Ehud Olmert on Israel’s Catastrophic War in Gaza
About this episode
Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert — who published a searing May 2025 Haaretz essay calling the Gaza campaign 'a war of devastation' — tells Klein that Israel's war can no longer be justified. Twenty months after October 7, with 500,000 Gazans in catastrophic hunger and no day-after plan, Olmert argues Netanyahu prolongs the war to survive politically, held captive by Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, whose aim is making Gaza uninhabitable and driving mass expulsion — a strategy mirrored by record West Bank land seizures. He rejects the existential-threat framing, citing Israel's destruction of Hezbollah and interception of Iranian missiles, and notes Israeli polls showing majorities against the government. Still, Olmert insists a two-state solution remains possible, recounts negotiating with Mahmoud Abbas, and praises the leadership of Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon as models of courageous peacemaking.