Israel is Committing "Ethnic Cleansing and War Crimes in Gaza" according to Israel's own former Defense Minister/ NYT
To all the IDF troll farmers, you can stop piling on with your cries of antisemitism now. The Jewish State became Nazi Germany, so horrific that few can get their heads out of the sand and believe it
By Adam RasgonLiam Stack and Natan Odenheimer
Reporting from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
Dec. 1, 2024
A former Israeli defense minister has accused Israel of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, a rare critique from a member of the security establishment at a time of war.
The comments by Moshe Yaalon — first on Saturday, and then multiple times on Sunday, including in an interview with one of Israel’s biggest television channels — came amid mounting criticism of the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza. They were swiftly denied and condemned by allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying that they would hurt the country and help its enemies.
Mr. Yaalon served as the Israeli military’s chief of staff during the second intifada and as Mr. Netanyahu’s defense minister during the 2014 war in Gaza, the longest conflict between Israel and Hamas before the current war. [In other words, he knows what he is talking about—Nass]
But he broke with Mr. Netanyahu in 2016 and has since become a critic of the Israeli leader.
At an event on Saturday, Mr. Yaalon denounced Mr. Netanyahu’s government for its actions in Gaza.
“The path they’re dragging us down is to occupy, annex, and ethnically cleanse — look at the northern strip,” he said. He also said Israel was being pulled in the direction of building settlements in Gaza, a notion that is supported by far-right politicians in Mr. Netanyahu’s government.
When the interviewer at the event asked Mr. Yaalon to clarify whether he thought Israel was on the way to carrying out ethnic cleansing, he responded: “Why on the way? What’s happening there? What’s happening there?”
“There’s no Beit Lahia. There’s no Beit Hanoun. They’re now operating in Jabaliya. They’re basically cleaning the territory of Arabs,” he said, referring to towns and cities in northern Gaza where a renewed Israeli offensive against the militant group Hamas has caused extensive damage in recent months. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began in response to the deadly Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023.
Mr. Yaalon doubled down on his accusations on Sunday, saying on public radio that Mr. Netanyahu’s government was exposing Israeli commanders to lawsuits at the International Criminal Court and was putting their lives at risk.
“I’m speaking in the name of IDF commanders who are operating in the northern strip,” Mr. Yaalon told the Reshet Bet radio station. “They reached out to me expressing fear about what’s happening there.” [In other words, the brass are being told to commit war crimes, and they know what they are doing—Nass]
He later said, in an apparent reference to the government: “At the end of the day, they’re perpetrating war crimes” — while making clear that his issue was not with the soldiers themselves.
In another interview, broadcast Sunday night, he stood behind his remarks yet again and even said he no longer says Israel has the most moral army in the world, a claim often promulgated by defenders of the country.
“It’s hard for me to say this,” he told the Israeli broadcaster Channel 12, adding that Israel’s political leadership was “corrupting the military.” He said the military was ordering the evacuation of towns, believing the move was for operational reasons. But, he suggested, some of Israel’s political leaders actually intend to clear the area for settlements.
The Israeli military declined to comment on Mr. Yaalon’s accusations, which came 10 days after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Mr. Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
Mr. Netanyahu’s office has rejected the accusations against the men in the warrants, calling them “absurd and false” and accusing the court of being motivated by antisemitism.
Mr. Yaalon’s comments were condemned by Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party, of which Mr. Yaalon is a former member.
“Yaalon already lost his way a long time ago,” the party said in a statement. “His defamatory words are a prize for the International Criminal Court and the haters of Israel camp. Israel is fighting back against a murderous terrorist group that carried out mass slaughter.”
Mr. Gallant said on Sunday that Mr. Yaalon’s statements were “a lie that aids our enemy and harms Israel.”
The Israeli military “acted according to the highest standards that can be applied in the complex and difficult war that was imposed on us,” Mr. Gallant said in a post on social media. “The instructions and commands were always given in accordance with the law.”
Israel’s communications minister, Shlomo Karhi, said Mr. Yaalon “crossed all the red lines.” while Tally Gotliv, a firebrand Likud lawmaker, called him “worse than our biggest enemies.”
Israel has called on Palestinians from the northernmost reaches of Gaza to evacuate on several occasions since the war began last fall, including in the first week of the conflict and again in October. Tens of thousands of people have heeded those warnings and fled, but many are believed to have remained in the area, either because they cannot or do not want to leave.
Mr. Yaalon’s statements were striking because they come at a time in which Israelis from across the political spectrum have united in their opposition to the I.C.C.’s issuing of the warrants for Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant.
When asked if the warrant for Mr. Netanyahu was justified in the Sunday night interview, Mr. Yaalon said he didn’t want to be the judge of that, but he did not denounce it. He added, “I think, on a moral level, that a few things happened here that aren’t good from our perspective.”
They were also unusual because Israelis and their leaders — like people in many countries — tend to rally around the troops during a time of war. Criticism by former Israeli officials of the war has tended to focus on strategy or whether to agree to a cease-fire with Hamas, not the military’s conduct veering into potential war crimes.
Of four former senior Israeli security officials contacted by The Times on Sunday, only one agreed to comment.
Ami Ayalon, the former director of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency who has criticized Mr. Netanyahu in the past, said he wasn’t sure whether Israel’s actions in Gaza met the legal definition of “ethnic cleansing.” But he described the Israeli government’s policy directives for the military as “immoral and unjust,” saying they could expose commanders and soldiers to prosecution by the International Criminal Court.
