing the scepter to the Messiah.
Israel has been a war criminal since its inception. The 1924 Balfour Document required no one already living in Palestine to be forceably impacted by the creation of an Israeli state. The UK backed out on enforcing that after WW2, and it was violated from day one. Wars have been fought by Israel against the Palestinians, there has been continuous terrorism and murder, encroachment, and walling-off, disenfranchisement, economic warfare against them since 1948. The world has decried the carnage to no avail. President Trump backed the takeover of the oil rich Golan Heights, clearly out of bounds, and aggressively moved the American embassy to Jerusalem from the capitol of Israel where it had been placed with the founding of Israel. In doing so, he emboldened them to atrocity. Christian religious fundamentalists in the US back Israel no matter the blood it spills or misery it causes. These people selectively thump only the Old Testament parts of the Bible they want, directly ignoring the New Testament instructions of their founder. Israel's moves since October 7th have been genocide of the most brutal, merciless kind, deliberately aimed at civilians, including children. Frankly, I think the Israelis started this war because WITHOUT DOUBT they left their boundary wide open, inviting Hamas in. This was noted by many commentators at the time and ignored since. Geopolitics is a duplicitous game and in case you haven't noticed, things are never done for the reasons we're told. I believe Israel invited this war believing they could depend on the US/Trump to come in on their side and they could destroy the Palestinians once and for all. They were right. Trump made suggestions like deporting the remaining Palestinians into neighboring Islamic states, like it was his decision, and suggested a US dominated Israeli Disneyland Palestine in the place of the Palestinian home of two millennia...like it was his decision. Despite Trump's recent prevarications with Netanyahu, we continue to send them weapons and we are setting the table for a conflagration in the middle east that may be intended to result in "Greater Israel" long talked about as the Israeli goal. It's time we called a spade a spade with Israel. The government is corrupt, allied with the tyrannizing international cartel we are fighting, and taking actions very similar to the German dictator they despise for victimizing them, meanwhile we see them victimize others just as ruthlessly. In case you think I sound like a liberal, I will tell you I'm not.
The U.S. doctor, Dr. Feroze Sidhwa a volunteer trauma surgeon in Gaza's description makes it clear it is a genocide. He does not make political claims; he describes the horrific wounds from bombs and guns in young children that he cares for.