CLARIFIES STATEMENT ON ISRAELI ARMY; OTHER SMALL EDITS THROUGHOUT; REVISES DECK
By Ikram Kouachi
ANKARA (AA) – Following remarks seemingly opening the door to using nuclear weapons on Gaza, Israel’s heritage minister has been suspended from government meetings indefinitely, said the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said “Amichai Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality.”
Israel and the Israeli army “are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents,” the statement said.
Earlier Sunday, Eliyahu, a minister from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, said dropping a “nuclear bomb” on the Gaza Strip is “an option,” according to the daily Times of Israel.
During an interview, Eliyahu also voiced his objection to “allowing any humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
“We wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid,” he said. “There is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza.”
The far-right official also said that the Palestinian population “can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves.”
He added: “Anyone waving a Palestinian or Hamas flag shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called for Eliyahu’s dismissal over his remarks, not just suspension from meetings.
Lapid decried the “shocking and crazy statement by an irresponsible minister.”
“He harmed the families of the abductees, harmed Israeli society and harmed our international standing,” he said on X.
“The presence of the extremists in the government endangers us and the success of the war goals – defeating Hamas and returning all the kidnapped,” the opposition leader added.
Netanyahu “must fire him this morning,” he urged.