Israeli analysts criticized a television interview conducted by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with a Turkish channel during which he launched a scathing attack on ministers in the current Israeli government, while the families of Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip expressed their anger at the end of the temporary truce.
During his interview with the Turkish channel TRT International, Olmert described Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and his companions as enemies, thugs, murderers and terrorists.
One political analyst – according to the Israeli media clip – considered it inappropriate for a former Israeli prime minister to give an interview to Turkish television in a time of war, and considered it “a shameful act and a betrayal of the security of the state.”
Another analyst criticized the interview and said, “The timing is completely inappropriate, and the terminology he used is also inappropriate on Turkish television.”
A third analyst described Olmert’s television interview as “shameful, miserable and indefensible incitement, especially since Israel is at war to maintain the security of the state,” denouncing his use of terms such as murderers and saboteurs when he spoke about ministers in the current government.
Families of prisoners
In turn, Alon Nimrodi – the father of an Israeli prisoner in Gaza – said that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) “is the one that manages us, manages the negotiations and the war, and manages everything.”
He revealed that the current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, indicated with his head that his words were not true, so he responded, saying, “Do not point to me with your head that this is not true. Do not tell me that they do not manage us, they are managing you.”
One of the prisoners’ families criticized the failure to talk about the captured Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, and said, “You did not hear our voices because we are forbidden to speak. You do not listen to us. There is no one to talk about the soldiers. Shame on you.”
For his part, Danny Miran – the father of an Israeli prisoner in Gaza – touched on the meeting with Ben Gvir, and said that he got angry and left in the middle of the meeting when the latter started talking about making every effort, using all mediation, and conducting negotiations.
He added, “This matter is absolutely unacceptable. The one who did everything I mentioned above is (the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza) Yahya Sinwar. He is the one who managed all this matter and he is the one who is managing this war.”
