Ehud Olmert, 79, is a former prime minister of Israel. Originally from a Russian immigrant family, he was a key figure in Israel politics over the course of several decades. As a close confidant of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, he took over control of the government following Sharon’s stroke in 2006 in addition to taking the reins of the centrist party Kadima. During his tenure, Olmert conducted negotiations on the establishment of a Palestinian state but also led wars in Lebanon in 2006 and in Gaza in 2008-2009. He resigned due to corruption allegations made against him. Today, he is a sharp critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Olmert, the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has worsened significantly in recent days. Large parts of the population are suffering from acute malnutrition, and people are dying daily while desperately searching for food. At the same time, the Israeli army is pushing the population into smaller and smaller areas. What is Israel trying to achieve?

Olmert: I don’t think anyone in a position of responsibility can logically explain what we are doing there. I am convinced that we already achieved one year ago all that could be achieved within the scope of this war.

DER SPIEGEL: What specific moment are you referring to?

Olmert: To be honest, it is somewhat arbitrary: the killing of Yahya Sinwar …

DER SPIEGEL: … the Hamas leader in Gaza and the mastermind behind the October 7, 2023, terror attack. He was killed more or less by chance by an Israeli patrol near Rafah on October 16, 2024.

Olmert: At that point, if not sooner, we should have said: It’s enough. We have killed enough, we have destroyed enough, we have weakened them sufficiently. At that point, we should have finally posed the decisive question to the government: Do they really want to bring back the hostages?

DER SPIEGEL: Even shortly after October 7, many in Israel pointed out that the two war aims – destroying Hamas and bringing back the hostages – are mutually exclusive. Why didn’t you speak up back then?

Olmert: In the first month after October 7, I said nothing publicly because I knew that my ideas would have sounded ridiculous to many: We should have negotiated a deal to bring back all of the hostages without a large war.

DER SPIEGEL: You mean a hostage deal to ward off the ground offensive that Israel launched at the end of October 2023?

Olmert: The Qataris conveyed a message at the time whereby Hamas would be willing to immediately exchange all 251 hostages. My first thought was that the government wouldn’t even consider it. The mood in the country made it impossible to even consider such a thing.

DER SPIEGEL: Could such a deal have prevented a large war of retaliation in the long term?

Olmert: It would have at least removed this huge burden from our shoulders – or, rather, from our hearts. These feelings of guilt and failure that have driven us since then.

DER SPIEGEL: Because of the security failures on October 7?

Olmert: Nothing can take away the pain we suffered through the loss of 1,200 people, who were raped and killed, even beheaded, in the most brutal of fashions. But if we had brought back the hostages – at the terrible price of freeing thousands of Palestinian prisoners – at least part of the burden would have been lifted.

DER SPIEGEL: When you were prime minister, you opposed the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for the captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Benjamin Netanyahu, your successor, ultimately agreed to such a deal and 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released, including Yahya Sinwar.

Olmert: The situation with Shalit was different. With soldiers in war, there is always a certain chance that they will be taken prisoner, kidnapped or killed. On October 7, though, we allowed 1,200 people to be killed inside Israel’s borders and 251 people to be kidnapped. We delivered them to the murderers out of arrogance and complacency. The state failed in its most fundamental responsibility.

DER SPIEGEL: The state has responded with a war that continues today and doesn’t seem to have a clear objective.

Olmert: There was no plan prepared for such a large operation in Gaza because it wasn’t considered a possibility that he would be attacked in such a manner and be forced to retaliate. When then-U.S. President Joe Biden visited Israel just a few days after the Hamas attack, he expressed great sympathy and solidarity, but he also issued a warning: We must not allow ourselves to be "consumed” by our rage, as happened to the Americans following September 11. Unfortunately, we did not follow this advice. We let ourselves get carried away, without any restraint.

DER SPIEGEL: For quite some time, though, Biden and many Western governments uncritically supported Israel’s war in Gaza. Was that wrong?

