Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert canceled a planned visit to Switzerland for fear of arrest for war crimes against Palestinians.
On Monday, Olmert, who was on his way to the city of Zurich, received a security warning to cancel his visit for fear of being arrested for war crimes committed by the Israeli army in the 2006 Lebanon war and Israeli aggression on Gaza in 2006, Channel 12 said on Israeli television. 2008. " The Israeli channel said that the Israeli foreign and judicial ministries had received a message from the Swiss authorities that Olmert would be arrested as soon as he arrived in the country and would be immediately interrogated. Olmert refused to cancel travel initially, according to the channel, saying that if questioned "will confirm that these wars were against terrorist organizations," referring to the movement "Hamas" and "Hezbollah" and that "six different countries supported the aggression on Gaza in 2008 And considered it legitimate, "as he put it. Channel 12 pointed out that after lengthy discussions between Olmert and legal officials in the Israeli Ministry of Defense, "Olmert was asked to cancel his visit so as not to embarrass Israel at the level of international diplomacy." Olmert was prime minister when Israel launched a war in Gaza in 2008 and 2009, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians in three weeks. Olmert quit his post in 2009 on corruption charges before entering prison between February 2016 and July 2017. Palestinians and international rights activists are lobbying Western courts, particularly in Europe, against Israeli officials for war crimes against Palestinians.
