'Blood libels': Herzog rejects Moshe Ya'alon's IDF 'ethnic cleansing' claims

Israel's President Isaac Herzog addressed former Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon's claims that the IDF was ethnically cleansing Gaza, calling them "entirely disconnected from reality," during a Monday event, the President's Office said afterward. 

Herzog's comments came after Ya'alon stirred controversy in an interview with journalist Lucy Aharish on DemocratTV on Saturday, saying Israel was "being dragged into annexation and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.”

During a film premier event at Jerusalem's Museum of Tolerance, Herzog commended the statements, emphasizing that "the IDF is a moral army that operates according to the strictest international legal standards and humanitarian norms, with every unit accompanied by meticulous legal counsel."

"Time and again, we repel blood libels against us, including claims of genocide or ethnic cleansing allegedly carried out by the IDF," he continued.

"These are outright lies. IDF soldiers do not murder, and they do not carry out ethnic cleansing. Period," Herzog added. 

IDF strongly rejects Yaalon's claims 

Earlier on Monday, the IDF spokesman also responded to Yaalon's comments and rejected any claims of ethnic cleansing.

"The IDF acts in accordance with international law and evacuates a population in accordance with the operational need and temporarily, for its protection. The IDF rejects the serious claims of ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip, which harm the IDF and its soldiers," the spokesman said.