The National / June 30, 2024
A war with Israel would probably mean “Lebanon will disappear”, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has said.
While Israel has the power to confront such a challenge, it “will suffer great pain, greater than we ever suffered in the history of our confrontations with other countries”, he told CNN on Sunday.
VIDEO : https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/06/30/gps-0630-olmert-on-israeli-policy-in-gaza.cnn
“There is not an interest for Israel, and there is not an interest for Hezbollah to engage in a comprehensive war.”
He said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no inclination to stop the war in Gaza.
“What we all think is the real interest of the state of Israel, which is now to stop the war, to pull out from Gaza, of course, to bring back all the Israeli hostages, and to be prepared to embark on a peace, a comprehensive peace process, with the Palestinians, Netanyahu is not inclined to do any of these,” he said.
Olmert also referred to an article in The New York Times by a group of prominent Israelis, which called on Washington to cancel an invitation to Netanyahu to speak before the US Congress next month.
He said their words should be taken “very seriously”.
“I think that they did the right thing. The only possible outcome of a Netanyahu speech in the joint session of Congress will be to strengthen his political status in the state of Israel.”
