Israeli politicians, military generals, and top leaders and legislators, in their own words:
“Erase Gaza from the face of the earth. Let the Gazan monsters rush to the southern border and flee into Egypt, or die. And let them die badly.” (link)(link)
Galit Distel-Atbaryan, current member of the Knesset, former Israeli Minster of Information
“Human animals must be treated as such. There will be no electricity and no water [in Gaza], there will only be destruction. You wanted hell, you will get hell.” (link)
Major General Ghassan Alian, COGAT
“If there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza and not two million Arabs, the entire discussion on the day after will be totally different,”
“Most of Israeli society will say: ‘Why not? It’s [Gaza] a nice place, let’s make the desert bloom, it doesn’t come at anyone’s expense’.” (link)(link)
Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli Minister of Finance
"Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of ‘48. Nakba in Gaza and Nakba to anyone who dares to join!" (link)
Ariel Kallner, current member of the Knesset
“We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.” (link)
“We will eliminate everything - they will regret it,”
Yoav Gallant, Israeli Minister of Defence
“There should be two goals for this victory: One, there is no more Muslim land in the land of Israel … After we make it the land of Israel, Gaza should be left as a monument” (link)
Amit Halevi, Knesset member
“They are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads. Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there.” (link)
Ayelet Shaked, former Israeli Minister of Justice
“Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the basic nationality law we passed, Israel is the nation state of the Jewish people – and only it.”
“This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle." (link, link, link)
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
“This war is a war that is not only between Israel and Hamas. It’s a war that is intended, really, truly, to save Western civilization, to save the values of Western civilization”
“It's an entire nation out there that is responsible. It's not true, this rhetoric about civilians not -- not aware, not involved, it's absolutely not true.” (link)(link)
Isaac Herzog, President of Israel