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| Person | Title | Quote | Date | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| @Israel - Official Twitter account | State of Israel's official Twitter account, managed by the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Digital Diplomacy team | "This little girl's body was burned so badly that it look forensic archeologists more than six weeks to identify her. All that remains of 12 year old Liel Hetzroni is ash and bone fragments. May her memory be a blessing. @UN_Women #NoExcuse #HamasMassacre" [Yasmin Porat's eyewitness testimony given to Kan news on November 15, 9 days before this tweet, reveals that Liel Hetzroni and her twin brother Yanai Hetzroni were killed when, on October 7, an Israeli tank fired two shells into the house they were being held hostage in by Hamas militants] | 2023-11-24 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Abraham Shish | Israeli who took part in 2024 Jerusalem Day events in East Jerusalem | "We [i.e. Israelis] are coming here [i.e. East Jerusalem] to joyfully celebrate the reunification of the city that was illegally occupied by Jordan between 1948 and 1967 - we are proud that we came back home. "Palestinians want to wipe Israel off the map. We know what happened on October 7, they killed our people. Don't tell me there are civilians in Gaza. Everyone in Gaza is connected to Hamas, directly or indirectly." [Abraham Shish made the above statements in East Jerusalem (Occupied Palestinian Territories) in 2024 on "Jerusalem Day." This is an Israeli national holiday on which Israelis commemorate what they claim was the "reunification" of East Jerusalem (including the Old City) with West Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War but is more widely recognized (including under international law) as the illegal military occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967. Part of "Jerusalem Day" celebrations include a "Flag March" during which Israelis waving the Israeli flag parade through the Old City's Muslim quarter in East Jerusalem.] | 2024-06-05 | Source |
| Abram Leon Sachar | American historian, founding president of Brandeis University | The Arabs remained sullen and unimpressed [with Zionist farming and industrial achievements in Palestine]. They were constantly fomented to resentment and riot by a small clique of Arab landowners who were violently opposed to Jewish immigration. For centuries these parasitic effendis had with impunity exploited their peasant vassals, the sharecroppers, the poor fellahin who could easily move from dissatisfaction to revolt. In one area was the Jewish colony, green, tidy, productive, the laborers well paid, educated, secure, singing at their work. Adjacent to it was the miserable, squalid, dirty Arab village, ignorance the rule, discouragement the climate.... How long would it be before the dispossessed and the disinherited, stirred by the example of Jewish standards, cried out for a decent way of life? It was in the interest of feudal self-defense to forestall such demands by persuading the fellahin that the Jews were trespassers who had come to rob the Arabs of their land, to steal their jobs, to subjugate them, to pollute their holy places.'' The transfer of Arab population from the area of the Jewish state does not serve only one aim - to diminish the Arab population. It also serves a second, just important, aim which is to evacuate land presently held and cultivated by the Arabs and thus to release it for the Jewish inhabitants." | 1930 | Source |
| Adam Raz | Israeli historian, Akevot Institute | "In 1988 we marked the 40th anniversary of the War of Independence. The IDF [Israeli military] Archives were scheduled to release extensive historical documentation from the war. People gathered in the archives and [the government] said, 'We can't release everything immediately.' Therefore [the Israeli government] wrote a document detailing criteria as to which historical documentation we reveal and which we don't. "For example, the State decides it does not want to release material that indicates 'The expulsion of Arabs' or 'The evacuation of communities and residents.' Or – and this is my favorite one – 'Violent behavior towards prisoners that violates the Geneva Convention.' Or 'Violent behavior towards the Arab population and acts of cruelty: killing, murder not in accordance with combat conditions, rape, robbery, looting – material that might harm the IDF's image [presenting it] as an occupying army devoid of moral standards.' "What do we learn from this? That the State of Israel wants to protect, in any possible way, the founding myth of Israeliness, which is that we are the most moral army and society in the world. That's the DNA of the Zionist story. So, what we, the public, have when we go to the archives is only material that passed this filter, meaning it's only material that proves there was no expulsion, there was no population transfer, there was no destruction of villages. Now, it must be said, this story is a lie. And therefore, the State understands this and invests tremendous resources in preventing people - not from abroad, but its own residents – from knowing the truth about Israel's past." [The preceding quote is from an interview with Israeli historian Adam Raz about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 2021 | Source |
| Agam Goldstein-Almog | Israeli teenager abducted to Gaza on 10/7/2023 with her mother and two brothers, released after 71 days in captivity | "Fear. Darkness. Terror. Helplessness. Sadness. "All alone. "Those words are the basis, they are the background. "Keep them in mind always as you read. They are poised there behind every word I write, behind every action; in fact, before, before everything – those are the words. "They are the words that shaped life amid death, the ticking clock in the face of the time that stopped on that Saturday. "The clock works, the batteries are good, it doesn't stop for a second. But I, I just sit and stare at it. I follow the movement and its rhythm from the side. "It's already been more than 90 days, and I'm not able to move along with the dials, to carry on with life. "It's living death. To be without being, to watch from the side, to worry. "To worry about the future of the country. The future of the family. The future of the friends whom I met at some place within the fear, the darkness, the terror, the helplessness, the sadness, the aloneness. "Reminding you of the words again.[...]" | 2024-01-12 | Source |
| Agam Goldstein-Almog | Israeli teenager abducted to Gaza on 10/7/2023 with her mother and two brothers, released after 71 days in captivity | [The following quote is Agam Almog-Goldstein's reply when asked what she had been most afraid of during captivity in Gaza.] "With all the difficulty in saying it, I was most afraid of the [Israeli] airstrikes every night. At first, there was the fear of [the terrorists], which was the biggest fear. War and bombing take time to arrive until the country makes such decisions. Slowly, there were scarier fears, which were the heavy bombings." [Note: The news source this quote was taken from, gave Agam the surname "Almog-Goldstein" as do some outer sources. Many, however, including the list of released hostages, refer to her as Goldstein-Almog.] | 2023-12-21 | Source |
| Agam Goldstein-Almog | Israeli teenager abducted to Gaza on 10/7/2023 with her mother and two brothers, released after 71 days in captivity | There was intense bombing [from the Israeli military] and my whole body started shaking and I said to the terrorist [holding us captive]: 'We need to move from here.' | 2023-12-23 | Source |
| Ahad Ha'am (Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg) | Russian-born founder of cultural Zionism; Hebrew journalist and essayist | The Jewish settlers in Palestine, "behaved toward the (Palestinian) Arabs with hostility and cruelty, trespass unjustly upon their boundaries, beat them shamefully without reason and even brag about it." | 1891 | Source Source Source |
| Ahad Ha'am (Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg) | Russian-born founder of cultural Zionism; Hebrew journalist and essayist | [Ahad Ha'am first visited the Jewish settlements in Palestine in 1891. He warned that the Zionist settlers must under no circumstances arouse the wrath of the "natives."] "Yet what do our brethren do in Palestine? Just the very opposite! Serfs they were in the lands of the Diaspora and suddenly they find themselves in unrestricted freedom and this change has awakened in them an inclination to despotism. They treat the Arabs with hostility and cruelty, deprive them of their rights, offend them without cause and even boast of these deeds; and nobody among us opposes this despicable and dangerous inclination ..." | 1891 | Source Source Source |
| Ahad Ha'am (Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg) | Russian-born founder of cultural Zionism; Hebrew journalist and essayist | "We abroad are used to believe the Eretz Yisrael is now almost totally desolate, a desert that is not sowed ..... But in truth that is not the case. Throughout the country it is difficult to find fields that are not sowed. Only sand dunes and stony mountains .... are not cultivated... If a time comes when our people in Palestine develop so that, in small or great measure, they push out the native inhabitants, these will not give up their place easily." | 1891 | Source Source |
| Ahad Ha'am (Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg) | Russian-born founder of cultural Zionism; Hebrew journalist and essayist | "The attitudes of the colonists to their tenants and their families is exactly the same as towards their animals. We are accustomed to believing, outside Israel, that the Arabs are all desert savages, a people like donkeys, and they neither see nor understand what is happening around them. But that is a great mistake." | 1893 | Source Source |
| Ahad Ha'am (Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg) | Russian-born founder of cultural Zionism; Hebrew journalist and essayist | "Jews and blood! Are there any greater contradictions than these? ... What have we saved from our destruction if not the teachings of our prophets which we took along with us on the long road of our exile to enlighten our dark life? Our blood was shed in all corners of the world during thousands of years, but we shed no one's blood... Thus lived our people from one generation to another, lived among nations who lived on their swords and who normally shed the blood of their fellow men. Our people wanted no part of this barbarous life... What shall we say now if this is really true (about murdering innocent Arabs in vengeance)? My God, is this the end? Is this the goal for which our fathers have striven and for whose sake all generations have suffered? Is this the dream of a return to 'Zion' to stain its soil with innocent blood? ... And now God has afflicted me to have lived to see with my own eyes that I apparently erred... If this be the 'Messiah' then I do not wish to see His coming..." [The preceding quote is from an open letter Ahad Ha'am wrote to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in 1922. In other quotes from Ha'am, catalogued on this website, he repeats his exclamation about the coming "Messiah."] | 1922 | Source Source Source |
| Ahad Ha'am (Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg) | Russian-born founder of cultural Zionism; Hebrew journalist and essayist | [In 1922, a group of young Jews killed an Arab boy, which enraged Ahad Ha'am and he responded to the act by writing a letter to the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz.] "Jews and blood - are there two greater opposites than these? Is this the goal for which our ancestors longed and for which they suffered all those tribulations? Is this the dream of the return to Zion which our people dreamt of for thousands of years; that we should come to Zion to pollute its soil with the spilling of innocent blood?" | 1922 | Source Source Source |
| Aharon Cohen | Active in Arab department of the Histadrut labor federation (1940-1955) | [In October 1948, Aharon Cohen insisted the Zionists had never planned to "transfer" (as they called it) the "Arabs" from Palestine, but it was something they could support.] "The Arab exodus was not part of a preconceived plan. [But], a part of the flight [of Palestinians from their homes] was due to official policy. ... Once it started, the flight received encouragement from the most important Jewish sources, for both military and political reasons." | 1948-10-?? | Source Source |
| Aharon Cohen | Active in Arab department of the Histadrut labor federation (1940-1955) | [In 1948, a few months after the military of newly-founded Israel captured the village of Reineh, near Nazareth, Aharon Haim Cohen, from the department of Israel's Histadrut labor federation that dealt with the Arab population, demanded that a representative of the parallel section in Mapam, a left-wing party that was part of the government, clarify some issues about events at Reineh.] "Why were 14 Arabs murdered in the village of Reineh at the beginning of September, among them a Bedouin woman and also a member of the Land of Israel Workers Alliance, Yusuf al-Turki? They were seized next to the village, accused of smuggling, taken to the village and murdered." | 1948 | Source Source Source |
| Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman (Steinman) | Russian-born Israeli Haredi rabbi in Bnei Brak, Israel; widely regarded as the Gadol HaDor (Leader of the Generation) until his death | "Today they say there are eight billion people in the world. And what are they all? Murderers, thieves and senseless. Did God create the world for these murderers? The world was created for the righteous people who study Torah. That is the purpose of creation ... The nations of the world have no redeeming qualities." [Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman reportedly made the preceding comments at a conference in 2012. At the time, he was the spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.] | 2012-05-16 | Source Source |
