An Israeli government minister was suspended Sunday for suggesting that dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was “one of the possibilities” in the Jewish state’s war against Hamas.
Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu was relieved of his duties and excluded from cabinet meetings by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after making the outrageous claim during an interview on Radio Kol Berama, the Times of Israel reported.
“Amichai Eliyahu’s words are far from reality,” Netanyahu said in a statement published in X.
“Israel and the IDF are acting in accordance with the highest standards of international law to prevent harm to uninvolved persons, and will continue to do so until victory,” the prime minister wrote.
Netanyahu made sure to point out that Eliyahu is not part of the emergency Israeli war cabinet that the prime minister created after Hamas terrorists launched a sneak attack against Israel on October 7.
The attack killed more than 1,400 Israelis near the Gaza border, almost all of them civilians, while more than 200 people were taken hostage, prompting an escalating retaliatory attack by Israel.
Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu was suspended Sunday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for suggesting that nuclear weapons are “one of the possibilities” in his country’s conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Yonatan Zindel/Flash90 Netanyahu called the politician’s suggestion “detached from reality.”
Eliyahu, a member of the far-right Otzma Yhudit, or Jewish Power Party led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, made the troubling comments on Sunday.
Asked if nuclear weapons were an option in Gaza, he responded: “This is one of the possibilities.”
Recalling that Israeli hostages are still being held in Gaza, Eliyahu responded: “I pray and hope for their return, but there is a price to pay in war.
“Why are the lives of the kidnapped people, whose release I really want, more important than the lives of the soldiers and the people who will be killed later?” she added.
As for the fate of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, “they can go to Ireland or the desert,” the politician said.
“The monsters of Gaza should find a solution for themselves.”
Palestinian Siham Rabaya lies in the rubble of her house destroyed after Israeli airstrikes in Rafah.ZUMAPRESS.com
He added of global calls for aid for Palestinian civilians: “We would not have given humanitarian aid to the Nazis.
“There are no innocents in Gaza.”
After his suspension and backlash over his comments, Eliyahu attempted to backtrack, telling reporters that “any reasonable person would understand that the [nuclear weapons] The comment was metaphorical.
“But we definitely need to respond forcefully and disproportionately to terrorism,” he added.
Some government officials said Netanyahu did not go far enough by simply suspending Eliyahu.
Israel has launched retaliatory strikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip after terrorists launched a sneak attack against the Jewish state on October 7 that killed more than 1,400 Israelis, almost all of them civilians. NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“Netanyahu must fire him this morning,” Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said, Sky News reported.
Israeli abortion leader Merav Michaeli called the Heritage Minister “a danger to the State of Israel,” according to the Jerusalem Post.
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