Former Israeli Defense Minister Recognizes Ethnic Cleansing Is Underway in Gaza

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Joining a growing chorus of liberal-leaning Israelis, a former Israeli defense minister has accused the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes and carrying out ethnic cleansing in besieged northern Gaza as Israeli forces block humanitarian aid and dig in for a long-term occupation.

Moshe Ya’alon, a member of Israel’s center right Telem party who served for three decades in the Israeli military and as the military’s chief of staff, also said Israel’s identity as a liberal Jewish democracy is being lost to a “corrupt and leprous fascist Messianic state.”

“Conquering, annexing, ethnic cleansing — look at northern Gaza,” Ya’alon told Israel’s Democrat TV on Sunday.

For months Israel has officially denied accusations of ethnic cleansing, and the interviewer expressed surprise at Ya’alon’s use of the term. Ya’alon responded by naming two Palestinian cities that have been reduced to rubble and pointing to the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, which has been under a deadly siege since October as Israeli forces hunt for small pockets of resistance among remaining civilians.

“What’s happening there? There’s no Beit Lahia. There’s no Beit Hanoun,” Ya’alon said. “They’re currently operating in Jabalya, and essentially, they’re cleaning the area of Arabs.”

An estimated 50,000 to 75,000 people are trapped in northern Gaza without access to food, water and electricity, according to the humanitarian group Oxfam International.

In a separate TV interview, Ya’alon said he used the term “ethnic cleansing” to “ring alarm bells.” The former defense minister’s comments sparked a firestorm inside Israel but came as little surprise to many international observers. Israel does not allow journalists into Gaza, and both Western and domestic media outlets are notorious for downplaying what experts say is genocide.

Ya’alon is far from alone in Israel. In late October, the editorial board at the Israeli newspaper Haaretz warned that Israel’s weekslong siege of northern Gaza had left hundreds of thousands of people to starve. “If it looks like ethnic cleansing, it probably is,” the editors argued.

However, it’s unclear whether Ya’alon’s comments will have any impact on Israeli policy. Last week, Oxfam International said Israel has reached the “late stages” of its campaign of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza after refusing dozens of requests to deliver humanitarian aid over nearly two months. Survivors who managed to flee are living in makeshift structures and tattered tents like much of the population.

Oxfam Executive Director Amitabh Behar said the ethnic cleansing of the North Gaza governate is only the latest proof that Israel is operating with impunity in the face of international law.

“[Israel] is laying infrastructure for a long-term military presence — a de facto annexation of the land — and burning any remaining hope of a just and peaceful solution,” Behar said in a statement.

The New York Times reported on Monday that Israeli forces are demolishing more than 600 Palestinian buildings to build and fortify military bases in central Gaza, essentially dividing the territory in two and preventing civilians from returning to their homes in the north.

The buildout suggests that Israel is planning to occupy Palestinian territory for the long term. Israel has said it plans to maintain security control in Gaza after defeating Hamas and other resistance groups but has not provided clear details or a plan for the future.

On November 21, the International Criminal Court indicted Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on war crimes for blocking aid to starving Palestinians in Gaza and issued international arrest warrants. Netanyahu lashed out at the international community and denied any wrongdoing. The court previously charged three Hamas leaders with war crimes.

Netanyahu also faces protests and blistering criticism from the families of hostages taken by Hamas and other militants during the October 7 attacks. Instead of negotiating for their release in exchange for Palestinian political prisoners, Netanyahu’s far right coalition launched a massive revenge campaign without articulating clear military goals or a plan for governing Gaza in the aftermath.

As Israeli airstrikes devastated Gaza, far right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet began calling on Israel to take Palestinian land and allow Jewish settlers to reoccupy northern Gaza. Led by extremists, a similar campaign of annexation has been underway in the West Bank for decades, and settlements were active in Gaza until Israel unilaterally pulled out in 2005.

U.S. diplomats routinely condemn inflammatory statements calling for the resettlement of Gaza by Israeli politicians such as far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, but the Biden administration has kept aid and weapons flowing to Israel without restrictions. On Saturday, Ben-Gvir ordered police to shut down the call to prayer at mosques, arguing the daily observance for Muslims across the region would “disturb” Jewish Israelis.

In mid-October the Biden administration warned Israel that the delivery of U.S. weapons could be curtailed if Israel does not allow more aid to reach starving civilians in Gaza within one month. That deadline came and went two weeks ago, and President Joe Biden did nothing. The siege of northern Gaza and the transfer of U.S. weapons continue unabated.