Iñaki Anasagasti, former MP and former senator of the PNV, claims that the expression “Chinese vases” – a very valuable item but which no one knows where to put – applies to former presidents who are retiring after the end of their careers feel free to say whatever you want. They think, no matter how unpopular it may be, that it was invented by former Chilean President Eduardo Frei. In the current situation in Israel and Palestine, with 1,200 dead from the Hamas attacks on October 7th and another more than 21,000 from the Israeli military response to Gaza, Ehud Olmert (Binyamina, Israel, 78 years old) fits this concept well.
The former Israeli prime minister from the centrist Kadima party from 2006 to 2009 is aware of the strong social support that his country's military operation enjoys despite the enormous civilian death toll, but believes that Benjamin Netanyahu's government should end the war now to free 125 hostages still in the hands of the Islamist group. Olmert is highly critical of Netanyahu, his successor in power and whom he considers finished, and supports resuming negotiations with the Palestinian Authority towards a two-state solution. “Israel must offer a political horizon,” he repeats.
Questions. After the October 7 attacks, Israel is experiencing one of its worst moments since its founding. How did you come here?
Answer. Israel was absolutely shocked. I'm sure Israel had all the intelligence they needed to know what was going on. There were even specific warnings from friendly services about the possibility of a very serious military attack by Hamas. Israel has long developed a certain degree of arrogance and complacency. Netanyahu said he did not want to do business with the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority is a potential partner for political negotiations, but from the Israeli government's perspective, political negotiations almost inevitably mean territorial concessions to the Palestinians. This was impossible for someone like Netanyahu, whose political base rests on the concept of Greater Israel. So he changed direction and demoted the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, saying they were not trustworthy, they were terrorists… Netanyahu said he would rather negotiate with Hamas. The difference between Netanyahu and the Palestinians was that the Palestinians constantly increased their military capabilities. Their goal was to do what they did on October 7: to try to shake the foundation of Israel's confidence and strength in order to trigger this unprecedented earthquake. Netanyahu thought he could buy Hamas with money because he believes you can buy anything. But you can't buy everything with money.
Q. How did you try to buy Hamas?
R. It allowed Qatar to fund Hamas with billions of dollars. And he thought that he could use that money to buy their tacit cooperation. But not everyone is like Netanyahu. Yahia Sinwar [líder de Hamás en Gaza y presunto cerebro del 7 de octubre] He played it very skillfully. Although Netanyahu now calls him a “Nazi,” it was he who freed him from prison in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. He and 1,026 other Palestinian prisoners were killed by a soldier. What I didn't know is that Sinwar doesn't play this game. Sinwar's experience in prison helped. I knew that the Israelis were very arrogant and didn't believe that the Palestinians could do what they did. That they do not have the sophistication and wisdom necessary to deceive Israel. Israeli intelligence and cyber intelligence are the best in the world and have delivered good results. The Israeli mentality was for something different and that was what made the massacre possible. Arrogance. That was the problem.
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Q. Isn't arrogance a failure of the secret services?
R. There was no intelligence failure. It was psychological and intellectual failure, not intelligence. We knew everything. Now we can show films about how they trained, what they did. This also happened in 1973, before the Yom Kippur War. It was the same with Hamas. We watched the training and asked ourselves: “Will Hamas play against us?” For us Israelis? We are the nation of startups. “We know everything.” We know everything, but sometimes we don't know how to read another person's mind. We didn't understand what was happening.
Q. Has this entire chain of errors affected Netanyahu's popularity?
R. I'm sure there are still some who support him, but their numbers are dwindling day by day. All polls released after October 7 show that Netanyahu has lost more than half of his previous support. It's on its last legs.
Ehud Olmert, former Prime Minister of Israel, during the interview in Tel Aviv on December 31st. QUIQUE KIERSZENBAUM
Q. The goals of the Gaza war are the destruction of Hamas and the freeing of the hostages. Given the violence of military operations, aren't they contradictory?
