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yair lapid
'All of Gaza Will Be Jewish,' Vows Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu
"The government is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out," Eliyahu said during a radio interview. "Thank God, we are wiping out this evil."
Jul 24, 2025
Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu asserted Thursday that the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is erasing Gaza, which Eliyahu said will be ethnically cleansed of Palestinians to make way for Jewish recolonization.
"The government is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out," Eliyahu, a leading member of the Jewish Power party, told the Haredi radio station Kol Barama. "Thank God, we are wiping out this evil. We are pushing this population that has been educated on Mein Kampf."
"All of Gaza will be Jewish," the minister vowed, adding that Arabs who are loyal to Israel may remain in the strip, because "we aren't racists."
Eliyahu took part in last year's "Preparing to Settle Gaza" conference, which preceded U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to "level" Gaza, forcibly expel its Palestinians, and transform the coastal enclave into "the Riviera of the Middle East."
As the death toll from Israel's forced mass starvation of Gaza continued to rise, Eliyahu denied that Palestinians are dying as a result of Israel's blockade, asserting that "there's no hunger in Gaza."
"But we don't need to be concerned with hunger in the strip," he told Kol Barama during Thursday's interview. "Let the world worry about it."
Last month, Eliyahu called for the bombing of Gaza food warehouses, asserting that Palestinians in the strip "need to starve."
In November 2023, Netanyahu took the rare step of suspending Eliyahu after he endorsed the "option" of dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza to "kill everyone" there, because "there are no people uninvolved" with Hamas, which led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Eliyahu's remarks were subsequently entered as evidence of intent in the genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Nine pages of South Africa's 84-page initial filing in the ICJ case contain statements of "genocidal intent against the Palestinian people" made by Israeli officials.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said Thursday that Eliyahu's comments "are a moral attack and a propaganda disaster."
"Israel will never convince the world of the justice of our war against terror as long as we are led by an extremist minority government with ministers who sanctify blood and death," Lapid argued.
"IDF soldiers do not fight, are killed, and injured to wipe out a civilian population," he added. "They fight to return the kidnapped and ensure Israel's security."
Nearly 60,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, most of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Peer-reviewed studies have shown that the ministry's figures are likely a vast undercount.
More than 142,500 Gazans have also been wounded, and at least 14,000 others are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed buildings.
In addition to the ICJ genocide case, the International Criminal Court—also located in The Hague—has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including murder and forced starvation.
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Far-Right Israelis Mob Bases After Soldiers Arrested for Allegedly Raping Palestinian
Several Israeli lawmakers and one minister took part in the attempt to free the nine reservists, who were hailed as heroes by multiple Cabinet members.
Jul 30, 2024
Far-right Israelis including government officials stormed two military bases late on Monday, sparking clashes with troops and police over the arrest of Israel Defense Forces reservists who allegedly gang-raped a Palestinian prisoner.
Hundreds of protesters broke into the notorious Sde Teiman base in the Negev Desert in an attempt to stop the detention of nine reserve troops accused of sodomizing a Palestinian jailed there.
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the victim is hospitalized with severe injuries and is unable to walk.
The nine suspects were then taken to the Beit Lid army base, which was also mobbed by at least dozens of demonstrators.
Base invaders included armed and masked members of Force 100, the military unit tasked with guarding prisoners at Sde Teiman. One of the nine arrested soldiers is reportedly a major in Force 100.
High-ranking Israeli government officials also took part in Monday's riots, including Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu of the Otzma Yehudit, or Jewish Power, party. Members of the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, including Yitzhak Kroizer and Limor Son Har-Melech (Otzma Yehudit), Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism), and Tally Gotliv (Likud), were also present.
"The military advocate general is a criminal. The people of Israel will fight against enemies from outside and enemies from within," Har-Melech said during the protest.
Journalists including a woman who works for the state broadcaster Kan said they were attacked while covering the riot.
Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid), the Israeli opposition leader, called for the arrest and imprisonment of Knesset members who took part in invasions.
"This is not a riot, this is an attempted coup by an armed militia against a weak prime minister who is unable to control his government," Lapid said on social media.
"We are not on the brink of the abyss, we are in the abyss. All red lines were crossed today," he added. "MKs and ministers who participate in the invasion of violent militias into military bases are a message to the state of Israel: They are done with democracy, they are done with the rule of law."
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (Likud) urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud) to investigate allegations that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit) thwarted police intervention against the rioters.
"Backing and active participation of elected officials in riots at army bases, while issuing harsh statements against senior army officers, is a severe and extremely dangerous phenomenon that harms security, social cohesiveness, and Israel's international reputation," Gallant said.
Netanyahu said he "strongly condemns the break-in."
