‘Humanitarian city’ would be concentration camp for Palestinians, says former Israeli PM | First Thing

Ehud Olmert says plan would be ethnic cleansing, and anger at Israel over Gaza war is not all down to antisemitism. Plus, why are numbers of first-time US homebuyers at a generational low?

• Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up here

Good morning.

The humanitarian city" Israel's defence minister has proposed building on the ruins of Rafah would be a concentration camp, and forcing Palestinians inside would be ethnic cleansing, Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert has told the Guardian.

What did Olmert say about the rise of anti-Israel sentiment? In the United States there is more and more and more expanding expressions of hatred to Israel. We make a discount to ourselves saying: They are antisemites.' I don't think that they are only antisemites, I think many of them are anti-Israel because of what they watch on television, what they watch on social networks. This is a painful but normal reaction of people who say: Hey, you guys have crossed every possible line.'"

Have there been any legal developments to disrupt the raids? Yes. On Friday, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order against the government's aggressive immigration sweeps, barring federal agents from stopping people in the district unless there was reasonable suspicion" that a person was violating immigration law.