In recent months, aid organizations and world leaders, including President Biden, have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in North Gaza. During that time, Israel has allowed little humanitarian aid to enter. Last month, Israel banned imports of commercial goods, saying that Hamas was benefiting from their sale. North Gaza is the northernmost of Gaza’s five governorates.
Israeli officials have said that Palestinians from North Gaza will be able to return to their homes after the war. Mr. Netanyahu has dismissed the idea of building settlements in Gaza, but hard-line members of his right-wing coalition have advocated for it.
Some Israelis worry that Mr. Netanyahu’s indecision about plans for postwar Gaza could result in a long-term occupation of the enclave, leaving open the possibility for right-wing members of the coalition to advance their ambitions to build settlements.
Some Palestinians from Gaza also took note of Mr. Yaalon’s comments.
Akram Atallah, a Palestinian columnist originally from Jabaliya, said he considered Mr. Yaalon’s remarks to be “extremely important.”
“This remark strengthens the Palestinian narrative of what is happening in Gaza,” he said. “And it isn’t coming from an Arab official or a sympathetic member of the international community. It’s coming from someone who was a general at the top of the Israeli system.”
I agree that the Zionists have adopted the behavior patterns of the Nazis. However, it is important to note that Palestinians are NOT being killed in response to the 10/7 staged attack. That attack was set up and orchestrated by the Zionists as part of a long-term plan to pave the way for them to step up the already horrific genocide against the innocent civilians of Palestine. At this point, it is a well-known fact that the Zionists have been savagely brutalizing unarmed civilians in Palestine for many decades. The Zionists hoped that if they persecuted the Palestinians, the Palestinians would just leave Palestine. This would allow the Zionists to conduct wholesale plundering of the vast reserves of natural resources that lie under Palestinian soil. These resources are so rich that if the Palestinians were allowed to access them, they would be among the wealthiest people on Earth. Instead, they have been disarmed, then brutalized and robbed, left to stand by helplessly while the Zionists murder their loved ones, often for organ theft. Yes, it is obvious to the entire population of this planet that what the Zionists are doing is beyond evil.
So, all that being said, why have the Zionists not been stopped? The Zionists have overthrown the countries that offered resistance to genocide in the past. No conspiracy theory, just fact as is shown by the many videos of nasty netty and his ilk on camera audaciously bragging that they have done just that. The Zionists have fleeced these once-great nations to the extent that the overall quality of life has been decimated in those poor nations foolish enough to allow those rabid mongrels to seize control of their homeland. Look it up, see how much has been sent to the Zionists. In America, we have been sending huge amounts from our Federal coffers and as if that is not enough...most states are also sending huge amounts to the Zionists. It is bad enough that we are sending them endless funds, but to do it at a time when our citizens are in such dire need of help is downright immoral, which delights the Zionists all the more. They rub their hands in glee at the trials and tribulations they are causing their 'enemies'. If you understand nothing else in this life, please understand that the Zionists hate everyone who is not a Zionist and delight in causing pain and misery to all. Even those they are robbing, perhaps especially those who are foolish enough to be tricked by them.
Do not say this is anti-semitism, the Zionists are NOT Semites, and truth be told, the Palestinians are. The Zionists seized Israel from the Jews. recruited people all over the world to become Zionists, and built a society within Israel that dominates and oppresses the natural-born Jewish people. Just ask the members of the PLUR (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect) community who tried to stage a rave event to shine a light on the plight of the Palestinians and to put forth the idea that we can all get along. Oh wait, you can't ask them, they are dead. THINK ~ can there be any doubt that the Zionists would eliminate those Israelis who dare to oppose them? Two days before the Nova Rave, the venue was moved to an area closer to HAMAS-occupied territory, the impervious border was suddenly easily breached, and Zionist helicopters were seen indiscriminately killing anyone in the area, including Nova Rave attendees. How is it that the hostages who may have borne witness to the atrocities committed by the Zionists on 10/7 were murdered upon release? Zionists killed them and then, as usual, pretended they were the victims, when it is all part of their idiotic grand scheme.
To wrap things up, I feel compelled to point out the obvious: All of this could have been avoided if the Zionists had adopted the spirit of cooperation. There would be an amazing level of improvement in the lives of both the Jewish and Muslims. Israel and Palestine both would be thriving right now. A simple phrase to put forth the error of warlike behavior: Why take a dive, when you can thrive? Cooperation makes life better for both sides. Anyone with one iota of grey matter can see that.
Thank you Meryl for your endless courage and for speaking out.
There are definitely Robots on here that it is senseless to debate with. They already have their story and REAL facts don't matter to them. For example those who cry propaganda on calling what is happening over there a genocide. The highest court in the world has hundreds of pages of documentation that have PROVEN IT.
There must be quite a bit of propaganda in the Israeli media to make people feel it is okay to justify and minimize the numbers of innocent Palestinians killed. So many of them babies!
Trying to compare being scammed by the pandemic to being scammed by the idea of genocide really takes the prize for idiocy. They need to swallow a dose of their own medicine.
And calling 7 Oct another 9/11 is really a joke. Seeing as how the real truth of 9/11 and its' false flag nature is still not widely known, though, it may be more apt a comparison than meets the immediate eye.