| Aharon Zisling | Israeli politician and minister, a signatory of Israel's declaration of independence | [A letter written by Shabtai Kaplan in 1948 - about the massacre of Palestinian villagers by the Israeli Defense Forces, that took place in the Palestinian town of al-Dawayima on 10/29/1948 - to Eliezer Peri, editor of the Mapam party newspaper, had an impact on then-Mapam agriculture minister Aharon Zisling. (The text of the letter is catalogued on this website under the name "Shabtai (Shabati) Kaplan.") The following quote is from remarks Zisling made to his cabinet colleagues after hearing about Kaplan's letter.] "I felt that the things that were going on were wounding my soul, the soul of my family and all of us here. I could not imagine where we came from and where we were going ... [even though the] British did commit Nazi crimes ... now Jews too have behaved like Nazis and my entire being has been shaken. We have to conceal these actions from the public, and I agree that we should not even reveal that we are investigating them, but they must be investigated." | 1948-11-17 | Source Source Source |
| Alan Dershowitz | American lawyer, Harvard University law professor, Zionist author, plagiarist | "I want to have a list of all the radical feminists who are pushing hard. I understand that, to get all these names revealed. I want to know, how many of them have ever actually condemned Hamas for the rapes." | 2024-01-03 | Source Source Source |
| Albert Einstein | German-born theoretical physicist, born into Jewish family, declined Israeli Presidency in 1952 | [The following quote contains excerpts from a letter written to The New York Times newspaper by 28 prominent Jewish individuals (at least one, a secular Jew), including Albert Einstein and Hannah Arendt, upon the visit of Menachen Begin to the United States to promote his "Freedom Party."] "TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES: "Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the "Freedom Party" (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi [IZL], a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine. "The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections. [...] "It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughout the world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin's political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents. "Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin's behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement. [...] "Today they [Begin's party] speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future. "A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base. On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants-240 men, women, and children-and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin. "The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party. "Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority. Like other Fascist parties they have [...] pressed for the destruction of free trade unions. [...] "During the last years of sporadic anti-British violence, the IZL and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and wide-spread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute. "The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party, and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party. This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a 'Leader State' is the goal. "In the light of the foregoing considerations, it is imperative that the truth about Mr. Begin and his movement be made known in this country. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin's efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin. The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism." ISIDORE ABRAMOWITZ, HANNAH ARENDT, ABRAHAM BRICK, RABBI JESSURUN CARDOZO, ALBERT EINSTEIN, HERMAN EISEN, M.D., HAYIM FINEMAN, M. GALLEN, M.D., H.H. HARRIS, ZELIG S. HARRIS, SIDNEY HOOK, FRED KARUSH, BRURIA KAUFMAN, IRMA L. LINDHEIM, NACHMAN MAISEL, SEYMOUR MELMAN, MYER D. MENDELSON, M.D., HARRY M. OSLINSKY, SAMUEL PITLICK, FRITZ ROHRLICH, LOUIS P. ROCKER, RUTH SAGIS, ITZHAK SANKOWSKY, I.J. SHOENBERG, SAMUEL SHUMAN, M. SINGER, IRMA WOLFE, STEFAN WOLFE. New York, Dec. 2, 1948 | 1948-12-02 | Source Source |
| Albert Einstein | German-born theoretical physicist, born into Jewish family, declined Israeli Presidency in 1952 | I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state. Apart from practical consideration, my awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power no matter how modest. I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain, especially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks, against which we have already had to fight strongly, even without a Jewish state. | 1938-04-17 | Source |
| Alexander Acosta | 27th United States Secretary of Labor, Former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida | "[I cut Epstein a non-prosecution deal because] I was told Epstein 'belonged to intelligence' and to leave it alone." | 2019-07-09 | Source Source Source |
| Alexandroni Brigade Soldiers A and B | Soldiers of Israeli military's Alexandroni Brigade, present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | [In the late 1990s, Israeli post-graduate researcher Theodore "Teddy" Katz interviewed "Henio" and Dan Rapoport together. They were Israeli Alexandroni Brigade soldiers who had been present during their brigade's 1948 massacre of Palestinians in the village of Tantura. The interview was recorded on audio and because it is difficult to know which voice belongs to which person, they are referred to as "Soldier A" and "Soldier B."] Soldier A: "We seized ten [Palestinian] prisoners, I think. I saw them." Soldier B: "I don't remember." Soldier A: "Some of these younger [Israeli] soldiers I remember. It's not nice to say – they put them [Palestinian 'prisoners'] in a barrel and shot at the barrel. I remember the blood in the barrel." Soldier B: "No, no, don't write that" [to Teddy Katz, presumably taking notes]. Soldier A: "Rumor had it that someone lined them up and shot them. But I didn't see, and I don't know." Katz: "Shot them why?" Soldier A: "Why? Because he wasn't a human being. And I know who it was. But I don't believe it." Katz: "You're talking about Company B commander?" Soldier A: "No, not a commander, just a soldier. But I don't believe it. I didn't see it with my own eyes. These were rumors. I saw some who were lined up in front of some of the houses and..." | 1998 | Source |
| Ami Ayalon | Former head of Shin Bet (Israeli Secret Service), Former Commander-in-Chief of Israel's Navy, Former Minister without portfolio | "I think that in order to understand what happened to us on the 7th of October, we have to try to understand, in a way, three misleading paradigms that led us to this disaster. And the first and probably most important is the political paradigm. The political paradigm was that, since we cannot solve the conflict between us and Palestinians- all what we did failed- so the only way to do it now is 'managing' the conflict. So the policy was managing the conflict and not to try to solve it. And in order to do it, we had to do something which we call 'divide and rule,' meaning we have to make sure that Palestinians will not have a unified leadership to make sure that we should always be able to say that [there is] nobody to talk with, nothing to talk about. And in order to it, we had to make sure that Hamas will go on controlling Gaza and the Palestinian authority, supported by Fatah, will go on leading Palestinians in the West Bank. And they will create a conflict. They will, in a way, almost fight each other. And in order to do it, we had to do all what we did. Enhancing or assisting Hamas. Transferring money. Enabling people to work in Israel, etc. etc... and probably without our intention, we found ourselves strengthening Hamas and weakening Palestinian authority." | 2023-12-11 | Source Source |
| Ami Ayalon | Former head of Shin Bet (Israeli Secret Service), Former Commander-in-Chief of Israel's Navy, Former Minister without portfolio | "... we have too many, you know, 'chaos agents' in Israel, you know, I hear [them] in the television. Some them used to be my friends, and they explain [to] me and us and all of us that our goal, not military, our political goal should be to create a human disaster in Gaza because from the chaos, we shall start again. And I can tell you, David Aaron [the host of this discussion and senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace], that this is exactly the theory of the most radical fundamental Muslim organizations. This [the Israeli strategy of intentional humanitarian disaster in Gaza] is exactly the theology and the strategy of ISIS and of al-Qaeda." | 2023-12-11 | Source Source |
| Ami Ayalon | Former head of Shin Bet (Israeli Secret Service), Former Commander-in-Chief of Israel's Navy, Former Minister without portfolio | [The following quotes are from an interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Global Affairs Editor John Lyons conducted with Ami Ayalon, former director of "Shin Bet" - Israel's internal security service - for a "Four Corners" report entitled, "The Forever War."] Lyons: "You've spent a lot of time studying this obviously as head of Shin Bet. Could you describe what is the reality for Palestinians here? Ayalon: "It was a life of people who dream about freedom, and don't see it." Lyons: "If you were a Palestinian living in the West Bank or Gaza, what would your view be of Israel?" Ayalon: "I would fight against Israel in order to achieve my liberty." Lyons: "How would you fight? How dirty?" Ayalon: "I would do everything in order to achieve my liberty and that's it. You cannot deter a person or a group of people if they believe that they have nothing to lose. We Israelis, we shall have security only when they [i.e. Palestinians] will have hope. Most Israelis did not see it, because we refused to see it. And when we refused to see it – and when we refused to see the daily life of Palestinians – we did not understand why they are facing us, or acting against us the way they do. Whether we like it or not, we control the life of millions." | 2024-03-11 | Source |
| Ami Ayalon | Former head of Shin Bet (Israeli Secret Service), Former Commander-in-Chief of Israel's Navy, Former Minister without portfolio | [The following quotes are from an interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Global Affairs Editor John Lyons conducted with Ami Ayalon, former director of "Shin Bet" - Israel's internal security service - for a "Four Corners" report entitled, "The Forever War."] Lyons: "How powerful are Ben-Gvir and Smotrich and what do you think of them?" Ayalon: "I see them as terrorists and as a Jewish messianics, they represent only a small minority within the Israel society, but they get their power because of our coalition system." Lyons: "But can I just check something? Are you calling the Minister for National Security and the Minister for Finance in Israel? Are you calling them terrorists?" Ayalon: "Of course. They are." | 2024-03-11 | Source |
| Ami Ayalon | Former head of Shin Bet (Israeli Secret Service), Former Commander-in-Chief of Israel's Navy, Former Minister without portfolio | [The following quotes are from an interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Global Affairs Editor John Lyons conducted with Ami Ayalon, former director of "Shin Bet" - Israel's internal security service - for a "Four Corners" report entitled, "The Forever War."] Ayalon: "We did something very, very simple. We did everything in order to make sure that Hamas will go on controlling Gaza and Palestinian Authority will control the West Bank so they will fight each other." Lyons: "Netanyahu allowed Qatar to give massive amounts of cash to Hamas in Gaza." Ayalon: "So what we did with the permission of our prime minister [i.e. Benjamin Netanyahu] is to let Qatar to transfer a huge amount of money in cash, probably more than $1.4 billion, and to make sure that they will be able to send people to work in Israel and to achieve or to get intelligence if they need. By doing it, we increase the power of Hamas." | 2024-03-11 | Source |
| Amiad Cohen | Israeli military reservist, head of artillery and air support on Israel's northern border after 10/7/2024 | "When we show weakness, their [i.e. Palestinians'] native nature comes out, which was devastating for us [on October 7, 2023], but at the end it came back to them that we had the understanding that we have to destroy a, their country b, their culture, as we cannot live with a barbaric country and a barbaric culture on our border, one that has the ability to build a strong army and attack us." [According to the Hungarian Conservative, which shared its February 2024 interview with Amiad Cohen, after the statement quoted above, Cohen "added that this is going to happen in the north as well, as Israel has a barbaric army called Hezbollah on its northern border, which will also need to be eliminated in the next two years."] | 2024-02-?? | Source |
