From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 5, 2024
Smotrich: Might be ‘justified and moral’ to cause 2 million Gazans to die of hunger, but world won’t let us
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich implies he believes that blocking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip is “justified and moral” even if it causes 2 million civilians to die of hunger, adding however that the international community won’t allow this to happen.
“We are bringing in aid because there is no choice,” Smotrich says at a conference in Yad Binyamin hosted by the Israel Hayom outlet. “We can’t, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned. Humanitarian in exchange for humanitarian is morally justified, but what can we do? We live today in a certain reality, we need international legitimacy for this war.”
He argues that Israel must regain full control over what exactly enters the Strip, saying he opposes the stance of the military and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on the matter and that “I don’t know if the prime minister doesn’t want or isn’t managing to rein them in.” He says Hamas plundering the aid is the “main factor” extending the war.
The far-right minister adds that while he supports Israel resettling Gaza, he hasn’t demanded that this be defined as one of the war’s goals. He argues that if Israel hadn’t pulled out of Gaza in 2005, the October 7 massacre would never have happened.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said it is unrealistic to resettle Gaza, angering far-right allies.
