Or what about this guy, a former PM of Israel ... he must be another anti semite
Quote:Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert penned an op-ed in Haaretz on Tuesday that, among other things, accused Tel Aviv of systematically carrying out war crimes in the Gaza Strip. He called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “crime boss” fighting a “private political war.” He also warned of the risks of escalation in the occupied West Bank where some illegal settlers are calling for “genocide.” Olmert was the prime minister of Israel between 2006-2009. At the end of his term, he launched a brutal war on Gaza dubbed Operation Cast Lead.
Olmert opens by declaring “The government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning and with no chances of success.” This dovetails with numerous statements and intelligence estimates from Washington which have warned since the early stages of Tel Aviv’s genocidal campaign that, although massive numbers of civilians were being slaughtered, Hamas’ ranks were increasing or only minimally decreasing.
The former prime minister then takes aim at the IDF’s newly launched ground offensive in Gaza, after more than two months of a full siege strangling and starving the Palestinians, systematically depriving them of food, water, fuel, medicine, and electricity. “The obvious result of Operation Gideon’s Chariots is, first and foremost, the confused activity of Israeli military units deployed around Gaza. This is true particularly in neighborhoods where our soldiers have already fought, were hurt and fell while killing many Hamas combatants, who deserve to die, and many more innocent civilians. These have joined the statistics of pointless victims among the Palestinian population, reaching monstrous proportions,” Olmert laments.
Even the Palestinian Health Ministry’s conservative estimate of the death toll in Gaza – which only accounts for the deceased victims taken to the remaining hospitals and mourges – is over 60,000. Additionally, over 111,000 Palestinian men, women, and children have been wounded.
Olmert then discusses the “humanitarian disaster area” that is current day Gaza under incessant bombardment with marauding IDF soldiers carrying out “illegitimate” operations. “Recent operations in Gaza have nothing to do with legitimate war goals. The government sends our soldiers – and the military obeys – to wander around Gaza City, Jabalya and Khan Yunis neighborhoods in an illegitimate military operation. This is now a private political war. Its immediate result is the transformation of Gaza into a humanitarian disaster area.”
The most recent data released by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification admonished that the entire population of Gaza, some 2.1 million people, are at “critical risk of famine.” The report showed that one in five people in Gaza – 500,000 – are facing starvation. The World Health Organization has documented dozens of children dying of malnutrition since last March when the full blockade was resumed.
Olmert describes how until now and throughout the bulk of the genocidal campaign, he has attempted to rebuke accusations of systemic war crimes in Gaza by arguing there were no orders from the top of the military or government to kill large numbers of Palestinian civilians indiscriminately. However, before outlining why his point of view has now changed, he concedes “this war should have ended by early 2024. It continued without justification, without any clear goal and with no political vision for the future of Gaza and the Middle East in general.”
Referring to the International Criminal Court’s charges of war crimes against Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Olmert details his previous position. “Genocide and war crimes are legal terms that very much refer to the intent and responsibility of the people authorized to formulate the war’s objectives, its conduct and its purpose, the boundaries of fighting and the limitations on the use of force. I took every available opportunity to distinguish between the crimes we have been accused of, which I refused to admit, and the carelessness and indifference regarding Gazan victims and the unbearable human cost we’ve been levying there. The first accusation I rejected, the second I admitted to,” he writes.
Olmert then admits top Israeli officials are knowingly carrying out what he characterizes as evil and malicious war crimes. “In recent weeks I’ve been no longer able to do so. What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: indiscriminate, limitless, cruel and criminal killing of civilians. 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. Rather, it’s the result of government policy – knowingly, evilly, maliciously, irresponsibly dictated. Yes, Israel is committing war crimes.”
He takes aim at Netanyahu’s starvation and extermination campaign against the Palestinians. “First, starving out Gaza. On this issue, the position of senior government figures is public and clear. Yes, we’ve been denying Gazans food, medicine and basic living needs as part of an explicit policy. 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. But some of his lackeys are saying so outright, in public, even with pride: Yes, we will starve out Gaza.
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