‘Annexing, Ethnic Cleansing’: Ex-Netanyahu Defense Minister Urges Israel to Change Course In Gaza With Scathing Criticism

AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File

Former Israeli defense minister and ex-IDF chief of staff Moshe ‘Bogie’ Ya’alon leveled scathing criticism at Israel’s operations in Gaza over the weekend, sparking a firestorm of controversy and anger inside the country.

Ya’alon served as defense minister under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from 2013 to 2016, before resigning from Netanyahu’s Likud Party and becoming a staunch critic of Israel’s current government.

Ya’alon told Israel’s Democrat TV on Saturday, “The path we are being dragged down is one of occupation, annexation, and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.”

“Transfer, call it what you want, and Jewish settlements,” he added, a reference to members of Netanyahu’s current far-right government proposing to rebuild settlements in Gaza.

Ya’alon continued by advocating for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding:

Now look at the polls. Seventy percent — sometimes more and sometimes a little less — of the public in the State of Israel advocates a path that is Jewish, democratic, liberal etc., and also with separation.

Therefore, there must be no confusion here. The one who wants to confuse us is the one who is currently leading us to nothing less than destruction.

Lucy Aharish, a prominent Arab Israeli journalist, was clearly taken aback by Ya’alon using the term “ethnic cleansing” and followed up by asking, “Ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, is that what you think? That we are on the way to that?”

“Why ‘On the way?’” Ya’alon pushed back.

“What is happening there? What is happening there? There is no Beit Lahia, there is no Beit Hanoun, [the military] are currently operating in Jabalia and are essentially cleansing the area of ​​Arabs,” he concluded.

Ya’alon’s remarks received swift condemnation from some of his former Likud colleagues, including Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar who said, “The irresponsible comments of former minister Moshe Ya’alon are incorrect and slander Israel without a basis. I call on him to retract his comments.”

An IDF spokesman also addressed Ya’alon when pressed by reporters for a reaction, saying, “The IDF acts in accordance with international law, and evacuates the population in accordance with the operational need and temporarily, for its protection. The IDF rejects the grave allegations of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, which harm the IDF and its soldiers.”

Ya’alon doubled down on his criticism in a Sunday interview with Channel 12 news, refusing to retract his statement and adding, “I don’t say anymore [that the IDF is] the most moral army in the world,” because of “the interference of politicians, who are corrupting the army.”

“It’s not the most moral army today and it’s difficult for me to say that,” he concluded of the army he once ran.