Minister Amichai Eliyahu's response in an interview this morning with Kol Barama radio is a disgrace. For a minister who bears responsibility for the government's actions as well as for its statements, he cannot afford to express himself from his own thoughts as an ordinary citizen. It is hard to imagine an Israeli citizen who saw the horrors of the massacre in the Gaza Strip and demands surgical operations in the Gaza Strip, but Eliyahu is not a citizen and not every statement made by agreement in salon conversations can be heard by name and authority. For some reason, too many ministers and Knesset members did not realize when they entered the government the magnitude of the responsibility that comes with the job. It's no more shouting from the stand. Even his party chairman, Ben-Gvir, who was not known for poetic delicacy, disavowed him this morning.
Itamar Ben-Gvir. The party chairman also disavowed the remarks, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
To understand the reason, it is enough to glance at the headlines around the world. At the moment, they are certain that the State of Israel is seriously considering dropping an atomic bomb on our murderous neighbors. As if it had been considered in the cabinet, raised as a possibility by the military, discussed in the government. But this thing was born in an interview on local radio and by an idea raised by the interviewer, and of course all this is no longer important now. The narrative that a government minister is seriously considering this has already taken wings and the damage is enormous. Although it is painful to admit, we need extensive international credit in order to continue operating against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, despite the cost of harming innocent people.
As much as the Western world was quick to rally to our side against the background of the slaughter of our children and women, it placed an asterisk there from day one: No to harming innocent people in Gaza. And the IDF, which prides itself on being the most moral army in the world, does indeed embark on actions that are approved only after the army's International Law Division approves them. In order to avoid harming innocent people as much as possible. Because we, our soldiers and our security forces do not harm innocent people at first. They don't derive sadistic happiness from it and don't shoot videos for the family. On the contrary, every soldier who served in wars will tell how difficult it was for him to harm innocent people when required to do so in the framework of defending Israeli citizens, and in isolated cases.
IDF activity in the Gaza Strip. Refraining from harming the civilian population, photo: IDF Spokesperson
Minister Eliyahu not only harmed our political credit, he made the nations of the world think that we and the filthy terrorists on the other side of the fence hold the same moral views. Is there a bigger lie than that? Is there a greater injustice than that? And when the scenes from the Gaza Strip indicate the opposite – that despite the fact that they slaughtered and murdered and raped and beheaded and looted us, we still do not retaliate against Hamas. Minister Eliyahu must go out and explain that the theoretical answer he provided to the theoretical question that arose before him was also a slip of the mouth. And all the other ministers in droves, if you don't do something for the good of the people in war, just sit quietly. Thank you.
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