Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday called for the “total annihilation” of Rafah and other cities in the Gaza Strip.
“There are no half measures. Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – total annihilation. ‘You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven’ – there’s no place under heaven,” Smotrich said.
Smotrich’s reference to “Amalek” was from a line in Deuteronomy, a book in the Hebrew Bible. Amalek is a nation the ancient Israelites were commanded to destroy, and in the book of Samuel, the Israelites were told to “slay both man and woman, infant and suckling.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously compared Gaza to Amalek, which has been cited as evidence of genocidal rhetoric in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember, and we are fighting,” Netanyahu said in October.
The “annihilation” of Rafah would mean the death of over 1 million civilians who are sheltering there. Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday that Israel will invade the city “with or without” a hostage deal with Hamas.
Smotrich said any hostage deal with Hamas would be a “humiliating defeat” for Israel. “Don’t wave a white flag. Don’t let Sinwar humiliate us again and win the war. A government that submits to international pressure and stops the war in the middle will, at that moment, lose its right to exist,” he said.
He also called for the destruction of Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying Israel must “clear out, with God’s help, with one blow, wicked Hezbollah in the north, and really send a message that what will happen to those who harm the Jewish people is the same as those who have tried to harm us in the past – they will be destroyed, destroyed, destroyed. And it will echo for decades to come.”
Time for someone to nuke Israel. They must be removed from this planet. They will not live with others, so this is their own choice.
And who is going to “nuke” Israel. Who ever does it better do it perfectly, because if they fail Israel will counter nuke them. Oh wait, Israel has 4 or 5 nuclear armed subs. What are the chances that a first strike takes out all of the subs? One mistake an the attacker just lost a million citizens. Still think it is a good plane?
No, no – this is NOT calling for genocide! No Israel is.NOT committing genocide. No, no!
There is nobody with the courage to end it, all silent accomplices. As for any Western institutions — courts included — no faith in them. Israel is demolishing international law, trashing what is left of accumulated heretage of international consennsus on most fundamental humanity.
Russia had the balls to step in when the Western inspired witch hunt against Russian-speaking population of Ukraine started. Zelenski — encouraged by the Western calculus — moved against the undesirable population. Why? Because for as long as they remained — Ukraine would have never voted to become member of NATO. So, eliminate undesirable people — keep the land, join NATO. It was supposed to work. For this mistake —. Ukrainians are dying.
Now — this strategy Israel has been employing for decades — very successfully. So, why not implement it in Ukraine? Well, lesson learned. Russia was not having it. Do not like the Russian-soeaking people in a bi-lingual country? You do not get to keep their land. The principle Israel is immune to.
Anybody can put the stop to this? Where is US, the world’s policemen?
US could do itself a big favor by reducing Israel to its UN defined borders, end colonial project in West bank, and stop this open air concentration camp called Gaza from becoming the death camp.
Instead, our Secretary of State goes around asking countries to take Palestinians. US can stop this in its tracks. What is the reason for not stopping it? The power of donor classes? Israeli libby?
I do not think so. Not by itself. It is the deadly partisan game that does not allow for ANY retreat from bad situations — lest that be viewed as a failure, I am the last one to defend Biden — but retreat from Afghanistan was a right thing to do. Yet, the opposition picks at anything that went wrong in a difficult situation. Democrats are no better when it comes to vicious attack on the opposition.
The result? We cannot back off from the dissaster called Ukraine, or even less from the sacred cow called Israel.
I thiught Turkey was getting ready with humanitarian flotilla— sitting in Istambul. This time, if it ever moves, will have to be backed by Turkey —NATO member — miillitary force.
For whatever reason — there is an feeling of calm before a storm.
Russia was also alone in defeating the Nazi barbarians. Will fate again call upon Her to save us from Hitler’s sibling.
Christ, the Soviet Union defeated the bulk of the Wehrmacht, losing 20+ million souls in the process. The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, asked to become a member of the Western Alliance, and was rejected by the U.S. of Amnesia. Then the process of gathering more countries into NATO, a process accelerated by Bill Clinton. This country of mine is one f*cked up mess, owned lock, stock and barrel by a foreign agent (AIPAC), MIC, BANKING.
“asked to become a member of the Western Alliance” LOL. That is like the fox asking to sleep in the hen house.
I think that the only reason why Biden went through with the withdrawal from Afghanistan was because he could blame Rump for agreeing to it. Of course there’s that nagging voice in the back of my head which also points out that we didn’t leave until fentanyl production had gotten high enough that it could replace opiates. Since the Taliban wiped out opium production in a single year, while it set new records every year but one (crop failure) under the US, there may even be a kernel of truth to it.
Mr. Trump DID agree to it. Mr. Trump signed the instrument of surrender in 2020, March I believe. He left the details flutter in the air. Opium production dropped 90% after the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
Actually it’s almost zero, most of the opium that is available is from stored reserves that the warlords had built up which the Taliban is allowing them to sell. They’ve started planting it in Colombia and Mexico again, and probably southeast Asia, while Afghan farmers are once again harvesting wheat (which is a good thing because the US stole all of the government’s money when it changed from the puppets to the Taliban to try to starve the populace).
