‘No good reason to embark on ground operation’ in Lebanon, says former Israeli prime minister

Ehud Olmert was Israel’s Prime Minister during the country’s last war with Hezbollah, which ended in stalemate.

In 2006, Israel had hoped it could scupper strikes by Hezbollah using air power alone, but ground troops and tanks were eventually deployed over the border.

Around one thousand Lebanese citizens were killed during that 34-day war – twice the number killed on Monday alone.

Mr Olmert who led Israel into that conflict, has said he thinks another all-out war with Hezbollah would be a mistake.

Ehud Olmert: I’m against a ground war in Lebanon right now because I think we have to try and resolve this unnecessary conflict. So it is that Hezbollah never made any other presentation, but they are fighting in the north in order to impact the conflicts in the south. They didn’t have any reason to start this conflict, and I think that it’s time to end it now. They have to pull out from the border in violation of Resolution 1701 in order to allow the Israelis to bring back the almost 100,000 of its citizens that were evacuated from where they live because of the almost endless attacks by Hezbollah against their homes and in their places, the schools and the public facilities. So this can be done in negotiations and I think that there is a good basis in order to conclude it, rather than continuing this unnecessary confrontation.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Hezbollah say that the negotiation has to be about Gaza and a ceasefire there. Is that possible, what is the route?

Ehud Olmert: It’s ridiculous. When they see all these statistics that you presented before, Hezbollah is fighting against Israelis living in the north parts of Israel and in the centre part of Israel. This morning, they were launching a rocket towards Tel Aviv because of the continued conflict in Gaza. The Gaza war has to be stopped today. I’m entirely for it and I said it not now, but eight months ago. But that is not in any way a basis to justify the continued attacks of Hezbollah against Israel. And we have to respond and that’s what we are doing.

But again, I think that there is no good reason to now embark on a ground operation that will continue forever. We were in Lebanon for 18 years. A very courageous decision of the Israeli government in 2000 caused the evacuation and unfortunately, Hezbollah started again in 2006 a military confrontation which resulted in a very, I think, very painful result to Hezbollah. For 17 years, they didn’t shoot one time against Israel. On 8 October, they started a war. They have to stop it, and we have to cooperate with the American efforts in order to allow the resolution of peace without any further confrontations.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Do you believe anybody has any influence over Prime Minister Netanyahu at the moment? Just ahead of a US election with a lame duck president, does America have any leverage right now?

Ehud Olmert: You know my opinion about Netanyahu, I’m not a supporter of Netanyahu. As far as I’m concerned, he should stop being prime minister today, should have been removed a long time ago. But I think the question that you should have asked is, is there anyone who has influence over Hassan Nasrallah, who is waging this war? And you quoted them saying if they fight against us, not because we have any conflict, genuine conflict between us and them to justify it, only because they wanted to somehow influence the confrontation in Gaza. The confrontation in Gaza has to stop. But that doesn’t justify any attacks by hundreds of rockets coming from Lebanon into the cities in the north part and in the centre part of the state of Israel.

I doubt, I must say, I doubt someone can influence Netanyahu, perhaps except for the president of America. And I hope that this trip now to the United Nations, which as far as I’m concerned, is another theatrical event for Netanyahu to make an unnecessary speech. But if the event will lead to some kind of a dialogue with the American president to end the war in Gaza and in the north, then perhaps it will be useful.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy: Just briefly, the people who have influence over Hezbollah are Iran. What would your message to Iran be now if you were still in power?

Ehud Olmert: I think that Iran must understand that continuing the war with Israel will not end with just confrontation with Israel. I think that the Americans have made it clear that if Iran will continue the confrontation, they will probably meet America and Great Britain and France and others that will respond. So I don’t think that we need an expansion of this confrontation. Iran should understand that this will not lead to any result that may be useful to their interest. We have to stop the war in Lebanon. We have to stop the war in Gaza. The Iranians are inciting this confrontation, they have to be forced to stop it. And we have to come to terms through the good services of America, perhaps France, in Lebanon in order to end the conflict there.