Israel: Opposition Leader Reveals Young Israelis Support Killing Palestinians in Gaza

|Tel Aviv
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has claimed that he met with a group of young Israelis who expressed support for killing all Palestinians in Gaza, including children. Lapid also criticized controversial statements by government ministers and the policy of severing diplomatic ties with countries critical of
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said he met with a group of young Israelis who expressed support for killing all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including children. Lapid made the remarks in a podcast interview, excerpts of which have circulated on social media platforms in recent days.
“I had a painful meeting with a group of very young people, and I heard from them all those statements calling for killing everyone and claiming that there are no innocents,” Lapid said. He said he asked them: “Even babies?” According to Lapid, they replied: “Babies too, because eventually they will grow up and become terrorists.”
Since October 8, 2023, Israel, with US support, has carried out military operations in the Gaza Strip that have killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and injured over 175,000. The majority of those killed and injured are women and children.
Since the war in Gaza began, numerous statements have emerged from Israeli officials and public figures supporting the large-scale use of force against Palestinians and downplaying the distinction between civilians and combatants. Lapid criticized statements by government ministers, saying Israel would “never recover” from keeping in office a minister who had talked about dropping an atomic bomb on Gaza. Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu had supported using nuclear weapons against Gaza in November 2023.
Lapid also criticized statements by Israeli officials about keeping civilians in Gaza hungry, saying that keeping such ministers in office harms Israel. He also addressed Israeli government policy toward countries that criticize Israel, saying that severing diplomatic ties or closing embassies was not in Israel’s interest. Lapid said that while anti-Israel statements in Ireland and Spain were unacceptable, he questioned how useful it was to close the Israeli embassy in Dublin or recall the Israeli ambassador from Madrid. He said he would prefer to visit those countries, express views in their media, and engage directly with Israel’s critics rather than boycott them.