IF the UN had any strength, it would order member countries to form a formidable armed force to make sure every ounce of humanitarian aid gets to the Palestinians. Call it a peacekeeping force, or whatever. But protect those Palestinians from starvation and disease. The world has to realize that men like Smotrich, Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu are crazy men. Stop them!
I am presently in the UK, where almost every retail label bears a commitment to oppose human trafficking. I guess they refer mainly to the bait-and-switch entrapment of vulnerable young women for prostitution, by way of promising them a job in a foreign country and holding them in virtual slavery after they arrive.
Then as I read your comment and got to the point of “Our Secretary of State goes around asking countries to take Palestinians”, it suddenly hit me that the US and Israel are organizing the biggest human trafficking scheme in modern history: to export all the Gazan Palestinians to other countries, by way of ships or trucks.
And most of the West, despite all the pious bleating about “trafficking”, does not even blink an eye at this blatant action.
They can ask all they want, but no sane country on Earth will take Palestinians. I worry that Biden will bring them here to the US.
Afraid that they’ll work harder than you? That seems to be the core of the main fear about immigrants.
Plenty of Palestinians and Lebanese already in these united states … fantastic, hard working people like everyone else.
Let me then point you in the direction of the biggest human trafficking operation today — it’s center is Ukraine. Blood curling data is out on selling of women and children for sex. And this is done in the cooperation with Western intelligence agencies as those generally make money on drugs and human trafficking — money needed for off-the books operations. These operate outside of any oversight.
The first step in this direction was taken once all major Western governments starting privatizing various functions of security state — such as CIA. This is not particularly a secret. In US some research, analytical or even operational functions are contracted out. A few years ago, it cost government over 100 million to have Jeff Bezos run an analytical portion of CIA. Since these enployees are not civil servants, their performance appraisal depends on their employer.
This is in the nutshel a problem with loyalty. Their products end up on desks of various committes and even the president. Once in private hands, there is no way of knowing the nature of work and eliminates all public oversight.
Human traficking is big, big business. And so is the supply of humans for all sorts of nefarious purposes, often of blackmailable and extortionable value. Such grey eminence continues to push each party individually and both collectively into the corner by continuously urging them to be tough and tougher.
This pushes them into publicc stance, a committment no politician actually thought through. The unbelievable twisting of the reality, the cynical cruel punishment of those young college kids that did nothing wrong but protest a blatant case of genocide — is worrysome.
Humpty Dumpty comes to mind. Truth is what they say is, do not trust the evidence of your own senses. These people believe thst Jedi mind control comes from voluntary accrpting alternative reality.
“Human traficking is big, big moral panic, based on very little evidence but of great value to demagogues who want excuses to control people.”
Fixed, no charge.
Just begging the ICC & The ICJ to come down hard. Not even in any hint of backing off their genocidal rampage. Hubris precedes a “Great Fall” and the vast dimension of this blasé” straight arm to the courts is just another symptom of “self destructive terminal egoism.” Every one in any way associated with them is endangered. Biden with his gifts of two & five thousand pound bombs to Netanyahu and Oaf Shultz too sending bombs to the genocide, it’s shocking!!!!! In SHOLTZ case it’s doubly shocking. Like Germany just can’t resist a good genocide to liven up their dull existences… I have a strong inkling that Sholtz’s life will be way more challenging has the long arm of international justice reaches out it’s long arms of punishment. Everything went well for hitler until it didn’t, and seems to me that this brazen genocide will create a storm of opprobrium that will sweep away these evil fools that think there is no justice but theirs…!!!!!!!!!!!
Hubris generared the seeds of self-destruction. Nemesis is on the march.
There is no enforcement mechanism. None. Zilch.
And the check is STILL in the mail.
“There are no half measures. Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – total annihilation. ‘You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven’ – there’s no place under heaven,” Smotrich said”
Oh Smooch – may history remember you unironically among the great genocidists of the 20th & 21st centuries.
What does one call a “democracy” that has a person like this (and Nutty and Ben Gvir and …) as a minister?
And what does one call a “democratic republic” that funds such a country by the tens of billions and provides it with diplomatic cover no matter what?
I believe the term is shithole republic. Into the dustbin of civilized societies …. something made me re-read some material on the downfall of the Roman empire a few years ago. Guess it wasn’t all that much a waste of my time.
an apartheid racist state
One can smell the sulfur emanating off of these utter fiends. Do think if people knew from the get go that these people were beholden to Satan that they would have lasted this long?
When they tried in the past Hezbollah didn’t even have to call in their reserves. People like Smotrich like to brag about their superiority, but they can only fight when they have Western-made weapons in overwhelming supply. And not even then could they defeat Hezbollah.
