Former defense minister and IDF chief of staff Moshe Ya’alon has accused Defense Minister Yisroel Katz of effectively admitting to “committing a war crime” with his recent remarks about the military’s plans for Gaza City. Katz warned on Friday that Gaza City could face the same fate as “Rafah and Beit Hanoun” — two cities devastated by extensive Israeli operations — as the IDF prepares for a full takeover.
Katz declared on Friday that “the gates of hell will soon open over Hamas murderers and rapists in Gaza — unless they agree to Israel’s conditions for ending the war, primarily the release of all hostages and their disarmament.”
Ya’alon responded by saying the statement amounted to “an admission to committing a war crime — the evacuation of the residents and the destruction of their homes.”
“The intention to carry this out in Gaza City is clearly an illegal order,” Ya’alon said, urging Israel’s legal authorities to intervene and block the planned military action. He stressed that only legal oversight could prevent soldiers from being forced to follow “a clearly illegal order.”
“It is in your power to stop the moral and ethical deterioration of our country, which pledged ‘never again!’” Ya’alon pleaded in his statement.
He went on to sharply criticize the government’s leadership, adding, “It is already clear to anyone with eyes in their heads that the Messianic, evasive and corrupt government does not serve the country, but rather its grip on power, while neglecting the hostages, sacrificing soldiers, and destroying the country and its future.”
Ya’alon, once a senior figure in the Likud party, has been an outspoken opponent of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu since being removed as defense minister in 2016.
This is not the first time Ya’alon has issued dire warnings about the government’s Gaza strategy. Back in November, he cautioned that Israel was steering down a dangerous path that could lead to ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.
Please shut your mouth
Wicked resentful lowly human. Erev rav rearing its ugly head.
DM Katz was right and his words do not constitute a war crime.
BTW Moshe Ya’alon a traitor yourself, have you forgotten that you called for “ethnic cleansing” of terrorists?