The former defense minister emphasized that the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza constitute “ethnic cleansing.”
Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon accused Israel on Saturday of carrying out ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza during an interview with the Israeli channel Democrat.
He also condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for steering the country toward “ruin.”
Ya’alon, who held the position of defense minister from 2013 to 2016, criticized Netanyahu’s right-wing government policies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
“We are being dragged into occupation, annexation, ethnic cleansing—look at the north of the Strip—displacement, and Jewish settlement,” he stated.
The former defense minister emphasized that the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza constitute “ethnic cleansing.”
Former IDF Chief of General Staff and Defense Minister, Moshe “Bogie” Ya’alon, says the current Israeli government’s path is “To conquer, annex, commit ethnic cleansing… and to establish Jewish settlements”, and later adds “There is no Beit Lahia, no Beit Hanoun, now they’re… pic.twitter.com/x58t8YfRnb
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) November 30, 2024
When the interviewer sought clarification, asking: “Did I hear you correctly? Ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza—do you think we are on that path?” Ya’alon replied: “Why ‘on the path’?”
“What is happening there? Beit Lahia no longer exists, Beit Hanoun no longer exists, and now they are working on Jabalia. They (the Israeli army) are cleansing the area of Arabs,” he stated-
Since October 5, Israel has conducted a large-scale ground operation in northern Gaza, claiming it aims to prevent Hamas from regrouping.
However, Palestinians assert that Israel’s true objective is to occupy the area and forcibly displace its population.
Ethnic Cleansing
On November 10, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an editorial accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli military of orchestrating an “ethnic cleansing operation” in Gaza’s northern region.
The editorial cited observations from Yaniv Kubovich, the paper’s military correspondent, who accompanied Israeli forces in the area.
Haaretz: Netanyahu is Carrying out Ethnic Cleansing in Northern Gaza
“The area looks like it was hit by a natural disaster,” Kubovich was quoted as saying. The editorial added that “what Kubovich saw, however, was not a natural disaster but rather a premeditated act of human destruction.”
In an interview, Brigadier General Itzik Cohen, reportedly identified by the British newspaper The Guardian as the commander of the 162nd Division, commented, “My task is to create a cleansed space… We are moving the population for its protection, in order to create freedom of action for our forces.”
“There is no intention of allowing the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes,” Cohen was quoted as saying.
According to the report, “the officer was asked if the army is carrying out the ‘Generals’ Plan’ conceived by Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland and a few of his fellow retired commanders to expel the Palestinians from the northern Gaza Strip”.
The Israeli X defense minister Moshe Ya’aloun told the Israeli radio that Israel is conducting ethnic cleansing in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/oFLKBIWu18
— Mustafa Barghouti @Mustafa_Barghouti (@MustafaBarghou1) November 30, 2024
Cohen reportedly denied knowledge of any such directive, but stated instead that the military is “acting on the instructions of the (Israeli military’s)Southern Command and chief of staff.”
The editorial noted that although “Eiland may have sold these ideas to the public”, the ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza “is carried out by the IDF under the direction of its commanders (…) who are subordinate to the directives of the political leadership: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”.
Therefore, according to the editorial, “instead of talking about the Generals’ Plan, we should be talking about ‘Netanyahu’s Orders’.”
“He is the leader and he is responsible for the war crimes committed by the IDF in the northern Strip: the expulsion of the Palestinians, the destruction of their homes and the preparations on the ground for a prolonged occupation and Jewish settlement,” the editorial concluded.
Staggering Death Toll
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,382 Palestinians have been killed, and 105,142 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
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Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