Olmert: Biden, British Prime Minister Sunak, Chancellor Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Meloni and President Macron understood that in our hunt for the leaders of Hamas, we had to operate in one of the most densely populated regions in the world. They knew that significant collateral damage would be the result.

DER SPIEGEL: Tens of thousands of civilian victims have been the result. You recently said that Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza. When did you come to that realization?

Olmert: The decisive moment was March 18 of this year.

DER SPIEGEL: That was the day that Israel broke the six-week ceasefire. But several war crimes, such as bombings with numerous civilian casualties, had already been documented by then. A genocide case brought by South Africa has been before the International Court of Justice for more than a year.

Olmert: To be clear, I have never spoken of genocide. But let me explain: On March 18, we lost the support of the international community because on that day, we clearly and knowingly violated an agreement that was intended to produce a lasting ceasefire. By doing so, we lost all legitimacy.

DER SPIEGEL: When you speak of war crimes, are you referring to the Gaza war in its entirety and not specific incidents?

Olmert: There are a number of events that could be seen as war crimes. More than I can list. More than anything, though, it is the illegitimate war that is being waged out of the personal, political interests of the prime minister. As a consequence, Israeli soldiers are dying, additional hostages may be losing their lives, and many innocent Palestinians are being killed. That is a crime. It is unforgivable.

DER SPIEGEL: Broad resistance formed in Israel after the violation of the ceasefire in March, though it has not yet looked as though it will be enough to convince the government to stop the war.

Olmert: Many have joined this resistance: former commanders from the army, from Mossad, from the domestic intelligence agency in addition to numerous pilots from the air force and people from other sectors of society. They have all signed a petition in which they demand: End this war, which is no longer pursuing any meaningful objective and only serves the interests of the prime minister.

DER SPIEGEL: Should Netanyahu be brought before the International Criminal Court in The Hague?

Olmert: No, I don’t want anybody to have to go to The Hague. I want Netanyahu to be indicted in Israel.

DER SPIEGEL: A case is already underway against him for corruption allegations.

Olmert: I am speaking of an additional case: Netanyahu should be prosecuted for the crimes that he is committing daily against the Israeli state and the Israeli people.

DER SPIEGEL: In early July, Defense Minister Israel Katz declared that the government intended to establish a "humanitarian city” in southern Gaza to initially shelter 600,000 people in a camp before pushing them to leave Gaza from there. Is that the real plan behind this war?

Olmert: That is a repulsive plan and a terrible discussion that must be ended immediately.

DER SPIEGEL: You spoke of a "concentration camp.” Why?

Olmert: I said that it might be interpreted as a concentration camp – and that really is bad enough. Shutting people off from the outside world behind fences or walls, with no freedom of movement, and hoping to be able to send them from there to Indonesia, Libya or Ethiopia and clear out the rest of the Gaza Strip. Why? For the settlement fantasies of Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and Daniella Weiss …

DER SPIEGEL: … the two right-wing extremists ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir in addition to the so-called "godmother of the settlement movement,” Daniella Weiss, who is allied with them.

Olmert: The formulation of such a plan is a crime – or at least incitement to commit a crime.

DER SPIEGEL: The tiny, radical element of the settlement movement that these three represent has long had an outsized voice in the government’s policy in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. Why is the anger not greater? Why are the protests in the country not larger?

Olmert: Since October 7, a steady share of around 70 percent of the population has been demanding an end to the war. But Netanyahu has thus far been able to depend on the majority he won in elections three years ago.

DER SPIEGEL: Most supporters of a quick end to the war justify it with the release of the Israeli hostages. Few in Israel seem to be moved by the suffering of the Palestinians. Why is that?

Olmert: I think that we really have crossed a line. We should have listened to Biden and not allowed ourselves to be consumed by rage. But I don’t know how other countries would have reacted. Think back again to what Biden said: After 9/11, the U.S. started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where thousands died and entire cities were destroyed. The urge to strike back hard was even greater for us because the perpetrators lived nearby. Some of the victims in the kibbutzim even worked as volunteers, driving sick people from Gaza to Israeli hospitals. That increased the anger in the country.

