Ehud Olmert

So on the day that I will see American soldiers coming in great numbers to Gaza, I will then make up my mind how serious it is right now. Every party involved except for Israel is completely against it.

I don't see any reason to do it. Prime Minister said that we are not interested in expanding the confrontation with Syria and we hope that we will not need to fight against the new rebels that presently are taking over Syria. So why do we do precisely the opposite? I mean, I don't see any reason. We have enough problems to deal with. He has to stop the war in Gaza immediately.

We have to try and bring back the Israeli hostages from Gaza. And we don't need any unnecessary confrontations with a new regime in Syria, particularly after they announced that they are not interested in confronting us. So if they are not interested in confronting us, why do we have to do something which may cause the opposite?

I don't think that expending the Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights has to do with security at all. There is a problem. We don't know yet precisely who these new guys are and what are their objectives and what are they going to do. Are they going to continue their belligerency against the State of Israel or not? Syria has not been friendly to us.

We did have problems with Syria and border problems. But as of late, I think we didn't need to fight in Syria. And I hope that we will not have to do it with the new regime. And I don't see any contribution to security by building Israeli and using Israeli settlements.

Writing in French newspaper Le Monde, Olmert called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war a criminal personal war that has provoked a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Olmert said Netanyahu's government is the real enemy from within. He also accused Netanyahu of playing the victim when he accuses European nations that criticize his government of anti-Semitism.

I know French President Emmanuel Macron, and he is no anti-Semite, wrote Olmert. The EU is threatening to revise an association deal with Israel. Olmert warned there will be many disastrous economic and diplomatic consequences for Israel if it does not end the war and rejoin the family of nations. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris.