Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP
Israeli newspaper Haaretz called for the dismissal of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday over his “repeated calls for genocide” against Palestinians.
On Monday, Smotrich called for the “total annihilation” of key cities in Gaza, including Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have taken refuge after being displaced during Israel’s invasion. Israel is poised to invade the city.
“There are no half measures. Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – total annihilation,” he said before quoting the Book of Deuteronomy. “‘You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven’ – there’s no place under heaven.”
Amalek is described in the Torah as an enemy of Israel. According to the Book of Samuel, David and the Israelites raided the Amalekites and “did not leave a man or woman alive.”
“Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of the security cabinet, ought to be fired immediately over his latest remarks,” began the Haaretz editorial, titled, “Smotrich Must Pay the Price for His Repeated
It continued, “That’s how any properly run country would act, and all the more so a country against which the International Court of Justice in The Hague has issued provisional measures requiring it to refrain from genocide, including one requiring it to deal properly with incitement to genocide.”
The paper quoted Smotrich’s remarks about Amalek and concluded, “There is no room for interpretation.” It also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who should have “fired the minister in disgrace… but there’s not one person in the government willing to stand up and say, ‘enough.'”
Smotrich’s remarks are just the latest incendiary rhetoric from the far-right elements in Netanyahu’s cabinet. On Friday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir expressed frustration that the Israel Defense Forces are arresting Palestinians instead of killing them.
“Why are there so many arrests?” Ben-Gvir allegedly asked during a cabinet meeting. “Can’t you kill some? Do you want to tell me they all surrender? What are we to do with so many arrested? It’s dangerous for the soldiers.”
Israel’s war in Gaza is now in its seventh month after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in which Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240 others. Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza, though officials have now lost count.