Ben-Gvir, on the other hand, condemned what he called the "shameful" detention of the nine soldiers, whom he described as "our best heroes."
He acknowledged that conditions inside Israeli prisons "have indeed worsened," adding, "I am proud of that."
Echoing Ben-Gvir, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) called the nine detained reservists "heroic warriors."
In a heated Knesset exchange, Ahmad Tibi of the Arab Movement for Renewal party asked Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky if raping Palestinian prisoners is "legitimate."
"Yes! If he is a Nukhba everything is legitimate to do him!" Milwidsky thundered, referring to an elite Hamas commando unit.
MK Ahmad Tibi (TA'AL): To insert a stick in a person's rectum, is that legitimate???
MK Hanoch Milwidsky (Likud): Yes! If he is a Nukhba everything is legitimate to do him!
Some of you have probably already heard about the events in Sde Teiman concentration camp today: MPs came… pic.twitter.com/JynQZOqnDH
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) July 29, 2024
Erez Tadmor, a former speechwriter for Netanyahu,
claimed that Sde Teiman prisoners may have raped themselves.
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel denounced the alleged rape of the Palestinian prisoner in Sde Teiman.
"Since the beginning of the war, we claimed that the Sde Teiman was operating as an 'ex-territory', and the soldiers stationed there were acting outside any law—first in their treatment of detainees, and now towards military law enforcement agents," the group said.
"Instead of absolute condemnation, some Israeli far-right leaders have rallied to support the suspects of abuse, which is emblematic of the root causes that enable such abuse to happen in the first place," the group added.
Orit Sulitzeanu, executive director of the Association of Rape Crises Centers in Israel, told Haaretz she is "shocked" by the Sde Teiman rape allegation.
"There will never be any circumstances that would justify the use of this sickening practice, not even against the worst of our enemies," he said. "Sexual harm and sexual abuse are serious crimes and we must not remain silent when they happen."
Former prisoners including children and Israeli whistleblowers at Sde Teiman—often called "Israel's Guantánamo Bay"—have described rampant torture and abuse at the facility, which is used to imprison Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip. According to their testimonies, prisoners have been raped, electrocuted, mauled by dogs, burned with cigarettes, severely beaten, starved, and subjected to 24-hour shackling sometimes leading to amputations.
The New York Times reported last month that one former Sde Teiman prisoner said he was forced to "sit on something like a hot metal stick and it felt like fire," and that another detainee "died after they put the electric stick" up his anus.
IDF officials told Haaretz last month that the IDF is investigating the in-custody deaths of dozens of detainees, including 36 who died or were killed at Sde Teiman since October.
Palestinians formerly held at Sde Teiman said groups of 10-20 Israeli civilians were allowed to record torture sessions in which the men, stripped nearly naked, were beaten with metal batons, electrocuted, and had hot water poured over their heads. The ex-prisoners said some of the Israelis laughed while filming their torture.
On Tuesday, Israel's High Court of Justice said it will hold a second hearing on August 7 regarding a petition seeking to close Sde Teiman over alleged torture and abuse committed there, The Times of Israel reported.
Also on Tuesday in a separate case from the nine arrests, an IDF reservist identified as Staff Sgt. Yisrael Zakaria Hajbi was indicted for allegedly using "severe violence against the detainees he was entrusted with guarding" at Sde Teiman and filming the abuse.
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The ‘Sacred Bond’ Between the US and Israel Is Less Sacred Than Ever
While Republican kinship to Israel remains strong, that of the Democrats is not.
Jul 29, 2023
Israeli President Isaac Herzog added nothing of great value in his speech at the United States Congress on July 19.
His was the typical language. He spoke of a “sacred bond,” touted the shared experience between both nations as “unique in scope and quality,” and celebrated the great, common “values that reach across generations.”
But this theatrical language was meant to hide an uncomfortable truth: The relationship between Israel and the U.S. is changing at a fundamental level.
Two days before Herzog’s speech, Israel’s opposition leader and former prime minister, Yair Lapid, declared that “the United States is no longer (Israel’s) closest ally.”
While it is true that Netanyahu played a role in widening the distance between Tel Aviv and Washington, that distance was growing based on other dynamics—a mixture of political, geopolitical, and demographic changes and trends.
Lapid’s words were a mix of facts and political opportunism.
Lapid and others in his camp are keen on blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the waning relationship between both countries; or to use more pertinent language, for weakening the “sacred,” “unbreakable bond,” which has for many years joined the two countries together.
Lapid’s assessment, however, is imprecise. While it is true that Netanyahu played a role in widening the distance between Tel Aviv and Washington, that distance was growing based on other dynamics—a mixture of political, geopolitical, and demographic changes and trends.
But whose assessment is closer to the truth? Herzog’s claim of a “sacred bond,” or Lapid’s more dramatic assertion of a faltering alliance?
