Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert angered government expulsion victims Wednesday morning by blaming former Jewish residents of Gaza and northern Samaria for their own plight. Testifying before a Knesset committee working on behalf of Jews expelled during the 2005 “Disengagement,” Olmert defended expulsion as “the right thing at the right time,” and accused expellees of bearing responsibility for their own plight thanks to “misplaced hope.”

MK Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), who established the committee, slammed Olmert's testimony as “a disgrace to Israeli democracy.”