The speech was not to to the Knesset but to Congress.

“For thousands of years, we Jews have been nourished and sustained by a yearning for our historic land. I, like many others, was raised with a deep conviction that the day would never come when we would have to relinquish parts of the land of our forefathers. I believed and to this day still believe in our people’s eternal and historic right to this entire land. ”

link to washingtonpost.com

He was not specific about the borders of the “entire land,” but then, the Zionist enterprise never has been, for good reasons: permanent expansion is a very important internal dynamic. If Olmert is still faithful to his origins in Likud, he may have meant both sides of the Jordan, including the current state of Jordan, at least valuable parts of it.

While said tenor had the right to say what he did, he shouldn’t have expected to be immune from the consequences of his speech anymore than any Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, etc, has the right to elected, or reelected after being exposed as an idiot not even dimly aware of the consequences of his or her conduct
and recommendations “for the good of the American people.”

All reliable information says that Olmert is responsible for serious war crimes. Do you think it is right for him to be invited to a University, given a podium and treated with respect? Given an honorarium? All that is not a right, it is an institution bestowing gifts and authority on a person who is severely morally compromised at best. That in itself is a crime (and a painful insult to Palestinians). Abunimah was right and BRAVE to do his best to stop, interrupt, and shut down that whole event.

How would you feel about this if Olmert’s orders had killed your family, as they did to so many Palestinians?

What advice would you give to students, in Palestine or perhaps some Arab state, whose universities host the leader of Hamas, for example? Should they listen politely to someone so morally compromised as their university bestows its resources and authority on that person? How should we have received Milosevic if he ever spoke in the U.S. before his trial?

What’s the matter? Got nothing to say in defense of your favorite little regime when they deal with protesters in what I would guess you might characterize as an “efficient” manner?