We spoke to former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and discussed the talks which will resume for the release of the Israeli hostages.

Ehud Olmert: Hamas will be ready to release all the hostages, and the Israeli government will be prepared to accept the end of the war. I guess these are the two basic requirements.

Matt Frei: You’ve got Iran threatening retaliation against Israel. You’ve got Hezbollah firing rockets into Israel, firing rockets into southern Lebanon. How dangerous is this whole moment for the Middle East?

Ehud Olmert: It’s dangerous because it can go out of control. It’s enough that there will be one missile shot by the Iranians. They will hit a very strategic target that will go out of control and all hell will break loose. I hope that they will be smart enough to understand that what they may say that they want to do will not bring any good. Not for us and not for them.

Matt Frei: The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been accused by many, including by some of his own friends in America, of prolonging this war for his own political purposes. Do you think that is correct?

Ehud Olmert: Yes

Matt Frei: And what would you say to him, if you could, to persuade him otherwise?

Ehud Olmert: If someone is, in his capacity, as prime minister after the terrible failure on the 7th October 2023 – with the killing and massacring and butchering and beheading of thousands of Israelis in their homes, in their living rooms, in their bedrooms – after ten months of war, he’s still prepared to carry on the war, rather than to release all the hostages and stop this. There is something that I can say to him that he will understand? I don’t think so. Netanyahu is not the voice of real Israel. The voice of the real Israelis is the voice of people that think Hamas had to be punished and move forward towards a possible political solution that will conclude the historical conflict between us and the Palestinians – on the basis of two states.

Matt Frei: But do you think that Israeli society – and I’m not talking about the prime minister of it – is ready for the kind of compromises that would be necessary to have some sort of lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians?

Ehud Olmert: I think it would be somewhat artificial for me to even pretend that at this time, considering everything that we have been through, particularly in October of 2023, that the majority of Israelis share my convictions about the two-state solution as the only paradigm for eventual peace between us and the Palestinians at this point. It has to be – something must be changed. We have to move forward forcefully. I mean, those voices in Israel which share my opinion, which share my convictions, have to move forcefully towards changing the tide in the Israeli public and towards the solution. But first and foremost, a prerequisite for everything is changing the government.

Matt Frei: The first time I interviewed you, which is about a year ago, actually before October 7th, you told me that the Israeli society – the Israeli electorate – had to get rid of Prime Minister Netanyahu. And then October the 7th happened. Then we spoke again. You said they’ve got to get rid of Netanyahu, he’s prolonging this war. He’s making the situation worse. Over and over again you have said the same thing about getting rid of Netanyahu, and he’s still there. He’s not going anywhere.

Ehud Olmert: The one thing you have to admit is that I’m very consistent. I’ve been saying the same thing for a long time.

Matt Frei: Consistently wrong?

Ehud Olmert: Not consistently wrong – consistently perhaps unsuccessful yet, of achieving the goal which I set forth. Not just for myself, I’m not an interested party on a personal basis, but for the state of Israel and for the people of Israel. And I think that we are closer today to achieving this goal.