Former defense minister Ya'alon: 'We are being dragged into ethnic cleansing in Gaza'

Former defense minister Moshe "Bogie" Ya’alon stirred controversy in an interview with Lucy Aharish on DemocratTV on Saturday, saying, “We are being dragged into annexation and ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip.”

"לכבוש, לספח, לטהר טיהור אתני תסתכלו על צפון הרצועה ולהתיישב יישוב יהודי" - משה בוגי יעלון על מה שקורה בעזה@bogie_yaalon @lucyaharish pic.twitter.com/0FXLjafpsf

— דמוקרטTV (@Democrat_TV) November 30, 2024

During the interview, Ya’alon elaborated: “The path we are currently being led down involves conquering, annexing, and ethnic cleansing. Look at the northern Gaza Strip—transfer, call it whatever you want—and establish Jewish settlements. That’s the reality. Now, if you look at the polls, 70% of the public, sometimes more, supports a certain vision: Jewish, democratic, liberal, and so on, along with separation. We cannot lose sight of that. Those leading us now are dragging us toward nothing less than destruction.”

A visibly surprised Aharish pressed him: “You just used a phrase I never thought I’d hear from you—ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Is that really what you think? That we’re heading in that direction?”

Ya’alon responded: “Why say ‘heading’? What’s happening there right now? Beit Lahiya is gone, Beit Hanoun is gone. Operations are underway in Jabalya, essentially clearing the area of Arabs.”

Ya'alon has been critical of the Israeli government's handling of the war for some time now, saying he thinks the war is continuing without a clear direction or end in sight.

A long record of criticism

In April, Ya'alon came out against National Unity MKs Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, who were war cabinet members at the time.

"Half a year into a crisis with no end, when the only accomplishment of this government of messianists, draft-dodgers, and crooks is its own survival (thanks to you) - it’s time for soul-searching,” he wrote to them in a message.

The government, he said, is dragging its feet to the detriment of what soldiers have already accomplished and to efforts to free the hostages and to return the more than 100,000 internally displaced Israelis to their homes along the borders with Gaza and Lebanon.