In a Nov. 8 interview with Politico, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denounced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that he is in the midst of a nervous breakdown. “[Netanyahu] has shrunk. He’s destroyed emotionally…. Bibi has been working all his life on the false pretense that he is Mr. Security. He’s Mr. Bullshit,” Olmert said. “Every minute he is prime minister he is a danger to Israel. I seriously mean it. I am certain the Americans understand he is in bad shape.”
On Netanyahu’s claim that Israel must stay in Gaza for security reasons, Olmert replied: “It’s not in Israel’s interests to oversee the security of Gaza. It is in our interests to be able to defend ourselves in a different way than we did before the October 7 attack. But to control Gaza again? No.”
He said that the patience of Israel’s Western allies was wearing thin, because Netanyahu and his ministers have failed to outline a realistic plan for the post-Hamas governing of Gaza. “There is a lot that we can do, but we can’t do everything that we desire,” he cautioned.
Olmert said his biggest fear is that Israel will continue to dither and fail to grapple with what should happen to post-war Gaza, which will add to Western exasperation, he warned.