| Amiad Cohen | Israeli military reservist, head of artillery and air support on Israel's northern border after 10/7/2024 | [In the following quote from Amiad Cohen, Cohen referred to Israel's withdrawal of troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.] "We gave it to them to have their country, and they turned it into a barbaric, radical Muslim, fundamentalist country which promotes only one thing: the destruction of the State of Israel, and we cannot allow that to happen again." [According to the Hungarian Conservative (which shared its February 2024 interview with Amiad Cohen), after the statement quoted above, Cohen said "that after 7 October it became clear that a two-state solution would not be possible in the next forty years."] [Note: Amiad Cohen may suggest that Israel ceased its occupation of Gaza in 2005, but Israel continued to control the Gaza Strip's territorial waters, airspace, and land crossing points. Israel imposed a complete blockade on the movement of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip – violating Gazans' human right to freedom of movement. For these reasons, the United Nations still considered Israel to be illegally occupying the Gaza Strip even after its withdrawal of troops and settlers from the region. Under international law, a territory is considered occupied if it is effectively controlled by a foreign power, even if there is no direct military presence. Despite Hamas governing Gaza internally, the UN and various international legal bodies view Israel's control over critical aspects of Gaza's life as constituting "occupation."] | 2024-02-?? | Source |
| Amiad Cohen | Israeli military reservist, head of artillery and air support on Israel's northern border after 10/7/2024 | "To achieve a decisive victory over Hamas and Hezbollah, we must impose permanent consequences of the kind they fear most. At a minimum this includes destroying their military power and military infrastructure. More importantly, however, this must include a clear loss of sovereignty. For Gaza, this means becoming one vast Area B, with Israel exclusively in charge of security. For Lebanon, this means Hezbollah can no longer operate freely south of the Litani River. The Litani must serve as Israel's new border in the north. Hezbollah will only be deterred when it has suffered the loss of territory with little hope of reclaiming it." | 2024-04-25 | Source |
| Amiad Cohen | Israeli military reservist, head of artillery and air support on Israel's northern border after 10/7/2024 | "[Israel's] emphasis should be on envisioning a future where we no longer face a conventional military threat on our borders. A decisive victory in Lebanon could potentially liberate Israel from existential threats, paving the way for economic prosperity and empowering us to address long-standing domestic challenges with newfound resources and focus." [At the time Amiad Cohen made this statement in April 2024, Israel was not at war with Lebanon. In September 2024, Israel engaged in what many – including former head of the United States CIA, Leon Panetta – identified as acts of "terrorism" against Lebanon.] | 2024-04-25 | Source |
| Amiad Cohen | Israeli military reservist, head of artillery and air support on Israel's northern border after 10/7/2024 | "By shifting that Israeli border up to the Litani River [in Lebanon], we will achieve a dual objective: First, we will establish a potent deterrent against Hezbollah, which has never faced territorial losses before. Second, the Litani River is a great topographical line that will allow us to defend our northern communities should Hezbollah rearm itself further north. [...] Our wish to acquire this territory is not motivated by mystical or religious beliefs; rather, it is a pragmatic stance based on a sober analysis of the potential challenges Israel may encounter in the years ahead." [At the time Amiad Cohen made this statement in April 2024, Israel was not at war with Lebanon. In September 2024, Israel engaged in what many – including former head of the United States CIA, Leon Panetta – identified as acts of "terrorism" against Lebanon.] | 2024-04-25 | Source |
| Amiad Cohen | Israeli military reservist, head of artillery and air support on Israel's northern border after 10/7/2024 | "Following Iran's attack on Israel earlier this month, we find ourselves in a challenging position. The Biden administration has made it abundantly clear that it is opposed to any retaliation against Iran. The likelihood of Israel gaining American support for any military action against Iran therefore is nil. [...] Absent international willingness to endorse direct military strikes against Iran, we must leverage international concerns about avoiding direct conflict with Tehran to impose a fait accompli in Lebanon, by pushing Hezbollah north of the Litani River and annexing the territory south of it." [At the time Amiad Cohen made this statement in April 2024, Israel was not at war with Lebanon. In September 2024, Israel engaged in what many – including former head of the United States CIA, Leon Panetta – identified as acts of "terrorism" against Lebanon.] | 2024-04-25 | Source |
| Amichai Chikli | Israeli politician, Minister of Diaspora Affairs (2022-) | "This is not a war between Israel and the Palestinians. That is not the issue here. It is humanity and the civilized world against savages, against barbarism [...]." | 2023-11-23 | Source |
| Amichai Friedman | Capt. of IDF, Rabbi of the Nahal brigade's military base | "I sometime sit on the couch, cross-legged, and fantasize. I like to imagine that I will be prime minister, I don't think it will happen, but I like to imagine good dreams. Recently, I have a dream that I will share with you. I sit and imagine that in these days, there were no dead, no captives, no wounded. And as soon as I move away from the screens, I am left with perhaps the happiest month in my life. I will explain to you why it is the happiest month in my life, ever since I was born for more than 40 years ago. Because we have reached a stage, we have reached a point where the people of Israel are moving up a level, moving up a grade. We are finally finding out who we are. We were born 75 years ago in a rebirth, we established ourselves, we started working on our bodies, we grew and we grew. Now we begin to ask questions about identity, who are we, what are we, what do we want to do with ourselves, what is good, what is bad, what is evil, what is impurity, and what have we come to preach. Another thing we are finding out these days, and it is an extremely important thing - our country, the whole country, the whole of it, including Gaza, including Lebanon, the whole promised land. We will go back, we will go back, big time. Gush Katif is so small compared to what we will achieve, with God's help. And as I said before, with God's help, no less finding out about the land, we are finding out, we are announcing to the world what are good, justice, and morals, and values. And therefore, we will shut down evil, eradicate Hamas, eradicate the enemies, and destroy them all, with God's help soon, very soon, in our day." | 2023-11-04 | Source Source Source Source |
| Amihai Eliyahu | Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, son of Shmuel Eliyahu | [On a tour of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli Heritage Minister Amihai (Amichai) Eliyahu reiterated his November 2023 position that dropping a "nuclear bomb" on Gaza was an "option" for Israel.] "They know my position [he told tour participants], even in The Hague they know my position." | 2024-01-24 | Source Source Source |
| Amihai Eliyahu | Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, son of Shmuel Eliyahu | "We must find ways for Gazans that are more painful than death." | 2024-01-05 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Amihai Eliyahu | Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, son of Shmuel Eliyahu | "I have taken it upon myself to speak less and focus more on action. In government meetings, I express my opinion regarding the government's and the army's actions. And yet, I must shout and publicly warn: The spirit of Oslo is still here. And if we don't free ourselves from it, God forbid, we will lose again. With Nazis and their helpers, you do not speak. You eradicate evil from the world. Do you want your population to drink? Release the hostages. Now." | 2023-10-17 | Source Source |
| Amihai Eliyahu | Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, son of Shmuel Eliyahu | "The north of the strip- more beautiful than ever. Blowing up and flattening everything, simply a delight for the eyes. (A soldier in Gaza). We must speak about the day after. In my mind's eye, we give away real estate to anyone who fought for Gaza over the years, and those who were evacuated from Gush Katif-god willing. (Without Merkhavim Muganim Dirati'im) [without the threat of rockets]" | 2023-11-01 | Source |
| Amihai Eliyahu | Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, son of Shmuel Eliyahu | [In an interview on Radio Kol Berama, Amichai Eliyahu supported Israel annexing the Gaza Strip and building Israeli settlements there. Eliyahu was then asked about the fate of the Palestinian population.] "They can go to Ireland or deserts; the monsters in Gaza should find a solution by themselves." | 2023-11-05 | Source Source Source |
| Amihai Eliyahu | Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, son of Shmuel Eliyahu | Eliyahu: "We wouldn't hand the Nazis humanitarian aid. There are no uninvolved [civilians] in Gaza." Reporter: "Should we drop an atomic bomb on Gaza?" Eliyahu: "That's one way" | 2023-11-05 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Amihai Eliyahu | Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, son of Shmuel Eliyahu | Through darkness and the pain, a point of light also sparkles: the countries are beginning to speak the truth - to allow Gazans, voluntarily - to improve housing elsewhere in the world. Good for their future and especially for humanity to stop nurturing this endless swamp of emissions, which creates a conflict center that endangers the entire world. The time has come for them [Gazans] to face their fate and take responsibility for their lives - like any normal person in the world. | 2023-12-26 | Source |
| Amir Avivi | Former Deputy Cmdr. of IDF, Gaza Division | "We are not taking any chances... When our soldiers are manoeuvring we are doing this with massive artillery, with 50 aeroplanes overhead destroying anything that moves." | 2023-10-29 | Source |
| Amir Avivi | Former Deputy Cmdr. of IDF, Gaza Division | "Where there is a strong continuum of settlements there is security; where there are no settlements there is no security. [...] We don't know how many Gazans will remain, how many will agree to move out and be relocated. We don't know what Gaza will look like after the war. But it's clear to me that if the residents of Be'eri [a kibbutz where Palestinian resistance fighters and the Israeli military killed civilians on 10/7/2023] want their grandchildren to be safe, there has to be a strong continuum of Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. And I think people on the left are the ones who should settle there, so the project doesn't end up belonging solely to the religious right. [Avivi believed, at the time he made this statement, that it was prudent to refrain from public declarations about plans to settle Gaza.] You don't want to cause an internal dissent in the IDF and in Israeli society, and you don't want to hurt our relations with the US." | 2023-12-03 | Source |
| Amir Ohana | Israeli Speaker of the Knesset (2022- ) | [The following quote is from Amir Ohana's comments at the first reading in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) of the contentious Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which the Knesset ultimately passed on 7/19/2018.] "This is the law of all laws. It is the most important law in the history of the State of Israel, which says that everyone has human rights, but national rights in Israel belong only to the Jewish people. That is the founding principle on which the state was established." | 2018-03-12 | Source Source |
| Amira Hass | Israeli journalist, columnist at Ha'aretz | "The Gaza Strip today is a concentration camp." | 2019-02-08 | Source |
| Amira Hass | Israeli journalist, columnist at Ha'aretz | "The concentration camp that is Gaza has existed under ever harsher conditions for almost three decades... Before Hamas took charge." | 2019-02-08 | Source |
| Amira Hass | Israeli journalist, columnist at Ha'aretz | "Israel has a political goal in mind in turning Gaza into a giant concentration camp: Cutting it and its inhabitants off from the rest of the Palestinians so that it will become a separate entity, deprived of history, roots and belonging." | 2019-02-08 | Source |
| Amira Hass | Israeli journalist, columnist at Ha'aretz | "In the Gaza Strip, which is closed off like a confined and separated camp, live some two million people in one of the most densely populated places in the world. About 70 per cent of them are the descendants of refugees expelled from their homes. Absent freedom of movement condemned them to a life of unemployment, dreariness, poverty, disease, depression, contaminated water and soil, and dependence on ever-dwindling charity. And that is even without the military bombings and incursions." | 2019-02-08 | Source |
| Amira Hass | Israeli journalist, columnist at Ha'aretz | "I was surprised and not surprised [about the events of October 7, 2023] because I kept warning that people cannot stand the accumulated cruelty, accumulated over so many decades. And somehow there will be an explosion. Somehow there will be an outburst. I couldn't imagine what it would be, but there it came." [The preceding quote is from an interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Global Affairs Editor John Lyons conducted with Amira Hass – Occupied Territories correspondent for news outlet Ha'aretz - for a "Four Corners" report entitled, "The Forever War."] | 2024-03-11 | Source |
