Signaling support for UK sanctions, Olmert decries ‘ethnic cleansing’ in West Bank

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday signaled support for Britain’s decision to sanction all dealings with settlements in the West Bank, where he denounced the extremist settlers and their backers as a “group of murderous criminal terrorists” seeking to ethnically cleanse Palestinians.

Speaking with Radio 103FM, Olmert doubled down on his assessment that there was “a violent and criminal effort to ethnically cleanse territories in the West Bank” taking place, which British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband quoted when announcing the decision this week.

“What is happening in [the West Bank] is no less than attempted ethnic cleansing by a group of murderous criminal terrorists who systemically act on a near-daily basis to harm, steal, destroy, burn and kill Palestinians who live there, as part of an effort to expel them from their places of residence in the hope of it leading the State of Israel to be able to annex the territories,” Olmert said.

According to Olmert, the violence is carried out by “hundreds of people who receive support from thousands within the system,” with the perpetrators frequently receiving “active assistance” from the army, law enforcement and government ministers.

Olmert charged that “of course” ultranationalist ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich “symbolize this brutal policy, probably more than anyone else, but others share in it.” He also accused Israeli security forces of acting discriminately, citing Defense Minister Israel Katz’s decision to stop signing off on administrative detention orders against Jews, which allows Israeli authorities to hold a suspect without charge.

The former prime minister warned that due to Israel’s policies in the West Bank, where the military is sovereign, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir could be exposed to an international arrest warrant.

“They see everything but do nothing because they represent policies that in practice support these terrible things,” Olmert said, referring to senior military commanders. “It’s tough for the chief of staff, but at some point… he will unjustly become a target for the International Criminal Court in The Hague, because formally he’s the sovereign on the ground.”

He added that while he doesn’t blame Zamir, the military chief should “not hesitate to use all the tools at his disposal as chief of staff to prevent these things. They are intolerable and unforgivable.”

The ex-premier also seemed to dismiss the remarks by a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an interview with British personality Piers Morgan on Wednesday, when he railed at “self-hating Jews, including former prime ministers who’ve been to jail.” The spokesman was referring to Olmert’s conviction for graft, which Netanyahu is also on trial for as part of a separate criminal trial.

Unlike Olmert, Israel’s government reacted with fury to the UK move and announced a series of retaliatory measures, including the closure of the British consulate in Jerusalem, which serves Palestinians. Other measures ordered by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar included the expulsion of UK representatives from an international Gaza support center and the termination of British activities to train Palestinian Authority security forces.

The UK ban on dealings with West Bank settlements comes amid soaring settler violence against Palestinians on a near-daily basis — an issue that Miliband said amounted to “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians… perpetrated by settler terrorists.”

Arrests of Israelis involved in these attacks are rare, and critics have accused the government of condoning or even encouraging the violence.