No, Amichai Eliyahu, nuking Gaza is not an option and, given your position as a minister in Israel’s cabinet suggesting, even “metaphorically”, in a radio interview no less, that it is should result in your immediate dismissal.
Instead Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has deemed it sufficient punishment that his inflammatory Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister be timed out from attending cabinet meetings for an indeterminate duration.
That just ain’t gonna fly, Bibi.
“With the battle between Israeli forces and Hamas entering the fifth week on Saturday with no signs of de-escalation, a minister in the Benjamin Netanyahu government has suggested dropping a nuclear weapon on the Gaza Strip as “an option.”
Speaking in a radio interview, Amichai Eliyahu, a far-right minister, maintained that “there are no non-combatants in Gaza,” adding that providing humanitarian aid to the Strip would constitute “a failure…
…National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Otzma Yehudit party that Eliyahu belongs to, said he spoke to the minister who in turn clarified that he was speaking “metaphorically.””
As if suggesting that dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza is not bad enough, Eliyahu also engages in the destructive use of eliminationist rhetoric, stating that there are “no non-combatants“ in Gaza, although at the time of the last election there, some 17 years ago, Hamas did not achieve a majority of the vote and was installed with a bare plurality – 44% of the votes cast to 41% for the more moderate Fatah party.
And even if you discount those in Gaza who do not share in Hamas’ murderous ideology, as Eliyahu apparently does, and those too old and infirm to fight or infants incapable of adopting political creeds and carrying weapons, there are many foreign nationals living, working and held hostage in the tiny strip of land bordered by the Mediterranean, Israel proper and Egypt.
What would the neighbors think?
Using a nuclear weapon in what is already a focal point of worldwide protests and growing antisemitism is beyond barbaric and ridiculous and should result in Eliyahu’s dismissal from Israel’s government.
Fortunately, Netanyahu agrees with the former.
Unfortunately he has failed to act upon the latter.
“The comments made by Eliyahu, who is Israel’s Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister, has been sharply criticised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Eliyahu, the Israeli PM said, is “divorced from reality” and that Israel and the IDF are acting in accordance with international law in order to avoid harm to non-combatants.
Later on Sunday morning, Netanyahu’s office announced that Eliyahu had been suspended from government meetings until further notice.”
Well, I suppose that’s a relief.
But Bibi’s failure to sack Eliyahu completely from his cabinet is simply unacceptable and, I believe, unsustainable. Netanyahu should get ahead of what will surely be a furious world reaction and fire him immediately.
On Twitter, Sarah Kendzior provides insight into who Eliyahu is and how he came to adopt his hateful beliefs:
On the family of the Israeli official who wants to nuke Gaza: https://t.co/QZ2kdL9pVY
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) November 5, 2023
Eliyahu’s father, Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, is a real piece of work:
In May 2007, Eliyahu advocated “carpet bombing the general area from which the Kassams were launched, regardless of the price in Palestinian life”. He further stated, “If they don’t stop after we kill 100, then we must kill 1,000. If they do not stop after 1,000, then we must kill 10,000. If they still don’t stop, we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop.”
In March 2008, Eliyahu called for “state-sanctioned revenge” against Arabs. According to Haaretz, Eliyahu wrote an article for the newsletter Eretz Yisrael Shelanu (“Our Land of Israel”), wherein he proposed “hanging the children of the terrorist who carried out the attack in the Mercaz Harav yeshiva from a tree”.
And his grandfather, Mordechai Eliyahu, was little better:
In 2008, at a service to remember the death of 8 Israeli students killed in the Mercaz HaRav massacre, Eliyahu said, “Even when we seek revenge, it is important to make one thing clear – the life of one yeshiva boy is worth more than the lives of 1,000 Arabs. The Talmud states that if gentiles rob Israel of silver, they will pay it back in gold, and all that is taken will be paid back in folds, but in cases like these, there is nothing to pay back, since as I said – the life of one yeshiva boy is worth more than the lives of 1,000 Arabs”
Nice family.
While many in the west perhaps rightly criticize Palestinians for allowing Hamas terrorists to rule over them – when the consequences of resistance to such thugs are frightening to contemplate – what are we to make of the government of the region’s only true democracy allowing such men as Eliyahu to participate in it’s governance?
Netanyahu must immediately fire him and any other officials who share his philosophies from his government as a condition of continuing to receive the support of the United States.
Such hatred and bigotry, however justified, cannot hope to further the cause of peace.
I would not worry too much about Israel using nuclear weapons against Gaza-the payback for using them against a country without such weapons would be too great-up to possibly having themselves nuked out of existence. Our planet’s non-proliferation treaties make this a foolhardy proposition. I don’t think even Bibi is that fucking stupid and that putz who made that comment does not have control of such weapons…or control of a functioning brain.
Firing this fool is not nearly enough: Bibi also needs to be removed from office for putting such a putz in a position having any responsibility at all. It’s a damned shame there are so many Israeli magats in that country that elected the factions that keep bibi out of prison and in the P.M. position. Jews may be well educated in the U.S. but over there, the magats speak Hebrew and spend all their time in yeshivas (getting out of their military requirements to boot).
I don’t worry that Bibi will use nukes, I worry more about how Israel’s enemies will use this propaganda bonanza.