| Amiram Levin | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF | "We will give [the Palestinians] a carrot in the form of a state, and if they don't want it, we will tear them apart. I have said many times in the past that next time we have a war, they will no longer remain here, we will kick them out to the other side of the Jordan River. That's how we need to fight. We were too nice in '67." | 2017-12-13 | Source |
| Amiram Levin | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF | "I want to move on to one point, speaking of Gaza, speaking of Lebanon, and other places we'll occupy in the future. Since we want to maintain equilibrium as a developed country, punishment as a strategy should be the main element. In punishment you have room to maneuver, you decide whether you slap them once or twice, in front or from behind, whether to strike property or leaders, but the main objective of units in the field is to kill the enemy. Before he makes contact, while he makes contact, and then when he retreats. That's the most important thing. Quantity is more important than quality. One mistake the [Israeli] Army makes is judging each case individually, whether the person deserves to die or not. Most of these people [Gazans, Palestinians, Lebanese, Arabs] were born to die, we just have to help them." | 2013 | Source Source Source |
| Amiram Levin | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF | "Allow them a port, an airport and a beach riviera. "But also, flatten every neighborhood from which rockets are fired towards our towns, [rockets] which are meant to kill tens and hundreds of peaceful citizens. "Four years, four operations, same results, it's time to change the equation." | 2023-04-11 | Source Source |
| Amiram Levin | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF | "They [Netanyahu's cabinet] come from areas where there is no democracy, from the West Bank, where for 56 years there hasn't been democracy there. There is absolute apartheid." | 2023-08-13 | Source |
| Amiram Levin | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF | "[The IDF] stands on the side, looks at the rioting settlers, and begins to be a partner in war crimes. It's 10 times worse than the issue of [military] readiness... and I say honestly, I am not angry at the Palestinians, I am angry at us. We are killing ourselves from the inside." | 2023-08-13 | Source |
| Amiram Levin | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF | "There is apartheid in Judea and Samaria [The West Bank], the IDF has started being complicit in war crimes, they stand on the sidelines and watch the Hilltop Youth terrorize the Palestinians and do nothing. The IDF has rotted from the core." | 2023-08-13 | Source |
| Amit Halevi | Israeli Member of Knesset | "We will pay a heavy price only if we wait and don't land a decisive blow on Hamas, a blow on the order of magnitude of 10,000 dead among its men. If we make sure they have many fatalities and that 400,000 refugees flee through the Rafah crossing, there won't be worry about large scale slaughter among our forces. We should open the immigration gates to Gaza and to the see. Let people get out and make it clear: he who chooses to leave- can leave. Anyone who stays, bears full responsibility for what will happen to him." | 2023-10-11 | Source |
| Amit Halevi | Israeli Member of Knesset | "And there should be two goals for this victory: 1. There is no more Muslim land in the Land of Israel. What they imagine, as if it is Dar al-Islam, will forever be Israeli territory, 'the holy land' [said in Arabic], which belongs to the Israelites, ... - by the way, as in the Qur'an. That is a win. After we make it the land of Israel, Gaza should be left as a monument, like Sodom, 'it is not sown, nor beareth.' [Deutoronomy Chapter 29]; 2. The second and final goal: full Israeli control... Full military and civilian control. Nothing less than that. That is defeating the bad idea, Mr. Speaker. This will also be the response to the murderers- by the way, also to the world that looks at us, and to the Muslim world as well, which expects us to know what is the judgment of these infidels, those unbelievers, who disavow the way of Abraham... the way of justice, of morality, of truth; Those who behave this way to the 'people of the book.' [said in Arabic]" | 2023-10-16 | Source |
| Amit Halevi | Israeli Member of Knesset | "It is totally unacceptable that the war on [sic] Gaza will end with any Palestinian rule [there]. The main form of defeat understood by radical Islam is loss of control over land, and this must be the result [of the war]. Therefore, the first step the Knesset must pursue is to undo the law which forbids the entry of Jews into Gaza." | 2023-11-01 | Source |
| Amitzur Cohen | Israeli Alexandroni Brigades soldier, present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "In the first three or four months, I was a murderer. I took no prisoners. In battle, if someone raised their hands, I didn't arrest them. That traumatized me. I can't get over it until today. If a squad of, you know, would stand with their hands up, on that same day if I saw it, I would have shot them all down." Interviewer: "How many people have you killed this way?" Cohen: "I didn't count. I wouldn't be able to know" [laughing]. "I had 250 bullets in my gun [laughing]. Look, I shot, I fought with everyone. I can't count." [The preceding quote is from an interview with Amitzur Cohen about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura. In this quote, Cohen refers to his service for Israel during Israel's "War of Independence" (1947-1949), within which the Tantura massacre occurred.] | 2022 | Source Source |
| Amitzur Cohen | Israeli Alexandroni Brigades soldier, present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | [The following quote is from Amitzur Cohen's interview for the documentary, "Tantura," about the 1948 massacre in the Palestinian village of Tantura.] Cohen: "In the War of Independence, we knew one simple thing. It's either me or them. It's either me or them. You never knew if you would even come back. I didn't talk to anyone about it. Nobody." Interviewer: "What about your wife? I assume you lived with her for many years. You didn't talk about it?" Cohen: "I never told her. What would I tell her? That I was a murderer?" [Cohen laughs as he says this.] | 2022 | Source |
| Amos Harel | Analyst at Ha'aretz, an Israeli Newspaper | "[Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, on 10/7], entrenched himself in the division's subterranean war room together with a handful of male and female soldiers, trying desperately to rescue and organize the sector under attack. Many of the soldiers, most of them not combat personnel, were killed or wounded outside. The division was compelled to request an aerial strike against the [Erez Crossing] base itself in order to repulse the terrorists." | 2023-10-20 | Source |
| Antony Blinken | 71st U.S. Secretary of State | "Hello, everyone. We are heading, as you know, to Israel, and I'm going with a very simple and clear message on behalf of the President of the United States and on behalf of the American people, and that is that the United States has Israel's back. We have the back of the Israeli people. We have their back today. We'll have it tomorrow. We will have it every day. We stand resolutely against terrorism. We've seen the almost undescribable acts committed by Hamas against Israeli men, women, and children. Every day we're learning more, and it is simply heartbreaking. Not since ISIS have we seen this kind of depravity, and we will continue to stand very resolutely against it." | 2023-10-11 | Source Source Source |
| Antony Blinken | 71st U.S. Secretary of State | "Day after day of Russia's atrocities, it's easy to become numb to the horror, to lose our ability to feel shock and outrage. But we can never let the crimes Russia is committing become our new normal. Bucha is not normal. Mariupol is not normal. Irpin is not normal. Bombing schools and hospitals and apartment buildings to rubble is not normal. Stealing Ukrainian children from their families and giving them to people in Russia is not normal. We must not let President Putin's callous indifference to human life become our own. We must force ourselves to remember that behind every atrocity in this wretched war, in conflicts around the world, is a human being." | 2023-02-24 | Source Source Source |
| Arhamel Khnovitc | Israeli military veteran | [Israeli military veteran, Arhamel Khnovitc, confessed he took part in the massacre in the Dahmash Mosque in Al-Lydd (also known as Lydda or Lod) in July 1948, and said he also took part in the ethnic cleansing of the villages of Jamzu and Dan'el.] "I headed to the mosque, as per an order from the command, and I kept my ears and eyes open after I quietly opened the door. Then I fired a Fiat missile, following orders. Many corpses flew and got stuck to the walls due to the severity of the blast." [While the article that is the source of this quote states a "Fiat" missile was fired, other soldiers tell about using the PIAT (Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank) missile in al-Lydd/Lydda.] | 2014 | Source |
| Arieh King | Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem | "Five days have passed since Muslims carried out the largest massacre in history of Jews, on the land of Israel, since the establishment of the State of Israel. And still [N]etanyahu refuses to give the moral order to crush and erase the cities of terror from which the murderers of our brothers emerged. Shame!" | 2023-10-10 | Source Source |
| Arieh King | Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem | "If the Prime Minister Netanyahu and his ministers cared about the State of Israel, there would already be 150,000 dead in the Gaza Strip, and not even a single building would be standing in the Strip." | 2023-10-17 | Source Source |
| Arieh King | Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem | "The IDF eliminates the Muslim Nazis in Gaza. We must increase the pace [of killing Gazans]. If I were the one to make the decision I would bring D-9R [armoured demolition bulldozers used by the Israeli military] and put them behind mounds of dirt, and give an order to crush the hundreds of Nazis while they are still alive. They are not human beings and not human animals. They are subhumans, and that is how they should be treated. To delete the memory of Amalek. We will not forget." [In the Hebrew Bible, Amalek was an enemy nation of ancient Israel and God commanded the ancient Israelites to exterminate Amalekite men, women, children, and animals. King's post - commenting on Palestinians in Gaza who were arbitrarily detained by Israeli occupation forces - was deleted for breaking the rules of the Twitter/X platform.] | 2023-12-08 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Ariel Bernstein | Former IDF soldier, anti-occupation activist | "Fighting in Gaza [in 2014, Operation: Protective Edge] was different from anything I had done before in the West Bank. I had never seen the IDF use such intense firepower. Since the Israeli military had ordered civilians to leave the neighbourhood, anyone who remained was- so we were told- a Hamas operative or supporter, and therefore a legitimate target." | 2023-10-29 | Source |
| Ariel Bernstein | Former IDF soldier, anti-occupation activist | "[In response to a headline from ynet stating that the 12/15/2023 shooting of 3 Israeli hostages, unarmed and waving white flags, was a result of IDF soldiers 'shooting in severe violation of orders'] A complete lie. I fought with them [the IDF]; the instructions were- shoot at anyone remaining in the area where we were fighting. They were legitimate targets, there is no doubt- no doubt. You can say it's necessary (it's not), you can say that's how wars are won (I doubt it), but you shouldn't lie. These are the instructions for opening fire in Gaza. Anyone who is in the combat zone is a terrorist." | 2023-12-16 | Source Source |
| Ariel Elharar | Israeli media personality, PR Consultant for Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir | "I had such fun today visiting with Minister Ben-Gvir the wings of the Nazi Nukhba prisoners and seeing the men, children, and elderly sitting like mice, shackled in a small and dark cell with iron beds. And what I enjoyed most was seeing the Israeli flags they stuck in every hole and the speaker that plays for them on a loop from morning till evening at maximum volume the anthem 'Hatikvah'. May their names and memory be obliterated." | 2023-11-14 | Source Source Source |
| Ariel Kahana | Israel Hayom (a news outlet) senior diplomatic correspondent, TV commentator, speaker | "This means sending Gaza back into the Stone Age, abducting senior Hamas officials and their families, destroying their magnificent houses, the tall buildings, the restaurants, and the promenades in Gaza." | 2023-10-08 | Source |
| Ariel Kallner | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Nakba to the enemy now! This day is our Pearl Harbour. We will learn our lessons in due time. At the moment, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48. A Nakba in Gaza and a Nakba to anyone who will dare to join! A Nakba to them, because like then in 1948, the alternative is clear. Nakba to them, because like then in 1948, the alternative is clear" | 2023-10-07 | Source Source Source |
| Ariel Sharon (Scheinerman) | Israeli military general and politician, 11th prime minister of Israel | Everybody has to move, run and grab as many [Palestinian] hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours [...] Everything we don't grab will go to them. [Ariel Sharon, in his former role as Israeli Foreign Minister, was addressing a meeting of militants from the extreme right-wing Tsomet Party. His comments were broadcast on Israeli radio, and reported by Agence France Presse, 15 November 1998.] | 1998-11-15 | Source Source |
