SICK MAN: Olmert To Al Jazeera: ‘Israeli Officials Need To Be Tried After Qatar Strike’

Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert gave a blistering interview to Al Jazeera in which he denounced last week’s Israeli strike in Qatar. The operation, aimed at killing senior Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya, instead also claimed the lives of his wife and son.

“There are senior Israeli officials who need to be tried for their crimes. The Israeli government gave orders to kill Palestinians. Killing the negotiators means that you don’t want negotiations and you don’t want to release the hostages. I want to say that I’m sorry for Al-Hayya’s son and his wife – they shouldn’t have been victims. We kill terrorists and we will continue to fight terror,” Olmert claimed.

Olmert emphasized that he was speaking only for himself and not on behalf of the state, since he is a fierce critic of the current government and openly campaigning for its downfall. In his remarks, he directly targeted the prime minister, saying, “Netanyahu was a friend of Qatar for many years and cooperated with them in financing Hamas while it was suffering from major financial problems. Netanyahu does not represent us and does not represent Israel. I am making every effort to bring him down.”

Despite his sharp criticism of Israel’s leadership, Olmert reiterated that Hamas is made up of terrorists undeserving of sympathy. Still, he argued that Israel should weigh specific factors before moving against top operatives. “The first condition is the timing,” he said, “and here we are talking about an attack that took place at a time when negotiations were underway to release hostages. I believe that the timing was completely inappropriate, because the State of Israel’s top priority should be the release of the hostages.”

He added that the second key element was where such actions are carried out. “I am not satisfied with Qatar’s policy, it is nothing new,” he said. “I do not support Qatar’s efforts to assist a terrorist organization, but at the same time Israel is cooperating with Qatar to release the hostages and is using its services. The Israeli delegation goes to Doha and returns from there. I do not think that the attack should have been carried out there, while violating Qatar’s sovereignty.”

{Matzav.com Israel}