A top Israeli official suggested on Monday that he believes it is “morally justified” for Israel to wipe out Gaza’s population through famine and starvation, in chilling statements that pro-Palestine advocates say openly indicate genocidal intent.
Speaking at a conference hosted by the far right Israel Hayom newspaper, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich complained about having to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying that international norms are stopping Israel from taking what he claims is the “moral” path of starving 2 million Palestinians to death.
“We are bringing in aid because there is no choice,” Smotrich said, Israeli outlets reported. “We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned.”
“Humanitarian in exchange for humanitarian is morally justified, but what can we do? We live today in a certain reality, we need international legitimacy for this war,” he went on.
His mention of 2 million civilians appears to be in reference to Gaza’s pre-genocide population of of roughly 2.2 million people, including 600,000 children.
Smotrich’s statement represents yet another brazen and horrifying call for the annihilation of Palestinians in Gaza, with Israeli officials repeatedly issuing public calls for mass death and ethnic cleansing over the course of their genocide.
The comment is indicative of Israel’s intent to commit genocide. Although Israeli officials have insisted in public statements that they are simply hunting down Hamas soldiers, many reports have indicated that the Israeli military considers any Palestinian — adult or child — to be a potential Hamas soldier. This is also evident from the vast civilian death toll of Israel’s indiscriminate extermination campaign so far.
“Once again, we hear a top Israeli government official saying the quiet part out loud,” said the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “If the Biden admin can’t bring themselves to take action to stop the genocide, forced starvation, ethnic cleansing and mass destruction of civilian infrastructure, they should at least be able to condemn the genocidal statements that Israeli officials have been making since last year.”
Smotrich is also in charge of a plan to accelerate the Israeli settlement of the occupied West Bank, and appeared to warn that the West Bank is next in Israel’s crosshairs. As Israel has undertaken its genocide in Gaza in the last 10 months, it has also vastly accelerated its colonial violence in the West Bank, killing Palestinians there at the fastest rate in decades.
Earlier on Monday, in a post on social media, Smotrich also said that Israel is working to “remove the threat” of Palestinian statehood through its settlement expansion in the West Bank, saying that he opposes the idea of a Palestinian state outright. Israeli leaders have referred to their genocide in Gaza as a way to mitigate the “threat” to Israel posed by Palestinians.
“Stopping the Arab takeover of the open areas, fighting the terrorist financing of the Palestinian Authority and its leaders and complete Israeli control of the territory [the occupied West Bank]. This is the only way,” Smotrich said.
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