| Ariel Sharon (Scheinerman) | Israeli military general and politician, 11th prime minister of Israel | Our forefathers did not come here in order to build a democracy but to build a Jewish state. | 1993 | Source |
| Ariel Sharon (Scheinerman) | Israeli military general and politician, 11th prime minister of Israel | "We [Israelis] will continue to settle [Palestinian territories] and settling is a long process which must be carried out. Anyone who thinks that this government is going to withdraw from the West Bank is suffering delusions." [Ariel Sharon was Israel's agriculture minister when he made the above statement in a 1977 interview with TIME magazine's Jerusalem Bureau Chief Donald Neff and Correspondent David Halevy. Sharon's plan – approved by Premier Menachem Begin's government – was to settle two million Jews in occupied lands.] | 1977-09-?? | Source |
| Ariel Zilber | Israeli singer-songwriter and composer | "Kahane was right. Isn't it right that Kahane was right. Kahane is right. He is also right today and he will be right tomorrow." | 2023-11-17 | Source Source |
| Arnon Segal | Israeli Journalist | "No solution for Gaza, but no solution, will be crazier than what we have tried here for thirty years - giving control over it to our rebellious enemies. The right is so afraid of itself that it doesn't dare to say what our duty is - to restore our full control over this part of the land of Israel, our ancestral heritage, and to rejuvenate it with Jewish settlement." | 2023-10-16 | Source Source |
| Arnon Segal | Israeli Journalist | "Our leadership is still not sure that it wants to win. Our role is to make it clear to them that we will not settle for anything less than the destruction of the wicked and the return of the Jews to the Gaza Strip. Today and not tomorrow." | 2023-10-16 | Source Source |
| Aryeh Eldad | Professor of medicine, former Israeli Knesset member (2003-2013) | "The defense policy of Israel was created 30 years before its birth, as it was based on [Ze'ev Vladimir] Jabotinsky's short essay entitled 'The Iron Wall.' In 1923, Jabotinsky wrote, 'Except for those who were born blind, it was realized long ago that it is utterly impossible to obtain the voluntary consent of the Arab world for converting 'Palestine' from Arab land into a country with a Jewish majority. As long as the Arabs feel that there is the least hope of getting rid of us, they will refuse to give up this hope in return for either kind words or for bread and butter, because they are not a rabble, but a living people. And when a living people yields in matters of such a vital character, it is only when there is no longer any hope of getting rid of us, because they can make no breach in the iron wall.' "When the Arabs will be convinced that they can't break this wall then we can have peace. Jabotinsky saw the future much clearer than any of us today and this is why his 'Iron Wall' vision is so vitally essential now. "Not only did Zionism call upon us to return to our land but we also were called upon to liberate it from foreign occupiers. To the Muslim world this is a religious war. What motivates the Arab hatred against us is their scrupulous dedication to the execution of Shariah law." | 2011-11-07 | Source |
| Aryeh Eldad | Professor of medicine, former Israeli Knesset member (2003-2013) | "The defense policy of Israel was created 30 years before its birth, as it was based on [Ze'ev Vladimir] Jabotinsky's short essay entitled 'The Iron Wall.' In 1923, Jabotinsky wrote, 'Except for those who were born blind, it was realized long ago that it is utterly impossible to obtain the voluntary consent of the Arab world for converting 'Palestine' from Arab land into a country with a Jewish majority. As long as the Arabs feel that there is the least hope of getting rid of us, they will refuse to give up this hope in return for either kind words or for bread and butter, because they are not a rabble, but a living people. And when a living people yields in matters of such a vital character, it is only when there is no longer any hope of getting rid of us, because they can make no breach in the iron wall.' "When the Arabs will be convinced that they can't break this wall then we can have peace. Jabotinsky saw the future much clearer than any of us today and this is why his 'Iron Wall' vision is so vitally essential now. "Not only did Zionism call upon us to return to our land but we also were called upon to liberate it from foreign occupiers. [...]" | 2011-11-07 | Source |
| Asher Breitbart | Israeli Alexandroni Brigade soldier present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "It wasn't enough that [Israeli Alexandroni Brigade] Company A was in the north, two navy boats with machine guns were called in to open fire on them [i.e. Palestinian villagers of Tantura]. Once you surround them from all sides, they fight harder. They have no choice." [The preceding quote is from an interview conducted with Asher Breitbart, by researcher Teddy Katz, about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 1998 | Source |
| Avi Dichter | Israeli Minister of Agriculture | "We are now actually rolling out Nakba of Gaza. In the forefront, this is the Nakba of Gaza, as the IDF wants to conduct it in the Gaza Strip, when the masses are between the tanks and the soldiers. [Interviewer: So this is the Nakba of Gaza, Avi Dichter?] The Nakba of Gaza 2023." | 2023-11-12 | Source Source Source Source |
| Avi Shamriz | Father of Alon Shamriz, Israeli hostage abducted in Israel 10/7/2023 and killed, with two other hostages, by the IDF in Gaza 12/14/2023, after escaping captivity | "[To avoid being killed, Alon and the other two hostages did] "everything right. They... took their shirts off, hung a white flag and marched in broad daylight in the middle of the street and shouted for help, but in our army, they don't know how to follow the rules of engagement. Even if it's a terrorist, why shoot him like that? He was naked and unarmed, and even if it's a terrorist - why not shoot him in the legs? This is against all the rules taught by the IDF." | 2023-12-18 | Source |
| Avi Shamriz | Father of Alon Shamriz, Israeli hostage abducted in Israel 10/7/2023 and killed, with two other hostages, by the IDF in Gaza 12/14/2023, after escaping captivity | [From NBC News interview with Hallie Jackson.] Avi: "The army did not act like an army. They act like murderers. They just shoot to kill. I'm really angry. I asked the government, 'Stop the shooting.' And look what happened." Interviewer: "What is your message to the government?" Shamriz: "You murdered my son twice. You let the Hamas take my son on October 7th and you killed my son on December 14th. They are not our leaders. They [are] thinking only of themselves. They are not thinking about the hostages." | 2023-12-18 | Source |
| Avi Shlaim | Israeli-British historian, Fellow at University of Oxford | "It is not for Israel or its imperialist backers to tell the people of Gaza who should govern them. If the events of the last few weeks have demonstrated anything, it is that the old narrative of Israel having a right and a duty to defend itself against a terrorist organisation, no matter the human, civilian cost, can no longer be sustained. What is happening in Gaza today is the cruel manifestation of Israeli state terrorism. Terrorism is the use of force against civilians for political ends. The cap fits and Israel must wear it. The Israeli politicians and generals who orchestrate the criminal assaults on the people of Gaza are no better than riffraff." | 2023-12-06 | Source |
| Aviad Visoli | Israeli lawyer, prominent Temple Mount movement activist | "Nakba 2, meaning the mass expulsion of the Arabs of Gaza, is also justified by the laws of war." [The above quote was Aviad Visoli's response to the question of how Israel should treat the Palestinian population in Gaza. The second part of Visoli's statement is false according to international humanitarian law (the laws of armed conflict). Under the Fourth Geneva Convention (Article 49), the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions (Protocol I, Article 85), and Customary International Humanitarian Law (Rule 129), it is prohibited to remove or to carry out individual or mass forcible transfers of protected persons (civilians who find themselves under the control of a party to the conflict of which they are not nationals - civilians under occupation, for example) from the occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, regardless of the motive for such removal or transfer. The Statute of the International Criminal Court defines deportation and transfer both as war crimes and crimes against humanity (Articles 8.2.a.vii, 8.2.b.viii, and 7.1.d of ICC Statute). Such acts may constitute elements of crimes such as ethnic cleansing and genocide.] | 2024-01-28 | Source Source |
| Avigail Abarbanel | Former Israeli, psychotherapist | "Zionism, from what I learned at school [in Israel, where I was born and raised] was an idealistic, mostly socialist movement that we identified with noble values like social justice, equality, secularism and progress. Zionism was presented at school as the political manifestation of the yearning of 'our people' to return to 'our' ancestral land after 2000 years of exile and of persecution. We were taught that the land was empty and that the 'small' number of Arabs who did live on it were just hired peasants from other Arab countries who occupied the land but didn't come from there. They did not really belong there but just lived there temporarily. "[...] Regardless of who occupied the land before us, we were taught we had a right to have a state of our own, a Jewish safe haven, free from persecution. We were taught it was OK to do whatever it took to ensure our survival, that the end justified the means. There was never any discussion of the morality of this. Survival was everything. It never occurred to me to question what Zionism did or to see it for what it is, a settler-colonial project intended to replace the indigenous people of Palestine with Jews. We were given an almost water-tight simplistic narrative that was difficult to question. If pushed to the corner, the argument was that as Jews we were always under existential threat and it was 'us or them'. "My differentiation process from Israel made me look at some of the beliefs Israeli society had instilled in me. Some of these beliefs are: -Everyone has always hated us the Jews and this is unique to us. No other people is, or ever has been, as hated as we are and our suffering can never be compared to anyone else's. -We are always under a threat of annihilation and another holocaust is imminent. -The hatred against us, 'antisemitism,' is special and not like 'ordinary' racism. -All non-Jews are potentially antisemitic, even if they appear nice and friendly. Non-Jews cannot be trusted because one day they will turn against us again. Those who do not, will turn their backs on us and will do nothing to help us. -We are different from all other people. We are more ethical, just, moral, intelligent and by nature more democratic than any other group on Earth. That is the main reason we are hated. -The holocaust was unique. It cannot, and must never be compared with any other genocide. Learning a universal lesson from the holocaust is to deny its uniqueness and it is what antisemites do. -Israel is the only place in the world where Jews can be safe. But because everyone hates us, they do not want us to have our state so we always have to fight for its existence. -The Jews who died in the holocaust were weak. They went 'like sheep to the slaughter'. Israel's role is to create a powerful 'new Jew' who will never again be a victim. -We are a peace-loving people. All our wars were imposed on us (wars of no choice - mil'hammot ein-breira). -Our Israeli Defence Force is the most moral in the world. It's only for defence. It never attacks without provocation. It never hurt innocent people. -Anyone who does not like Israel or who criticizes it is an antisemite. "It was not difficult to see why I felt such an affinity with cult-leavers [whom I had treated as a psychotherapist]. The characteristics of the Jewish Israeli belief system I grew up with are identical to the belief systems of many cults [...]. Cult psychology is typical of enmeshed family-systems and it can exist in almost any context of group interaction. It does not have to be religious. It is a type of pack mentality that must have evolved in hostile conditions when humans were under constant mortal threat. "There are those who are born into this kind of psychology and are indoctrinated into it as I was. And there are people who join later. Cult-psychology tends to draw to itself people who are already fearful and who are looking for clarity about reality, existence and about their purpose. They have little tolerance for ambiguity and are searching for safety by huddling together with others. If a cult was given an option to create its own state, Israel is the example of it." [Avigail Abarbanel is a psychotherapist in private practice and an activist for Palestinian rights. She was born in Israel in 1964 and moved to Australia in 1991 where she lived for eighteen years and where she completed her academic studies. Abarbanel renounced her Israeli citizenship in 2001.] | 2022-05-12 | Source |