To address this question, we must look beyond the exaggerated public statements made by officials from both countries and particularly from the leaders of the U.S.’ two powerful parties, the Republicans and the Democrats.
In terms of language, the leaderships of both parties insists that Washington’s devotion to Israel is beyond politics and that Israel’s security is above America’s own political polarization.
In a speech at the Israeli Knesset (parliament) on May 1, U.S. House speaker Kevin McCarthy followed the typical American script on Israel. He, too, spoke of an “unbreakable bond” and “bipartisan U.S. support” and, expectedly, was met with resounding applause.
President Joe Biden, too, is a resolute supporter of Israel. His oft-repeated phrase, “You don’t have to be Jewish to be a Zionist,” is now a mantra among U.S. allies of Israel.
Yet, while Republican kinship to Israel remains strong, that of the Democrats is not; so weak, in fact, that in June 2022, a Pew Research Center poll said that “more Democrats and those who lean Democratic express a favorable view of Palestinians than of Israelis.”
So, the notion that Israel is a common cause between America’s top political parties is simply untrue. No wonder that Biden has, for seven months, delayed inviting Netanyahu to the White House following the formation of Israel’s latest government coalition.
Crowded with far-right politicians, Netanyahu’s coalition is simply a liability to any democratic system anywhere in the world.
Many Israelis agree, believing wholly or partially that their government is no longer democratic—due to Netanyahu’s growing control over the country’s once-independent institutions.
Amid all of this, Biden is struggling to find the balance.
“I'm very concerned,” Biden told reporters last May. “(Israel) cannot continue down this road, and I've sort of made that clear.”
This is the same Biden who described as “bizarre” a proposal by former U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to withhold funds from Israel due to its mistreatment of Palestinians.
Washington gives Israel at least $3.8 billion annually in military aid. If the anti-Israel trend among Democrats continues, the calls of withholding funds might, in the coming year, no longer appear so “bizarre.”
The new generation of Democratic politicians is viewing Israel, at least the Israeli Right, as an extension of the Republican Party, thus the growing hostility towards Israel.
Under intense pressure from the pro-Israel lobby, on July 17, Biden finally invited Netanyahu to the White House. The visit, however, considering the intensifying anti-Netanyahu protests, is unlikely to reset the relationship between Washington and Tel Aviv.
In fact, even if the protests subside, relations between the U.S. and Israel will not be the same.
For over a decade, the U.S. has slowly, but unmistakably, walked away from the Middle East, partly because of the disastrous outcomes of the Iraq invasion, and partly due to the growing power of China in the Asia-Pacific region.
The U.S. retreat has rung alarm bells in Israel, with Israeli politicians and mainstream intellectuals urging self-reliance. This led to an unrelenting Israeli search for new allies, mostly in the Global South.
The success, from Netanyahu’s viewpoint, of this campaign has helped Israel somewhat liberate itself from any commitment to the U.S. agenda in the Middle East, including engaging in the U.S.-led “peace process” with the Palestinian leadership.
Despite Biden’s insistence, during his Middle East trip in July 2022, on the need for a “reinvigorated” peace process, Tel Aviv neither supported nor even seemed to notice Washington’s new quest.
Back then, Netanyahu was not even a prime minister, as Israel was ruled by a government coalition under the leadership of Lapid himself.
While Netanyahu is being conveniently blamed for the dwindling ties, the disengagement from Washington was, in fact, mostly a collective decision and protracted process.
When, on July 10, Israel’s far-right minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir declared that “President Biden must internalize that Israel is no longer another star in the American flag,” he was merely reiterating a popular line used by others before him.
Even Netanyahu resorted to similar language when, in March, he told the U.S. administration that Israel is “a strong, proud, and independent democracy.”
Though much of Israel’s self-proclaimed “independence” was an outcome of unconditional U.S. support, Israelis hardly acknowledge this fact.
Israel’s Ministry of International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) is constantly reporting on the growth in Tel Aviv’s military exports to the rest of the world. These exports reached $12.5 billion last year. Most of this technology was either developed by the U.S., or jointly with the U.S., and much of the research was funded by American taxpayers.
Nonetheless, this sense of “independence” has given Netanyahu the needed confidence to abandon the Democratic Party in favor of the more accommodating Republicans.
For their part, the new generation of Democratic politicians is viewing Israel, at least the Israeli Right, as an extension of the Republican Party, thus the growing hostility towards Israel.
In the final analysis, both Herzog and Lapid are partly wrong: The “sacred bond” is less sacred than ever and, whether the U.S. is Israel’s closest ally or not, it makes little difference, since Israel is unlikely to find an alternative to Washington’s blind support anytime soon.
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