R. There are two different settings. It is said that the stronger the military pressure, the greater the chances that the hostages will be released. Then there is another opinion: the longer the military operation lasts, the lower the chances of liberation. We may be able to destroy Hamas, but we will have no living hostages. Therefore, there may be no synchronization of these two goals. Israel should stop fighting for the exchange of all hostages. The quick and the dead. Israel has hit Hamas in a very painful way. Hamas suffers, Hamas bleeds, but it will not be destroyed. They lost thousands of soldiers, but you have to understand it from the perspective of Yahia Sinwar and Hamas. To achieve their sacred goal, 10,000 soldiers killed is no big deal. They have a completely different idea of human life, of sacrifice. So yes, we destroyed an important part of Hamas's military capacity, but not Hamas. It is very difficult to destroy a terrorist organization. Hamas has between 20,000 and 30,000 terrorists. You kill 10,000. It's a big loss. But they have another 20,000 and tomorrow they will have another 5,000 or 10,000 more, because if they have no political horizon, if they have no political future, they will become terrorists. Defeating a terrorist organization means something completely different than what we are used to. We killed many, we destroyed their tunnels, their command posts and some of their commanders. Have we finished off Hamas? NO.
Q Polls show that support for Hamas has increased in the Palestinian territories since October 7. In the West Bank it has almost quadrupled.
R. I don't know if Hamas has increased its support in Gaza. This cannot be measured because as long as Hamas is in power there will be no free elections. I believe they have increased their support in the West Bank. Because the people who live in the West Bank do not have to suffer what Hamas did in the Gaza Strip, where 50% of the territory is destroyed, the buildings have collapsed, people feel that this is destroying their lives, and not everyone are very happy. . But in the West Bank you can go to a cafe or a bar… There is prosperity. When they see Gaza on television, they identify emotionally and find it easier to support Hamas.
Q. They talk about stopping the war now. Do you think Israeli society would accept that?
R. I don't say this because it's popular or unpopular, but because I think it's right. More and more Israelis understand that the gap between the goal of repatriating the hostages and continuing the war is widening. We have to make a decision. Do we want to get the hostages back or do we want to continue fighting? I have always been against these deals, but this time it is different because the hostages have been kidnapped in their homes, their living rooms, their bedrooms and it is the government's absolute responsibility to protect them. And we couldn't do that. If you send the soldier to the battlefield, there is always a chance that he will not return. But he is a soldier. No one would blame you for sending him to the battlefield and not bringing him back if that is the inevitable result of war. The responsibility for citizens in their homes lies solely with the government. There can be no excuse or justification. From the Israeli perspective, the hostages are an unforgettable and unforgivable affair, and the government must do everything it can to get them back. If the price for this is the end of the military operation, we must pay for it, even if it may seem insulting and humiliating.
Q. The enormous loss of civilian life undermines international support. Is the government aware of the reputational damage the state is suffering?
R. Netanyahu may be aware of dwindling sympathy for the State of Israel. But as far as he is concerned, his position and personal status seem to be more important. Anyway, he's completely crazy. He has to go. Mistrust of Netanyahu is growing. More and more Israelis understand that it is not the solution. He is the problem. And to find a solution, we have to get rid of it.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Tel Aviv on December 31st. QUIQUE KIERSZENBAUM
Q. In public, the prime minister gives the toughest talk about sticking it out to the end, but behind the cameras he is taking steps that previously seemed taboo, such as admitting the Palestinian Authority into Gaza or a partial troop withdrawal to allow the hostages to return. .
R. It seems as if he has lost touch with reality. Live in a bubble. I think he feels that the only way to save himself is to continue with these hysterical and arrogant expressions of destroying and destroying until the end, in the hope that while it lasts, he will free himself from the Impact of the events of October 7. But I don't think I'm making the right calculation.
Q. Why do you systematically refuse to talk about the post-war scenario?
R. Because he has nothing to say. If you say what you really think, you will be rejected by the entire international community. If he says what the international community wants him to do, he will lose his government. That's why he prefers not to say anything.
Q. What should this scenario look like from your experience as Prime Minister?
R. Israel must do three things. First, announce that we will withdraw from Gaza when the fighting ends. Then turn to our friends, the United States and Europe – I'm afraid we won't be able to talk to them [el presidente español] Pedro Sánchez, because he is not very cooperative – and tell them: Do you have someone who can take over Gaza? After Israel, no other country should enter Gaza. An international intervention force must be deployed for a year or a year and a half to maintain the balance and not allow the terrorists to take power again, a preliminary period in preparation for the Palestinian Authority's seizure of power. In addition, Israel must begin negotiations on a two-state solution. Let's offer Egypt mediation. Israel must offer a political horizon. This will help Biden, Sunak, Scholz, Macron and others give Israel a little more time to carry out further attacks on Hamas. This way they can say they don't like the humanitarian situation, but at least Israel is ready to make a political push toward a solution. If Israel does not offer a political horizon and thinks, contrary to the international community, that it can fight indefinitely, it will lose much more international support.
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