| Avigail Abarbanel | Former Israeli, psychotherapist | "[...] I served in the Israeli army between 1982 and 1984. During my service and under Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Defence Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel invaded Lebanon a second time. Many years later, as dots were starting to join up, I realised that my unit in the central headquarters of the army in Tel Aviv, and my commanding officer whom I adored, played a role in the Sabra & Shatilla massacre in September 1982. "Although I have not killed anyone myself, the kind of highly classified work I did for the army meant that I colluded with this crime against humanity [...] "During that time my boyfriend, who was an officer in the armoured corps, was rewarded for murdering Palestinians in Southern Lebanon [...]. Other very close friends who served in the Israeli navy indiscriminately bombed civilian buildings in Beirut from the sea, killing, traumatising and displacing many innocent Lebanese people. Other close friends who served in the air force bombed or helped bomb civilian targets in Lebanon [...]. "None of us debated or questioned the morality of this. We did not have a concept of ourselves as people who could do bad things. We believed we were in a war that we had no choice about and we were just serving our country. We believed we were doing our duty, each in our own way, to help our country survive enemies who wanted to destroy us for no other reason than us being Jews." [Avigail Abarbanel is a psychotherapist in private practice and an activist for Palestinian rights. She was born in Israel in 1964 and moved to Australia in 1991 where she lived for eighteen years and where she completed her academic studies. Abarbanel renounced her Israeli citizenship in 2001.] | 2022-05-12 | Source |
| Avigail Abarbanel | Former Israeli, psychotherapist | "[Born and raised in Israel], I moved to Australia in November 1991 at the age of twenty-seven [...]. I was a university student at the time, and one of my majors was Political Science [...]. "It was during that year at university that I came across the word 'Palestinians' for the first time. The professor who used that word spoke about how Palestinians were forced onto the lowest economic rung in Israeli society. I didn't know who the Palestinians were. I then began to understand that my professor was talking about the same people I was taught to see as the inferior other, the bad Aravim, the Arabs. He was talking about the same people I was supposed to fear and despise and who I was supposed to see as my sworn enemy. "The word 'Palestinians' did not exist in our vocabulary or in Israel's collective consciousness, because to call a people by their name is to recognise their existence. Israel did not recognise the existence of the Palestinian people [...]. "In 2001, I renounced my Israeli citizenship. after Ariel Sharon's infamous march to the El Aqsa Mosque that sparked the 2nd Intifada. The only way I can described what I felt was that I was fed up with Israel's behavior." [Avigail Abarbanel is a psychotherapist in private practice and an activist for Palestinian rights. She was born in Israel in 1964 and moved to Australia in 1991 where she lived for eighteen years and where she completed her academic studies. Abarbanel renounced her Israeli citizenship in 2001.] | 2022-05-12 | Source |
| Avigdor Lieberman | Israeli Member of Knesset | "In recent days, I was astonished to hear from the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister, and the Chief of Staff that the war in the south will last many months, during which it will not be possible to simultaneously conduct a campaign in the north. Therefore, the State of Israel will not initiate a military operation against Hezbollah. This means that for months, and maybe even years, the residents of the north will not be able to return to their homes, and in fact, the government has effectively given up on the Galilee in advance. In this situation, even if the residents of the frontline decide to return to their homes, I highly doubt whether this is at all feasible in the current state when Hezbollah is launching anti-tank missiles daily at settlements, aiming to hit residential houses which are currently empty. In some of the settlements, many houses have been completely destroyed, while Hezbollah's observation towers and positions continue to stand intact. It's unclear to me why the observation tower over Kfar Yuval has not yet been destroyed or why houses in Kfar Khila (Shi'ite village), remain intact without any damage. Every house in Kfar Khila serves as a temporary Hezbollah command post, rocket warehouse, or firing position. Instead of planning a move that would mitigate the danger and the enemy, the War Cabinet is preparing for a costume party, meaning that south of the Litani, Lebanese army forces will be deployed, perhaps under French supervision, to give residents a sense of security. In addition, military forces are intended to be stationed in the northern settlements, so instead of a company, a battalion will be deployed, and instead of a battalion, a brigade. I don't think there's anyone who thinks that raising children in a settlement or kibbutz with IDF tanks deployed in them and a Radwan force on the fences is a return to routine and achieving security for the residents of the north. It's clear to any sane person that the Lebanese army works for Nasrallah, and instead of an army, we will get a terror organization in the uniforms of the Lebanese army, which will only complicate our operations and not prevent provocations or attacks by the Radwan force. Years of experience with UNIFIL deployed in South Lebanon prove that no international force is effective. Therefore, if there is no intention to give up on the Galilee and we want to restore security to the residents of the north, we must initiate a military operation, which will include a ground maneuver 45-50 kilometers deep into Lebanon and stabilizing on the Sidon-Jezzine line, targeting all Hezbollah command posts and weapon caches throughout Lebanon, and completely flattening the Dahiyeh quarter. In addition, to prevent the next war, Lebanon must be made to pay a price. In all wars to date, the side that lost always paid with territory. Therefore, the IDF must have absolute control over the entire area between the Litani River and the Israeli border and, unlike in the past, must control the security zone much more stringently. For example, anyone wanting to travel from the security zone to Beirut and back, won't be able to do so. Anyone leaving won't return; it will be a one-way ticket. The security zone must include Marjayoun and Hasbaya, effectively reaching the Israel-Syria-Lebanon border triangle near Mount Hermon. Such a security zone won't prevent rocket or drone fire but will prevent anti-tank fire and the physical occupation of frontline settlements as happened in the south on October 7. Regarding rocket fire from Lebanon, we must act proactively and actively at any given moment we identify Hezbollah's strengthening, organizing, smuggling, or weapons production. Only this way can we provide security to the residents of the north, restore deterrence, and regain national honor. It's important to emphasize that there's no intention to annex or establish Israeli settlements in the security zone. The only goal is to be there until a government capable of exerting its sovereignty over the entire area is established in Beirut, no matter if it takes 5 years, 15 years, or 50 years. I call upon you, the heads of the frontline settlements, to act to implement the above plan and to demand the government and the cabinet to act accordingly so that what happened in the south does not repeat itself in the north." | 2024-01-01 | Source Source Source Source |
| Avigdor Lieberman | Israeli Member of Knesset | "The State of Israel needs to clarify to the international community that the only humanitarian solution, assuming one is needed, is outside the borders of Gaza. A refuge city can be established in Sinai and provide aid to the people of Gaza." | 2023-10-17 | Source Source |
| Avigdor Lieberman | Israeli Member of Knesset | "There are no innocents in Gaza." | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Avigdor Lieberman | Israeli Member of Knesset | "I hope that the opening of Kerem Shalom crossing for security checks of trucks, carrying 'humanitarian aid' to Gaza strip is not a preparation for its reopening to transfer goods from Israel to Gaza Strip. We must make it clear that from now on, the day after the war, there will be no more crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip, not the Kerem Shalom crossing or the Erez crossing [Beit Hanoun Crossing, is a military checkpoint between the Gaza Strip and Israel], not the passing of goods, and certainly not of workers - simply complete disconnection, with no electricity supply, and no water supply. We must stand for it, and make sure that what was will not be anymore." | 2023-12-14 | Source |
| Avigdor Lieberman | Israeli Member of Knesset | What happened in Gaza is that the Egyptians turned it into an Israeli problem, and we will not be able to deal with the Gaza problem alone. We need to make this a general issue, take care of our security, seize the Philadelphia Route [a narrow strip of land located along the Egypt-Gaza border], tear down the fences and dig in. As soon as there is no obstacle there, I estimate that one and a half million Gazans will leave for Sinai, and we will not disturb anyone. | 2023-12-27 | Source |
| Avigdor Lieberman | Israeli Member of Knesset | "[T]hose who are against us, there's nothing to be done - we need to pick up an axe and cut off his head. Otherwise, we won't survive here." [Avigdor Lieberman was Israel's foreign minister when he made this statement at an election event in March 2015, targeting Israel's Arab minority (which makes up 20 percent of Israel's population), also calling them a "fifth column" and eliciting applause for his remarks. He also drew condemnation for invoking the gruesome tactics of the Islamic State. Ahmad Tibi, an Arab-Israeli member of the Knesset (i.e. Israeli parliament), said that Lieberman was the "Jewish ISIS."] | 2015-03-08 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Avigdor Lieberman | Israeli Member of Knesset | [Avigdor Lieberman made the following statement at an election event in March 2015, reiterating his position that at least some of Israel's Arab citizens should be displaced – specifically, in this quote, those populating the northern Israeli town of Umm al-Fahm.] "There is no reason for Umm al-Fahm to be part of the State of Israel. Citizens of the State of Israel who raise a black flag on Nakba Day – from my perspective, they can leave, and I'm very happily willing to donate them to Abu Mazen [i.e., Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas]. | 2015-03-08 | Source |
| Avigdor Lieberman | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Israeli soldiers did what was necessary [when Israeli snipers killed 223 Gazans during the 2018 Great March of Return peaceful protests]. I think all our soldiers deserve a medal. ... As for a commission of inquiry- there won't be one." | 2018-04-01 | Source Source Source |
| Avigdor Lieberman | Israeli Member of Knesset | "If soldiers have free time, they should help Holocaust survivors or the needy. Charity should begin at home." [In August 2016, Avigdor Liberman, the Israeli defense minster at the time, ordered an end to a program where Israeli soldiers did volunteer work with children. A number of Israeli soldiers serving in military intelligence were reportedly volunteering with Elifelet, a non-profit organization that was assisting children of "migrants," in southern Tel Aviv, who experienced hunger and physical distress due to poverty. Elifelet's goal was to provide food and care for such children, and to protect them from "racial persecution."] | 2016-08-14 | Source |
| Avinoam Emunah | Retired Israeli military colonel | [Avinoam Emunah spoke the following words to his soldiers during Israel's 2014 war on Gaza.] "Most of the time you will see them running away. Kill them while they run away. Guys, smile. [...] Try to enjoy it, try to." | 2014 | Source Source Source Source |
| Avinoam Emunah | Retired Israeli military colonel | "Smile-Kill-Enjoy." [In an article Emunah published in 2015 in the army magazine Maarachot titled, "Command leadership in the battlefield," he termed his "smile-kill-enjoy" slogan as "words to spur on" the troops.] | 2015 | Source |
| Aviva Klompas | Former speechwriter for Israel's United Nations mission | "Ayala Hetzroni, age 73🕯️Twins Liel and Yannai, 12-year-old🕯️Ayala, a great aunt to Liel and Yannai, raised the twins after their mother suffered complications during their birth and was paralyzed. On Oct 7, the three were led by Hamas terrorists to a building in Kibbutz Be'eri, where they had gathered a number of other community residents. The terrorists massacred all of them, then torched the building. May the memories of Ayala, Liel, and Yannai forever be a blessing." [Yasmin Porat's eyewitness testimony given to Kan news on November 15, 6 days before this tweet, reveals that all three, Ayala, Liel, and Yanai Hetzroni were killed when, on October 7, an Israeli tank fired two shells into the house they were being held hostage in by Hamas militants] | 2023-11-21 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Aviva Siegel | Israeli citizen abducted with her husband 10/7/2023 from Kibbutz Kfar Azza at age 62, spent 51 days in captivity | "Fifty-one days I was frightened in Hamas captivity, and now, on my soil, in my country, I continue to be frightened every minute of the day. I've lived on [Kibbutz] Kfar Azza for more than 40 years. More than 40 years, I've been the human shield of the State of Israel. We, the residents of the communities across from the Gaza Strip, suffered days and nights of fear, months of living temporarily in places that are not our home, because home was dangerous. One more military operation and yet another military operation, and today we understand that it wasn't worth a thing. "I've been here for more than a month, treading on the soil of Israel, and this ground is alien to me. The feeling of home and security no longer exists. My sense of trust in the people who lead this country will not be able to exist as long as people are in a place of darkness, undernourished and unable to make basic decisions about their private lives – and who are not being brought back at any price. Every minute that passes in which the captives aren't able to tread on the soil of this land, is a loss we are experiencing as a people, as a state. We will never be whole as long as they are there." | 2024-01-12 | Source |