DER SPIEGEL: On certain Israeli broadcasters, it is regularly said that there are no innocent people in Gaza.

Olmert: That is completely unacceptable. I have decided to speak publicly as frequently as I can so the world can see that there are a lot of Israelis who take a different view.

DER SPIEGEL: Large parts of Israeli society feel unjustly condemned because of the war in Gaza. They don’t understand what people around the world are so upset about.

Olmert: It really is quite easy here to be carried away by a feeling of injustice. But many people are also rightly asking: Where was the international community when we were massacred or when rockets were fired at us for years? We truly live under constant threat.

DER SPIEGEL: You were a member of government 20 years ago when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the Israeli evacuation of the Gaza Strip. Will settlers soon be returning to Gaza?

Olmert: I don’t think that will happen. And I will do everything in my power to prevent it.

DER SPIEGEL: Since 2005, settlers have become far more present in Israeli institutions and now hold power in politics and the military.

Olmert: They served in the army before that, hoping to fundamentally shift the balance in society and realize their lifelong dream of a Greater Israel. Since then, their involvement has merely increased.

DER SPIEGEL: In the West Bank, there are almost daily attacks by radical settlers on Palestinians, but there are no consequences. How can that be?

Olmert: These are crimes against humanity being committed before the eyes of the Israeli police, army and government. They are doing nothing to stop the attackers. On the contrary, they are complicit. Without the support of public institutions, these "Hilltop Youth” would be powerless.

DER SPIEGEL: How can the cycle of violence, suffering and chaos in this conflict be broken?

Olmert: There is only one solution, and that is the two-state solution. We must end the war in Gaza and bring back all the hostages. We must establish a temporary security administration with our partners Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and others, who take over military control. They must prevent a Hamas resurgence. For the potential partner countries, there is no greater interest than to work against these Islamist powers and ensure stability. Afterwards, a civilian administration is necessary in Gaza that is organically linked to the Palestinian Authority (PA). This administration must independently lead reconstruction efforts, because the PA won’t be able to do so. The Emirates and Saudi Arabia could supply the funds.

DER SPIEGEL: Those are the outlines of a plan that you recently presented with Nasser al-Kidwa, the nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Olmert: That is just the first phase of our plan. Negotiations for a two-state solution begin in the second phase. All of the parameters that must be discussed were proposed by me in 2008 when I was prime minister. The Palestinians could have long since had their own state if they had had the courage and foresight back then.

DER SPIEGEL: Interest in a two-state solution has also dropped in Israel over the years. How could that be changed?

Olmert: Through Israelis experiencing in their daily lives the damage that comes from a lack of a solution. If we are boycotted, if we are denied all kinds of advantages and freedoms that we currently take for granted.

DER SPIEGEL: Are you calling for a boycott of Israel?

Olmert: No, I’m not calling for anything. I am merely afraid that it will happen. I am warning my people not to wait until it happens.

DER SPIEGEL: Many of Israel’s partners are still exerting very little pressure on the government despite the situation in Gaza.

Olmert: The German government will never exert serious pressure on Israel; the reasons for that are clear to all. The potential pressure from other European countries is likewise almost irrelevant by comparison to the pressure that the U.S. could exert. And the Europeans won’t take the lead if Washington does nothing. The only person who can really change things is President Trump. If he tells Netanyahu that things have gone far enough in Gaza, the Israeli prime minister will back down.

DER SPIEGEL: Why hasn’t Trump yet done so?

Olmert: Maybe he is waiting for Netanyahu to fall into his own trap – for him to go so far that he sacrifices the fundamental sympathy that Israel has thus far enjoyed in the U.S. That would make things easier for Trump. But I don’t really have a good explanation either.

DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Olmert, thank you very much for this interview.