Hezbollah, the “Army of God”, still has more than a 100,000 rockets at its disposal. Iran proved that the Iron Dome cannot knock all rockets out of the sky. Hezbollah has been kind enough not to aid rockets at important manufacturing plants, such as plants in and around Tel Aviv that manufacture chlorine and the like. On the ground, the IDF would take huge losses, with perhaps a deep incursion into Israel, which would drag us into the mess to save the Zionist’s rear end. Being as Smotrich, Ben-Gvir are bat sh*t crazy, Israel could launch a couple of tactical nukes at Lebanon, Iran, Jordan. Then what? Would that cross the Rubicon for Arab countries that talk much, but don’t do much to aid the Palestinians, Lebanese, Jordanians? Would it cause shooting by everyone? That is my worry. But who am I, but an old citizen of the United States of Amnesia.
Some Israeli politicians have used genocidal rhetoric, but so far, there has been no actual genocide – just a rather normal war with some scattered war crimes. Everyone recognizes that the only way for Israel to actually win requires a massive genocide, though. The question is: How can they pull it off and get away with it? I think biological warfare is the only practical way to do it, and that should be what to watch for. For Gaza, they would have to use something that spreads through contaminated water and/or by direct contact. However, they can’t use anything that can spread through the air, or else they will infect themselves. Whatever they use has to be containable, and to get away with it, it also has to be plausibly deniable. And they have to ensure that Western Media is not present in Gaza when they do it.
It’s likely they’re already employing biological warfare, since they’ve done it in the past. Cholera was unknown in Gaza before the slaughter started, now it’s burning through the population because of the embargo on medical supplies and water. It’s easily cured with basic antibiotics and rehydration, but Israel actively prevents their delivery.
What I have seen on my screens is not “normal” and it is not “scattered.” It is genocide.
Those who excuse genocide are complicit in a monstrous crime. They ought to be punished, as we did the Nazis who came here after WW2.
“just a rather normal war with some scattered war crimes.”
Wow. Another asshole.
A “normal” war is two parties, with equal firepower, engaging in battle. Israel has the firepower. The Palestinians have none. A Holocaust survivor, and instructor of Holocaust studies at Hebrew University has called Israel’s actions a genocide. He went on to say that a genocide does not have to have the same aspects of the Holocaust to be called genocide. For Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir to use biblical references to justify murder, lessens the value of their quotes from Deuteronomy. It demeans the Bible. They are crazed murderers, plain and simple.
“A “normal” war is two parties, with equal firepower”. A war where the two sides have equal firepower is very rare.
You watch too much science fiction movies.
For now and for the next few or several years, a reasonable solution would be to stop supplying weapons to the Israelite state, enable a ceasefire and release the hostages, send an international, unbiased, strong enough peace keeping force or mission to Gaza and other locations where it is needed, engage in negotiations, and, if a two state solution is currently not realistic or possible, at least but surely give the Palestinians autonomy and self determination, stop the settlements, and remove Netnyahoo from power until the time is appropriate for him to be held accountable in a fitting way, him and his acolytes like smotreech and ben gvyr.
The BIG LIE is that this is being done in the name of Jews, this is all for the Zionist, EVIL extremist, NON-Human THUGS. If Israel is no longer being controlled by Peace Loving Jews, but has already been taken over by the Zionist Regime of Netanyahu, there is only ONE Solution. Who is going to destroy this Zionist Regime, that is the question?
Also: https://michael-hudson.com/2024/04/gaza-the-strategic-imperative/
Israelis who voted in this government and its predecessors deserve global condemnation.
Abraham’s biblical promise to the Hebrew that their land, Eretz Israel, stretch from the Nile to the Euphrates. For them, the Golan Heights and the West Bank are not just so many settlements, but part of their divinely fixed patrimony.
Levant’s Empires: Old Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian, Persian, Alexander the Great-Hellenistic Greek, Roman, Early Islamic period. It was never “The Land of Israel”. Jews were only a religion’s cult among many religious cults, with each having their own Gods.
Smotreech and other jingoistic Israelite politicians ought to be careful. This abusive, arbitrary, deranged use of old biblical language and of the word Amalekites against others and against anyone they don’t like shows how much the Israelite state is not a modern secular inclusive or progressive political entity, and how much most Israelites are regressing and returning to their old tribalist expired biblical religion and mentality. This is not at all the period of time of Moses, nor of Joshua, nor of any of those Israelite biblical characters. This is the 21st century CE; while historical events and epochs are generally related, every century or every period of time in history has its own characteristics, and at this time the accumulated aggressiveness, impunity, militarism, misdeeds and wrongdoings of the arrogant Israelites and their army during the last several decades as well as contemporary changing circumstances will bring very bad consequences to them.
This repetitive maniacal unrestrained chauvinistic use of the Amalekite appellation or description against others may very well backfire and boomerang heavily on them.
Anyway, when the time is right everyone will be held accountable appropriately.