| Aviva Siegel | Israeli citizen abducted with her husband 10/7/2023 from Kibbutz Kfar Azza at age 62, spent 51 days in captivity | [The following testimony was extracted from an interview with Aviva Siegel, conducted by Amna Nawaz.] Interviewer: "You were held for 51 days during some of the most intense bombing campaigns by Israel. Did any of those bombs ever come close to where you were?" Siegel: "Very close. One of the times, the whole house was shaking, and one of the Hamas people went out and said that it [a bomb] fell 100 meters next to us. And when we moved from there, we could see that the building that was next to us was finished. It was just on the ground. It fell just next to us, and lots of them fell next to us. They bombed all the town night, day, every minute." Interviewer: Did you ever think that you might actually lose your life in one of those bombs?" Siegel: "All the time." | 2024-01-02 | Source |
| Avner Yaniv | Israeli political scientist and author | "Moreover, the Israelis reasoned, the PLO had deliberately established bases in densely populated urban areas and confronted Israel with a difficult choice. If [Israel] became reluctant to continue attacks out of concern for civilian casualties and Western opinion, the PLO would obviously gain. If, on the other hand, Israel decided to continue its attacks, its image would be blemished and the PLO would also gain. Given the need to safeguard the Galilee population and a growing concern in the face of the PLO 'peace offensive,' a strategy of sustained attacks against its bases was perfectly rational from the Israeli point of view." | 1987 | Source Source Source Source |
| Avraham "Miko" Peled | Israeli-American peace activist, author, karate instructor | "Gaza is being punished because Gaza is a constant reminder to Israel and the world of the original sin of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the creation of a so-called Jewish state. Even though Palestinian resistance has never presented a military threat to Israel, it has always been portrayed as an existential threat to the state. "Moshe Dayan, the famed Israeli general with the eyepatch, described this in a speech in April 1956. He spoke in Kibbutz Nahal Oz, an Israeli settlement on the boundary of the Gaza Strip where Israeli tanks park each time there is a ground invasion of Gaza. "'Beyond the furrow of this border, there surges a sea of hatred and revenge,' Dayan said then. Ironically, when six months later Israel had occupied Gaza and my father was appointed its military governor, he said that he saw 'no hatred or desire for vengeance but a people eager to live and work together for a better future.' Still, today, Israeli commanders and politicians say pretty much the same: Israel is destined to live by the sword and must strike Gaza whenever possible. Never mind the fact that Palestinians have never posed a military challenge, much less a threat to Israel. "After all, Palestinians have never possessed as much as a tank, a warship or a fighter jet, not to say a regular army [...]." | 2014-08-19 | Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "After we turn Khan Younis too into a soccer field... we need to take advantage of the destruction [to tell] the countries that each of them should take a quota, it can be 20,000 or 50,000 ... We need 2 million to leave. That's the solution for Gaza." | 2023-11-21 | Source Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | It's all right for a Jewish community to, by definition, be only Jewish. "There is place to maintain a Jewish majority even at the price of violation of [human] rights." [Shaked was stating her views on the controversial Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which the Knesset ultimately passed on 7/19/2018.] | 2018-02-12 | Source Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "[If not for the fence erected along Israel's border with Egypt], we would be seeing here [in Israel] a kind of creeping conquest from Africa." [The border fence has been a barrier to those seeking asylum in Israel (primarily Sudanese and Eritreans).] | 2018-02-12 | Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | Israel is a Jewish state. It isn't a state of all its nations. That is, equal rights to all citizens but not equal national rights. "There are places where the character of the State of Israel as a Jewish state must be maintained and this sometimes comes at the expense of equality." [Shaked was stating her views on the controversial Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which the Knesset ultimately passed on 7/19/2018.] | 2018-02-12 | Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "I don't know why it's so hard for us to define reality with the simple words that language puts at our disposal. Why do we have to make up a new name for the war every other week, just to avoid calling it by its name. What's so horrifying about understanding that the entire Palestinian people is the enemy? Every war is between two peoples, and in every war the people who started the war, that whole people, is the enemy. A declaration of war is not a war crime. Responding with war certainly is not. Nor is the use of the word 'war', nor a clear definition who the enemy is. Au contraire: the morality of war (yes, there is such a thing) is founded on the assumption that there are wars in this world, and that war is not the normal state of things, and that in wars the enemy is usually an entire people, including its elderly and its women, its cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure." | 2014-06-30 | Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "And in our war this is sevenfold more correct, because the enemy soldiers hide out among the population, and it is only through its support that they can fight. Behind every terrorist stand dozens of men and women, without whom he could not engage in terrorism. Actors in the war are those who incite in mosques, who write the murderous curricula for schools, who give shelter, who provide vehicles, and all those who honor and give them their moral support. They are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads. Now this also includes the mothers of the martyrs, who send them to hell with flowers and kisses. They should follow their sons, nothing would be more just. They should go, as should the physical homes in which they raised the snakes. Otherwise, more little snakes will be raised there." | 2014-06-30 | Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "Prevention cannot be focused. That's how it is in wars. Whatever's focused cannot prevent. It is not we who started this dastardly war and it is not we who can stop it. The keys to the ceasefire are in the hands of the members of the Palestinian nation. We can only singe their fingers until they wish to use them." | 2014-06-30 | Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "There are celebrations of mourning and honor in two homes of two despicable murderers. I assume they have put up outdoor mourning structures, and all the dignitaries of the city come to honor the mother and father who raised the devil. Those two houses should be bombed from the air, with intention to destroy and to kill. And it should be announced that we will do this from now on to every home of every martyr." | 2014-06-30 | Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "And the morality of war knows that it is not possible to refrain from hurting enemy civilians. It does not condemn the British air force, which bombed and totally destroyed the German city of Dresden, or the US planes that destroyed the cities of Poland and wrecked half of Budapest, places whose wretched residents had never done a thing to America, but which had to be destroyed in order to win the war against evil. The morals of war do not require that Russia be brought to trial, though it bombs and destroys towns and neighborhoods in Chechnya. It does not denounce the UN Peacekeeping Forces for killing hundreds of civilians in Angola, nor the NATO forces who bombed Milosevic's Belgrade, a city with a million civilians, elderly, babies, women, and children. The morals of war accept as correct in principle, not only politically, what America has done in Afghanistan, including the massive bombing of populated places, including the creation of a refugee stream of hundreds of thousands of people who escaped the horrors of war, for thousands of whom there is no home to return to." | 2014-06-30 | Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "The Palestinian people has declared war on us [referring to the lead-up to 2014's Operation: Protective Edge, when three Israeli teenagers were abducted in the West Bank], and we must respond with war. Not an operation, not a slow-moving one, not low-intensity, not controlled escalation, no destruction of terror infrastructure, no targeted killings. Enough with the oblique references. This is a war. Words have meanings. This is a war. It is not a war against terror, and not a war against extremists, and not even a war against the Palestinian Authority. These too are forms of avoiding reality. This is a war between two people. Who is the enemy? The Palestinian people. Why? Ask them, they started." | 2014-06-30 | Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "There is nothing more just, and probably nothing more efficient. Every suicide attacker should know that he takes with him also his parents and his house and some of the neighbors. Every brave Um-Jihad [here, 'Um' is Arabic for 'Mother of'] who sends her son to hell should know she's going with him, along with the house and everything inside it." | 2014-06-30 | Source Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | "Zionism should not continue, and I say here, it will not continue to bow down to the system of individual rights interpreted in a universal way that divorces them from the history of the Knesset [Israeli parliament] and the history of legislation that we all know. "[The system of individual rights is important but] not when it is disconnected from context, from our national tasks, from our identity, from our history, from our Zionist challenges." [Shaked was speaking at a conference of the Israel Bar Association in Tel Aviv, the day after Israel's Supreme Court ruled that asylum seekers may be deported to Rwanda and Uganda but may not be jailed for more than two months if they refuse to go. Previously, asylum seekers who refused to a "voluntary departure" from Israel could be jailed indefinitely or "removed" against their will.] | 2017-08-29 | Source |
| Ayelet Shaked | Former Israeli Minister of Interior | Zionism should not continue, and I say here, it will not continue to bow down to the system of individual rights interpreted in a universal way. | 2017-08-29 | Source Source |
| Banner in Tel Aviv | Israeli banner | "To destroy Gaza" | 2023-10-13 | Source Source |
| Banner in Tel Aviv | Israeli banner | "Victory Picture [alternate translation: "the picture of victory"]: 0 residents in Gaza" | 2023-10-13 | Source Source Source |
| Bar Goldstein | Brother-in-law of Chen Goldstein-Almog, who was abducted from Israel with her children by Palestinian resistance fighters on 10/7/2023 and released from Gaza before 12/5/2023 | [From a leaked audio recording of a 2023 meeting between Israel's war cabinet, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and released Israelis taken captive to Gaza 10/7/2023, as well as hostages' family members. Bar Goldstein relates what released Israeli family members, who had been hostages, told him.] "They were under constant threat from the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] shelling. You sat in front of us and assured us that it [shelling in Gaza] does not threaten their lives. They also roam the street and [are] not only in the tunnels. They are mounted on donkeys and carts. You will not be able to recognize them on the street and you are endangering their lives. It is our duty to return them now." | 2023-12-04 | Source Source |
| Barak Hiram | Brig. Gen. of IDF | "[On October 7, responding to kibbutz Be'eri] The negotiations are over. Break in, even at the cost of civilian casualties." | 2023-12-23 | Source Source |
| Baruch Kimmerling | Israeli Scholar and Professor of Sociology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem | "[The Gaza Strip in 2003, before the beginning of the blockade of 2006 onwards, is] the world's largest concentration camp ever." | 2003 | Source Source |
| Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People | An Israeli law enacted 7/19/2018 | [What follows is a portion of the full translation of the final version of Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People, passed by Israel's Knesset (parliament) on July 19, 2018.] "Basic Law: Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People 1 - Basic principles A. The land of Israel is the historical homeland of the Jewish people, in which the State of Israel was established. B. The State of Israel is the national home of the Jewish people, in which it fulfills its natural, cultural, religious and historical right to self-determination. C. The right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people. [...]" | 2018-07-19 | Source |
