Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday disciplined a junior member of his cabinet who appeared to voice openness to the idea of Israel carrying out a nuclear strike on Gaza, where the war with Hamas is inflicting a spiraling Palestinian civilian toll.
Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying that the minister concerned – Heritage Minister Amihay Eliyahu, from a far-right party in the coalition government – had been suspended from cabinet meetings “until further notice”.
Asked in a radio interview about a nuclear option, Eliyahu had replied: “That’s one way.”
His remark drew swift condemnation from around the Arab world, scandalised mainstream Israeli broadcasters and was deemed “objectionable” by a US official.
“Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality. Israel and the IDF (military) are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory,” Netanyahu’s office said.
The League of Arab States said in a statement: “The racist statements of Israeli Minister Eliyahu are revealing. Not only does he admit that they possess a nuclear weapon, but he also confirms the reality of the Israelis’ abhorrent racist view towards the Palestinian people.”
Some 9,500 Palestinians have been killed in the war, stirring widening international concern over Israel’s tactics.
A spokesperson for Hamas said Eliyahu represented “unprecedented criminal Israeli terrorism (that) constitutes a danger to the entire region and the world”.
In Eliyahu’s Kol Barama radio interview, it was noted that ravaging Gaza would endanger some 240 hostages – among them foreigners as well as Israelis – held since Hamas sparked the war with an October 7 cross-border assault that killed 1,400 people.
