Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was interviewed today on Nissim Mashaal’s program on 103FM. Olmert referred to the recent polls published this week, and was quite adamant that the upcoming round of elections is not the last round. In addition, Olmert attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conduct: “He is not a criminal because of the accusations, he is a criminal because of the way he tries to avoid prosecution. He will do what he advised me to do, he will resign and move aside.”
Olmert did not content himself with attacking only the prime minister and also attacked his wife Sarah and Netanyahu’s eldest son, Yair. “Benjamin Netanyahu is not the one who makes the fateful decisions for the State of Israel. There is a family cabinet and there he is in the minority. I was not the one who traveled with 19 white suitcases to the White House. On the whole world and pollutes the discourse, “the former prime minister fired.
Ehud Olmert in an interview with the Knesset Channel (Credit: Knesset Channel)
When you hear the survey results what is your insight? Where is this election leading?
“Look, first of all I recommend treating the results of the polls quite carefully for a million reasons, especially the fact that the picture is still unclear to parties and voters. The broad trend that seems stable to me is that Benjamin Netanyahu, as in the previous three elections, could not form the government he wanted to form. “Is there a chance in the picture as it stands now that someone else can form a government? I do not think so. I do not see Bennett joining the coalition with the joint list, so a picture of forming an alternative government is more a game of numbers.”
I mean, if I understand you well we’re going to a fifth round?
“Before the second round I said there would be a third round. This morning I estimate that after this round, there is a very reasonable possibility that there will be a fifth round. In my opinion in the fifth round it is inevitable that Netanyahu will no longer head the Likud. Even if he does, the Likud will be hit. You won. This process in which Likud members leave the Likud and give it public expression, hardcore people, from the hard core of the Likud, people who were there because of ideological identification and family heritage. “In the last year, but still. Benny Begin is also leaving and joining another party, and so on.”
- 2021 Elections: All the polls, articles and interpretations of leading reporters on the Maariv website
Well, let’s move forward: This morning I read an article you published in Maariv in which you said harsh things about Netanyahu. Are you not exaggerating with your rampage in the USSR?
“No. First of all, leave me with this title, Prime Minister. The one who turned the title and status into a deception is Netanyahu himself, also in the way he treated me. Benjamin Netanyahu is a criminal who acts in a way that undermines the foundations of the State of Israel.” And I emphasize again here: I do not say a word or a half about the charges against which Netanyahu is on trial. He is a criminal because of the way he acts to avoid prosecution. The things he does to get out of his personal distress and preference for self-interest “The legal system and the prosecution, the police, the attorney general, and the courts. Stand this week and say, ‘Sew a case for me.’ What is a case for me?”
But that’s what he thinks. He claims they sewed a bag for him.
“Is that what he thinks? What I think is that he is a criminal because he says these things. That he will do what he advised me to do – he will resign and move aside to express his opinion as an individual. That he will let this country run and things be treated as they should be treated. “Even as a private citizen, I do not recommend behaving in this way in front of these factors. I have never done that.”
He can sue you.
“There is no problem. I invite him to sue me and the plaintiffs will also be joined by his disturbed son and his deranged family.”
Tell me, isn ‘t this crossing a line? Do you also shoot in the family?
“His family shoots us all the time. His family is part of the matter. After all, he does not make the decisions that determine the fate of the State of Israel. There is a family cabinet and he is usually the one who decides and is in the minority. I am not the one who traveled to the US with 19 suitcases to do laundry at home The white. I am not the one who appears in all sorts of contexts and tweets as his son does who slanders the whole world, and defiles and pollutes and soils. They polluted the public discourse. ”
Talk about rubbing salt in my wounds – d’oh! Where is the privacy of the individual?
“The privacy of the individual? His wife relinquished the privacy of the individual long ago when she stood on the public front of the struggle he waged with his family. If his wife had behaved as a reasonable and balanced man as other women of public figures did. I do not even want to say as my wife did. These are two completely different worlds, so no one would touch her. It is impossible to extract neither the father, nor the son, nor the mother from public criticism. They pollute the discourse. I have no doubt that if Netanyahu thinks a personal lawsuit against me can serve the public interest “He’s going to do it. I’m ready and willing to deal with him.”
Olmert continued on the offensive line and said: “Bibi Netanyahu in my eyes is a coward, he is lax, he is incapable of standing and a backbone, he is a person who has no worldview. “To speak in polished words to make it look nice and pleasant. I will say things exactly as they are so that people will understand what they are facing. Instead of worrying that there will be no thousands of dead in Israel, he will take care of the survival of one family and go to hell.”