Former prime minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday signalled support for Britain’s decision to sanction all dealings with settlements in the West Bank, where he denounced the extremist settlers and their backers as a “group of murderous criminal terrorists” of seeking to ethnically cleanse Palestinians.
Speaking with Radio 103FM, Olmert doubled down on his assessment that there was “a violent and criminal effort to ethnically cleanse territories in the West Bank” taking place, which British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband quoted when announcing the decision this week.
“What is happening in [the West Bank] is no less than attempted ethnic cleansing by a group of murderous criminal terrorists who systemically act on a near-daily basis to harm, steal, destroy, burn and kill Palestinians who live there, as part of an effort to expel them from their places of residence in the hope of it leading the State of Israel to be able to annex the territories,” Olmert said.
According to Olmert, the violence is carried out by “hundreds of people who receive support from thousands within the system,” with the perpetrators frequently receiving “active assistance” from the army, law enforcement and government ministers.
