Over the weekend former Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke at a conference organized by the Jerusalem Post in New York City. As the the video above shows the crowd did not support his argument that a Palestinian state is in Israeli self-interest.

From the settler-affiliated news service Arutz Sheva:

Speaking to an audience of thousands of Jews and supporters of Israel in New York Sunday morning – in front of a crowd shouting both cheers and jeers – former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that he supported the “new politics” represented by both Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Bayit Yehudi head Naftali Bennett. Their way of doing things “deserved to be strengthened,” although he had no desire to run for office again.

With that, Olmert reiterated his long-standing policy of a major Israeli withdrawal from much of Judea and Samaria, saying that recent declarations by Binyamin Netanyahu showed that the Prime Minister concurred with his opinions. “I am the realistic one,” Olmert said. “Bibi is saying today what I was saying then.” Israel, he said, could not continue “to rule over a million people without giving them democratic rights” without becoming internationally isolated. “In order to preserve Israel we must renew dialog with the Palestinians,” he said.