Never mind nukes – what about the IDF bombing ‘tunnels’
Has it crossed anyone’s mind that one use of tunnels is acting as air-raid shelters and the civilian population use those. It’s the same as hospitals and refugee camps. Claiming that there are a couple of Hamas people inside is a handy excuse to kill off a LOT of people who had nothing to do with anything that happened (apart from being on the wrong side of a reinforced border)
But sure, it’s wholly holy war, so what if a lot of kids and innocents get killed. It’s Israel’s manifest destiny to rule everything this side of the Jordan river. After all the US adopted that doctrine to take over a large chunk of territory back in the days of Madison, so don’t expect the MAGAts to see anything wrong with what is happening.
I’m still of the belief that Netan the Yahoo knew what was planned so he let it happen to take the heat off himself to avoid the upcoming trial – watch while the jury not only finds him ‘not guilty’ but they make out to be some sort of saint. (don’t forget that he’s buddy-buddy with another wannabe dictator who is in legal trouble)
actually I did hear that Hamas does not allow civilians to use the tunnels.
At a guess that came from Israel – of course it will blame Hamas for putting civilians in the line of fire and any collateral damage is all the fault of Hamas.
After all, if they had sat peacefully in a fortified, over-sized concentration camp, none of this would ever have happened.
By the way, do NOT confuse Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism. They aren’t the same thing.
Anti-Semitism gives credence to ‘Never Again’. Anti-Zionism is more “Never again (unless we are the ones doing it)”
You wrote in your third paragraph, “After all the US adopted that doctrine to take over a large chunk of territory back in the days of Madison.” Were you referring to the doctrine of Manifest Destiny? If so, why did you associate it with James Madison? (I assume that that was the Madison you were referring to.) He was president from 1809 to 1817. He died in 1836. The phrase, “Manifest Destiny,” was first used in 1845 by John L. O’Sullivan in connection with the annexation of Texas, and it was the 1840s when people believed in the inevitable territorial expansion of the United States. (The preceding comes from an old World Book Encyclopedia.)
Not being a Poncanach, I’ll apologise for errors in dates and chief executives. However, the point remains that there was a belief that the US should rule ‘from sea to shining sea’.
It’s also worth recalling that both Texas and California were invaded after a bunch of US ‘settlers’ rebelled against the Mexican Government and were annexed (along with a huge swathe of Mexican territory)
And don’t forget that Hawai’i was taken over after a coup d’etat by, guess what, a bunch of American settlers (aided this time by a contingent of US Marines)
Well, let’s not forget that, for the last 50 years or so, Israel has adamantly denied they even have nuclear weapons (even though almost no one–not even their staunchest American supporters–really believes). When Iraq first had to endure UN sanctions and agree to “monitoring” of their nuclear program following what Americans routinely call the “First Gulf War” (although, to the folks in the Middle East, it was the second–after the war between Iraq and Iran that lasted through most of the 1980s), Saddam Hussein raised objections that Israel should also be subjected to inspections of their nuclear program to ensure the Israelis were only using nuclear power for “peaceful purposes” (but guess which permanent member of the Security Council kept that from happening?). And, even before 2003’s US invasion of Iraq (largely under the guise of Iraq’s failing to allow the UN inspections being unimpeded), Saddam once again demanded “equal treatment” by having Israel subjected to unimpeded “surprise” inspections and, again, the argument was shot down (curiously, when the UN did get “permission” from the Israeli government to inspect the country’s nuclear facilities, inspectors were NOT allowed to do their job unchaperoned by Israeli officials nor were they allowed to just “pop in” at random times–and the folks responsible for inspecting Iraq’s facilities also raised this point but they were ignored).
So, we now have an official in the Israeli government confirming what most other countries had long suspected: That Israel does have nuclear weapons and the capability of using them against enemy targets. I can imagine Iran will be demanding the UN subject Israel to the same types of sanctions and nuclear facilities monitoring that Iran has been subjected to (and even if Iran doesn’t do so directly, I’m sure they can convince Türkiye or even Saudi Arabia to do so).
Not all, or even most Israelis (and other Jewish people) subscribe to the “Never again (genocide) unless we are doing it to others” philosophy but far too many do. And too many have at times held power and for too long in that troubled land.
Apparently this man doesn’t realize that there could be literal blowback from a nuke. Ronnie Raygun used pepper spray when students protested the VietNam War. His advisors warned him that there were several senior living subdivisions it could affect. If that could kill people who largely agreed with Ron, imagine if he’d used a nuke.
If I remember correctly, the Vietnam war was over before Ronnie became president. I was one of those students protesting the war but that was in the late sixties. I do lose track of who was president when but I thought Ray Gun was late 80s.
Religion is responsible for killing more people than any other disease. Religion may be the greediest human construct ever.
I’m going to be very unpopular but I’ve believed for years that Israel was pushing the Palestinians beyond the breaking point by usurping their land and boxing them in. I’ve often wondered why we give Israel so much money. Their intelligence network clearly fokked up and now they’re being as blood thirsty as Hamas. I have no doubt that Bibi is looking forward to Gaza cleansed of all Palestinians – his wet dream for decades.
Couldn’t have said it better!