It's time for Israel to halt its war of devastation in Gaza
The government of Israel is currently waging a war without purpose, without goals or clear planning, and with no chances of success. 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 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.
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 Younis 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.
Over the past year, harsh accusations were voiced worldwide against the Israeli government and its military's conduct in Gaza, including accusations of genocide and war crimes. In public debates in Israel and on the international arena, I've rejected such accusations firmly, though I didn't shrink from criticizing the government. The international media listens to all voices in the public debate in Israel. It can discern between those who serve as mouthpieces for Netanyahu and his lackeys and his opponents, who view him, as the media is currently fond of saying, as the head of a crime family. I didn't hesitate to give interviews in Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and elsewhere in the international arena. Quite often, I disappointed interviewers when I vehemently asserted that Israel wasn't committing war crimes in Gaza. Excessive killing happened, but, I claimed firmly and with conviction, in no case did a government official give orders to hit Gazan civilians indiscriminately.
The great number of innocent civilians killed in Gaza was hard to fathom, unjustified, unacceptable. But all, as I have said on every media outlet in the world, resulted from a vicious war.
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. The military, charged with and duty-bound to execute government orders, acted in many cases rashly, incautiously, over-aggressively. However, it did so without any order or instruction or directive from military top brass to hit civilians indiscriminately. Therefore, as I understood it at the time, no war crimes had been committed.
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.
In recent weeks I've been no longer able to do so. What we are doing in Gaza now is a war of devastation: the 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.
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. Because all Gazans are Hamas, there's no moral or operational limitation on exterminating them all, over 2 million people.
Israeli media outlets, each for its own reasons (some understandable) are trying to present a moderate version of events in Gaza. But the picture displayed around the world is much broader, much more devastating. It's impossible to view it with equanimity and a nod, as if the world's reaction is merely a widespread outburst of antisemitism, because everybody hates us and they're all antisemites.
Well, no. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is no antisemite. I know him well. I've been talking to him over the last few months. When the hour was at hand, the French military stood on the frontline to defend Israel and cooperated in intercepting Iran's missile attacks. 'We're fighting with you against your enemies under my direction, and you've been accusing me of supporting terrorism,' Macron recently said. He is a friend of Israel, as are the British prime minister, Keir Starmer; the Dutch prime minister, Dick Schoof; the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni; and many others who've joined them from within the ranks of Europe's most outstanding and important cabinet ministers and leaders.
They've been hearing the voices from Gaza. They see the suffering of hundreds of thousands of civilians. They've been hearing the voices from Israeli cabinet meetings and realize the obvious: Israeli cabinet ministers, headed by crime boss Netanyahu, are actively, unhesitatingly and with malice aforethought pursuing a policy of starvation and humanitarian pressure, with potentially catastrophic results.
Voices are already rising from Israel-friendly governments such as Canada, the UK and France, calling for concrete measures against the government, though these could cause grievous harm to Israel. Macron suggested a review of the association agreement between Israel and the European Union, a suggestion seconded by the prime ministers of Spain, the Netherlands and Italy. These latter two, unlike Macron, are both rightwing leaders, and until recently had declined any move that could have embarrassed Israel.
These voices will grow. There's a risk that tangible punishment will be directed at Israel beyond steps by the international criminal court at The Hague, with lethal financial and diplomatic results.
The Netanyahu government's choir of thugs and the poison machine it has been operating will immediately decry typical victimization: the Gentiles are antisemites. They hate us. They've always been against us. They support terrorism – while we fight terrorism. In truth, these governments aren't anti-Israeli, they oppose the Israeli government. They believe the government has declared war on the state of Israel and its inhabitants, and it may have caused irreversible damage.
I concur. I believe the government of Israel is now the enemy from within. It has declared war on the state and its inhabitants. No external foe we've fought against over the past 77 years has caused greater damage to Israel than what the Itamar Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu and Bezalel Smotrich-led government has inflicted on us. No external foe managed to devastate the social solidarity that was the basis of Israeli society's strength in all existential tests facing it since 1948, as the Netanyahu government has done and does.
I will briefly repeat here what has already become accepted wisdom in large parts of the Israeli public: this government is unworthy. It cannot, nor does it wish to do what is good for the country and its citizens. It's entirely preoccupied with destroying any basis for internal unity, for cooperation between communities, which may disagree over core issues. It's driven by some crazed enthusiasm to pit brother against brother, mother against children, soldiers against soldiers, punks and thugs against hostages and their families. It takes sadistic, sick, irresponsible and merry joy in this, while of course failing to bring back the hostages.
And while all this mess is going on, we keep on slaughtering Palestinian civilians in the West Bank, too. I have said so before, and I will not go back on my word. Members of the horrible hilltop youth are daily perpetrating heinous crimes all over the West Bank, while the police and military units deployed in the area are turning a blind eye.
The murder of Tzeela Gez is horrifying. One cannot but feel pain over the fate of this young woman and over the tragedy to which she fell victim on her way to the hospital to give birth to her son. May he survive and grow up in the bosom of his loving family, who will surely protect him. But the statement by head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, saying that Palestinian villages must be destroyed is a declaration of genocide.
When a Palestinian village burns down, and quite a few already have, they'll tell us that the perpetrators are a small, violent group that does not represent settlers. This is a lie. They are many. The vanguard is always smaller. Behind it are the Yossi Dagans who are inspiring them, helping them to avoid exposure and preparing the next wave of rioters. Where are the police? Where is the military? Where are the tens of thousands of settlers who ought to say that these horrifying hilltop youths are criminals who should be sent to prison rather than wandering around olive orchards belonging to West Bank residents?
Nor is it possible to ignore what has been happening in some Israeli military units, including special forces, where the best and most daring soldiers serve. There have been too many incidents of cruel shooting at civilians, of destruction of property and homes, even when this should not happen. There is too much looting and theft from homes, about which in many cases Israeli soldiers have boasted. Some have gone as far as posting about their antics online.
Israelis are committing war crimes. I do not share the opinion of former chief of staff Moshe Yaalon, who said that Israel is carrying out ethnic cleansing. But we are nearing the point when it will be undeniable that such is the unavoidable result of what the government, the military and our brave soldiers have been doing in practice.
It is time to halt, before we are all banished from the family of nations and are summoned to the international criminal court for war crimes, with no good defense.
Enough is enough.
Ehud Olmert is a former prime minister of Israel
This op-ed originally appeared in Haaretz
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