It’s significant when a former prime minister joins the protests against a sitting government.
Ehud Olmert served as prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2008. In recent weeks, he’s joined the hundreds of thousands of Israeli protesters out on the streets revolting against the illiberal government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This moment, he says, is different from previous political crises that Israel has faced. “If you love Israel, you have to spell it out in the bluntest possible manner against the government of Israel. I’ll tell you why: because the government of Israel is the enemy of the state of Israel,” he told Vox.
Netanyahu and the settlers in his coalition, notably Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, represent the most extreme far right of Israeli politics. The new government is pushing forward radical changes to the Israeli judiciary and to the governance of the occupied West Bank that may be irreparable. Olmert says that Netanyahu, who is under investigation for corruption, is using government initiatives to protect himself and bolster his coalition’s interests.
Olmert understands the stakes of Israel’s current crisis point better than most. He, like Netanyahu, faced a court trial for corruption allegations and was convicted of graft. Olmert spent 16 months in prison. Some argue that his own actions contributed to current trends and the deterioration of Israeli rule of law. Olmert points out that, unlike Netanyahu, he resigned from the premiership and decided to defend himself as a private citizen.
For Olmert, American leadership is needed in response to the Netanyahu government’s efforts. He wishes that President “Joe Biden will step up, sooner than later, and will say he wants to reassess the relations between America and Israel on the basis of the changes which the Israelis took.”
Olmert is no dove, but he emphasized an element of the Israeli government’s…
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