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Israel's Minister of Heritage, Amihai Eliyahu, was suspended on November 5 for assuming a dangerous proposition regarding his country's conflict with Hamas. The Israel-Hamas conflict has spurred reactions from supporters of both Israel and Palestine from across the globe. However, this time it is an Israeli minister who has grabbed headlines for insinuating nuclear war.
Amihai Eliyahu is a member of the Otzma Yehudit party, Israel's premiere right-wing party. In an interview with Kol Beramah Radio on November 5, Eliyahu made a series of controversial remarks, including claiming that one of Israel's options in their conflict with Hamas was to drop a nuclear bomb in Gaza. He was suspended from cabinet meetings until further notice.
Amihai Eliyahu says nuking the Gaza Strip is "one of the possibilities"
In a Kol Beramah Radio interview over the weekend, Amihai Eliyahu of the Otzma Yehudit party was asked if an atomic bomb should be dropped on Gaza. He replied that dropping a nuclear bomb on the entire Gaza Strip was "one of the possibilities" in the conflict.
Eliyahu is a junior minister holding the post of Israel's Minister of Heritage. As mentioned by the Times of Israel, he is not part of the three-member war cabinet or the security cabinet. Immediately after the comments were made, Eliyahu was hit with a barrage of backlash. Opposition leader Yair Lapid labeled the minister "irresponsible" and called his statement "shocking and crazy". He further declared:
"Netanyahu must fire him this morning."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to react, declaring that the minister was suspended from cabinet meetings under further notice. He released a statement saying that Eliyahu's statements were not "based in reality". He further proclaimed:
"Israel and the IDF are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory."
Eliyahu's comments also drew the ire of war cabinet member and National Unity leader Benny Gantz, who called the minister's statement "promiscuous, unnecessary and irresponsible". He said that the statement harmed Israel's "way and values", caused heavy political damage, and added to the pain of the families that were abducted. He said:
"A stone thrown by a fool into a well, even a thousand wise men will not be able to pull it out."
Eliyahu ended up backtracking on the statement. Although he maintained that Israel needed to "respond powerfully and disproportionately to terrorism," he was quoted by Sky News as saying:
"Anyone reasonable would understand that the comment was metaphorical."
"There is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza": Amihai Eliyahu
However, the comments about the nuclear bombing of the Gaza Strip were not the only controversial statements made by Amihai Eliyahu in the same interview. He even managed to offend Israeli people with his thoughts on the 240 hostages being kept by Hamas. The Times of Israel quoted him as saying:
"I pray and hope for their return, but there is a price to be paid in war."
He further asked:
"Why are the lives of the abductees, whose release I really want, more important than the lives of the soldiers and the people who will be murdered later?"
He condemned the sending of humanitarian aid to Gaza by comparing the situation with the Holocaust and claiming that they would not send humanitarian aid to the Nazis. The Times of Israel quoted him as claiming:
"There is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza."
Amihai Eliyahu wanted the Gaza Strip to be retaken and Israeli settlements in the strip to be rebuilt. The minister said:
"They can go to Ireland or deserts; the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves."
According to The Times of Israel, Amihai Eliyahu also condemned the existence of the strip's northern part and proclaimed that anyone who waved a Hamas or even Palestine flag should not "continue to live on the face of the earth".
