Netanyahu suspends far-right minister from cabinet meetings after saying nuking Gaza is 'one of the possibilities'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suspended Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu from cabinet meetings after he suggested that nuking Hamas-held Gaza is an option.

Eliyahu is a member of the far-right Jewish Power party, lead by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. 

Israeli Radio Kol-Barama asked Eliyahu whether attacking Gaza with nuclear weapons is an option for the Jewish state in its ongoing war against the Hamas terror organization that rules Gaza. 

“This is one of the possibilities,” Eliyahu replied.

The suspension is symbolic because Eliyahu is not a member of the inner cabinet managing the war against Hamas. 

While Israel has never publicly acknowledged its ownership of nuclear warheads, it is widely believed that the it possesses, at least, dozens of nuclear warheads, and has the means to deliver them by air and sea. However, Israel’s nuclear deterrence is primarily considered to be the last line of defense in a scenario where its very existence was threatened. 

The radio station host challenged Eliyahu by pointing out that attacking Gaza with nuclear weapons would also threaten the lives of the more than 240 Israeli and international hostages. 

“I pray and hope for their return, but there is a price to be paid in war,” the heritage minister replied.

“Why are the lives of the abductees, whose release I really want, more important than the lives of the soldiers and the people who will be murdered later?” he added. 

The minister also articulated his opposition to providing aid to Gaza, stressing that “we wouldn’t hand the Nazis humanitarian aid.” In addition, Eliyahu argued that it was extremely difficult to separate Gazan civilians from Hamas, stressing “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza.” 

Eliyahu, a religious Zionist, also believes that the Jewish state should rebuild the Jewish communities in Gaza that were unilaterally vacated by the former Ariel Sharon government in 2005. In 2007, Hamas seized power in Gaza after violently ousting its political rival Fatah. 

The minister concluded that by saying he thinks Gazans should relocate to another place. 

“They can go to Ireland or deserts; the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves.”

Eliyahu articulates fringe views in an Israeli society where most people want a clear separation from the Gaza Strip. While Israelis are divided on the two-state solution formula, the majority of the Israeli public recognizes the need for some kind of political settlement with the Jewish state’s immediate Arab neighbors. By contrast, Hamas is a terror organization that openly calls for Israel’s destruction and the murder of all Jews in the entire world. 

In a recent interview with Lebanese TV, senior Hamas terrorist Ghazi Hamad openly admitted that the ultimate goal of Hamas is to destroy the State of Israel. 

“Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation and must be finished. We are not ashamed to say this, with full force,” Hamad said. 

He added that Hamas intends to repeat the Oct. 7 massacre until Israel is destroyed. 

“We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again. The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight.”