On Olmert – an interview by Thore Schröder and Christoph Schult in Der Spiegel:

‘DER SPIEGEL: What must happen so that the army can withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the government can say: We have achieved at least two or three goals there? Olmert: Most of Gaza is nearly completely destroyed. I think at the end, central Gaza will be completely destroyed. Possibly the army will be successful in eliminating one of the leaders. We could have eliminated Mohammed Deif and Yehiyeh Sinwar long ago.
DER SPIEGEL: Please explain.
Olmert: I know that it was offered to Netanyahu time and again that we can eliminate both of them in the last couple of years. But Bibi didn’t want that.’

(…)

‘DER SPIEGEL: So why is October 7, 2023, frequently compared to the Egyptian surprise attack on Yom Kippur in 1973? Olmert: What caused October 7 was not a failure of Israeli intelligence or Israeli technologies. What caused the terror attacks was arrogance. The arrogance that we have been looking down on the Arabs. What can they do – they are Arabs! So, in 1973, they proved to us that they can be smart and sophisticated. They fooled us and caught us with our pants down. And now they did the same. We saw everything but we didn't believe it. Because of our arrogance.’

(…)

‘DER SPIEGEL: Do you still consider Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) to be a partner for peace? Olmert: I'm in touch with Abu Mazen to this day. I still hope to have Abu Mazen sign a statement that endorses my plan for a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, the Arab League peace initiative and making the Arab part of Jerusalem the capital of the Palestinian state. This is a very ambitious peace plan for Israel and for the Palestinians. But there will never be a better one. And if we want to achieve peace, we need to step forward and make this a platform for future peace. Don’t get me wrong. The Palestinians in the West Bank never filed a request to become members of the Zionist movement. They’re our enemies. But is there anyone else that you can make peace with? If you don’t have anybody else, then you have to sit with him and try and sort out the best possible solution that will be good for the state of Israel.’

Read the interview here.

So what does Bibi want? Besides saving his own skin. Not much more.

Olmert, who spent some time in prison because of corruption, is right, arrogance was as at the heart of the failure of Israeli intelligence services and army on October 7. Netanyahu is merely a symptom of the rot.
I’m not sure that the arrogance that Olmert signaled is gone. I’m afraid it’s still there. I’m afraid that a bigger catastrophe is needed to make the cost of the status quo unbearable, for all people involved.

But who knows what will come after Bibi. Maybe less selfishness doused with messianism.