Israeli Minister Says Dropping Nuke on Gaza Is an Option

Netanyahu suspended Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu from cabinet meetings over the comments

Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu on Sunday said that dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was an option for Israel and claimed there are no innocent civilians in the enclave.

According to The Times of Israel, Eliyahu said in a radio interview that dropping a nuke is “one of the possibilities” and said there is no “such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza.” He also called for the expulsion of Palestinians from the enclave.

“They can go to Ireland or deserts, the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves,” he said. Eliyahu added that the Gaza Strip doesn’t have the right to exist and that anyone waving a Hamas or Palestinian flag “shouldn’t continue living on the face of the earth.”

Eliyahu is a member of the extremist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, which is part of the coalition that formed the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In response to Eliyahu’s comments, Netanyahu suspended him from cabinet meetings, resisting calls from opposition leader Yair Lapid to fire him.

“Minister Amihai Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality,” Netanyahu said, according to his office. Despite the massive child casualty rate in Gaza, the Israeli leader claimed Israel is “operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents.”

Besides being incredibly provocative and genocidal, Eliyahu’s comments also appear to confirm that Israel has nuclear weapons. Israel has a nuclear arsenal but has a policy of ambiguity, not officially recognizing that it exists. The US also maintains this policy regarding Israeli nukes.

Author: Dave DeCamp

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.