| Battle Order to IDF | in preparation for the ground invasion... | "You asked for hell, you'll get hell. We are in a war that was forced upon us, we will transfer it to their territory. This is our hour. The result: the bodies of terrorists are piling in the streets and the enemy's infrastructure is destroyed. The method: crush and conquer. We will fight and remain human beings- we are not [like] them." | 2023-10-19 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "In the future, the state of Israel has to control the entire area from the river to the sea." | 2024-01-18 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Thank you to the American people for your incredible support for Israel, in our war, against the barbarians of Hamas." | 2023-10-12 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "We are striking our enemies with unprecedented might. I emphasise that this is only the beginning." | 2023-10-13 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "I have seen our amazing soldiers who are now on the front line. They know that the entire nation is behind them. They understand the scope of the mission. They are ready to take action at any time in order to defeat the bloodthirsty monsters who have risen against us to destroy us." | 2023-10-15 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "[This is] a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle." | 2023-10-16 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Regarding the captives, I clarified three things for President Biden. First, I demanded the return of our captives, and we are working together for their return in every way possible. Second, until their return, we demand Red Cross visits for our captives. Third, we will not allow humanitarian assistance, in the form of food and medicines, from our territory to the Gaza Strip." | 2023-10-18 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews. And Hajj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, 'If you expel them, they will all come here.' 'So what should I do with them,' [Hitler] asked. He said, 'Burn them.'" [These statements were disproven by Holocaust historians. Hajj Amin al-Husseini met Hitler in 1941, but Hitler gave a speech more than two years earlier calling for the extermination of the Jews] | 2015-10-21 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember, and we are fighting." | 2023-10-28 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Victory over these enemies begins with moral clarity. It begins with knowing the difference between good and evil, between right and wrong. It means making a moral distinction between the deliberate murder of the innocent and the uninentional casualties that accompany every legitimate war, even the most just war." | 2023-10-30 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "All of the places which Hamas is deployed, hiding and operating in, that wicked city, we will turn them into rubble. I say to the residents of Gaza: Leave now because we will operate forcefully everywhere." | 2023-10-07 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "At this hour, the IDF is clearing the terrorists out of the last communities. They are going community by community, house by house, and are restoring our control. I embrace and send heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families whose loved ones were murdered today in cold blood and endless brutality. We are all praying for the well-being of the wounded and all those who are being held hostage. I say to Hamas: You are responsible for their well-being. Israel will settle accounts with anyone who harms one hair on their heads." | 2023-10-07 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "... We will avenge with great force the black day they have inflicted upon the State of Israel and its citizens. As Biyalik said: revenge for the blood of a little child- has yet been devised by Satan. All the places where Hamas is positioned at, of [sic] this city of evil, all the places Hamas is hiding in, operating in, we will turn them into piles of rubble. I'm telling the residents of Gaza: get out of there, now. We will operate everywhere, and in full force." | 2023-10-07 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Israel should have taken advantage of the suppression of the demonstrations in China [i.e., the Tiananmen Square Massacre], when the world's attention was focused on what was happening in that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the [Occupied Palestinian] Territories. However, to my regret, they did not support that policy that I proposed, and which I still propose should be implemented." [Benjamin Netanyahu was serving as Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister in 1989 when he made this statement, to students of Bar-Ilan University, about Israel's failure to take advantage of China's Tiananmen Square Massacre.] | 1989-11-?? | Source Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "We will hold Gaza after the war too, we will not trust international forces." | 2023-11-10 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "You should learn to shut up and not say things you'll regret the next day." | 2023-11-14 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | [Benjamin Netanyahu made the following statement (published 11/24/1989 in Israeli journal Hotem) while serving as Israeli deputy foreign minister in 1989, to students at Tel Aviv's Bar Ilan University in Israel.] "Israel should have exploited China's suppression of the demonstrations [Tiananmen Square], at a time when the world's attention was devoted to events in that country, in order to conduct mass expulsions of the Arabs [sic] of the Occupied Territories. However, to my sorrow, they [government ministers] didn't support the policy I espoused and whose implementation I continue to recommend." | 1989-11-24 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "The basis of the existence of the thousand-year-old nation of Israel is the constant struggle for our lives and freedom... The current fight against the 'Hamas' murderers is another chapter in the story." | 2023-11-03 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Remember what Amalek did to you." | 2023-11-03 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "This is the war between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. We will not let up on our mission until the light overcomes the darkness- the good will defeat the extreme evil that threatens us and the entire world." | 2023-11-03 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Minister Amihai Eliyahu's statements are not based in reality. Israel and the IDF are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents. We will continue to do so until our victory." | 2023-11-05 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "What we see is a broader battle between civilization and barbarism. The barbarism is led by an axis of terror. The axis of terror is led by Iran, it includes Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis, and their other minions. They seek to bring the Middle East, and the world, back to a dark age. They seek to torpedo, to derail, any progress towards peace, and the progress and the promise that we had in our budding peace treaties with our Arab neighbors. If they go strong, if they're not defeated, they will derail this process, they will imperil the entire Middle East. If the Middle East falls to the axis of terror, Europe will be next and no one will be safe. This is not a local battle. This is a global battle. The paramount need is to defeat this axis." | 2023-11-06 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Together with the entire people of Israel, I bow my head in deep sorrow and mourn the fall of three of our dear sons [Israeli hostages in Gaza, shirtless and unarmed, waving white flags killed by IDF] who were kidnapped." | 2023-12-15 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "We continue the war until the end. It will continue until Hamas is eliminated- until victory. Those who think we will stop are not connected to reality. We will not stop fighting until we achieve all the goals we have set: the elimination of Hamas, the release of our hostages and the removal of the threat from Gaza. We are attacking Hamas with fire- infernal fire. Everywhere, including today. We also attack their assistants from near and far. All Hamas terrorists, from the first to the last, are mortal. They have only two options: surrender or die." | 2023-12-20 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "To our Christian friends around the world, Merry Christmas. Christmas is supposed to be a time of good will to all men and peace on Earth. Well, we don't have peace on Earth, not in our part anyway, and we certainly don't see good will to all men. We're facing monsters, monsters who murdered children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children, who raped and beheaded women, who burned babies alive, who took babies hostages. This is a battle, not only of Israel against these barbarians, it's a battle of civilization against barbarism. And I know in this that we have your support. I want to thank you for your support. I want to thank you for your prayers. And I want to assure you, that as we stand together, we will also prevail. We shall win this war and secure our common values and our common future. Thank you." | 2023-12-24 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "We need three things from the US: munitions, munitions, and munitions. ... There are huge demonstrations in western capitals. ... We need to apply counter-pressure. ... There have been disagreements with the best of our friends." | 2023-12-05 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "If Hezbollah chooses to start an all-out war, then it will, by its own hand, turn Beirut and South Lebanon, not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Yunis." | 2023-12-07 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | At the end, in the State of Israel, as I see it, there will be a fence that spans [i.e., surrounds] it all. I'll be told, 'this is what you want, to protect the villa?' The answer is yes. Will we surround all of the State of Israel with fences and barriers? The answer is yes. In the area that we live in, we must defend ourselves against the wild beasts [i.e., Palestinians as well as Arabs in neighbouring countries]. | 2016-02-09 | Source Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "It's better to give 2% than 100%, and this is the choice we faced. You gave 2% but you stopped the withdrawal, rather than 100%." | 2001 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Look, I wasn't afraid to maneuver [the Clinton administration]. I wasn't afraid to confront Clinton. I wasn't afraid to go against the UN." | 2001 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | Netanyahu: "What happened with the Oslo Accords? The accords which were ratified by parliament. I was asked before the [1996] elections 'Will you fulfill them?' I said, 'Yes, subject to reciprocity and minimising pullouts.' I gave my own interpretation to the agreements, in such a way that will allow me to stop the race back towards the 1967 borders. How did we manage to do this? Nobody defined what 'military facilities' are, so I also defined them as being security zones. The entire Jordan Valley, for me, is a 'military facility'. Nobody has-" Person 1: "Yes, like the Beit Shean Valley." Netanyahu: "You see, go figure. But then there was the question of who will define these 'military facilities'. I received a letter from [U.S. Secretary of State, Warren] Christopher to me and to [Yasser] Arafat at the same time saying that Israel, and Israel alone, will define the 'military facilities', their locations and size. Now, they didn't want to give me this letter, so I refused to ratify the Hebron Accords [of 1997]. I stopped the government meeting, and I said 'I won't sign'. And only when the letter has arrived, during that meeting, to me and to Arafat, I signed the Hebron Accords." | 2001 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | Netanyahu: "The main thing is first of all to strike them not once, but several times, so painfully that the price they pay is unbearable. So far, the price tag is not unbearable. [I mean] a large-scale attack on the Palestinian authority causing them to fear that everything is about to collapse. Fear is what brings them to..." Person 1: "Hold on, but then again the world will say that we're the aggressors" Netanyahu: "They can say whatever they want." Person 2: "Aren't you afraid of what they'll say, Bibi?" Netanyahu: "No. Especially today with the U.S., I know how they are." Person 3: "America is something that you can easily maneuver and move in the right direction." Netanyahu: "And even if they say something... So then they say something, so what? 80% of Americans support us. It's absurd." | 2001 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | [The way to deal with Palestinians is to] beat them up not once but repeatedly beat them up so it hurts so badly until it's unbearable. | 2001 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "As far as the State of Israel is concerned, there is no obstacle for the Gazans to leave, maybe even the port they [the U.S. military] are building could be used for this, but there are no countries in the world that are ready to receive them [Gazans]." [Quote is from a statement Netanyahu made in a meeting of the Israeli Foreign Affairs Committee, posted to Twitter/X by Yaara Shapira, parliamentary correspondent for KAN News, and translated from Hebrew by Google.] | 2024-03-19 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq. ... [those events] swung American public opinion in our favor." | 2008-04-16 | Source Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Hamas has an operational plan for a multi-pronged attack, including thousands of missiles on Israeli cities, naval commando raids, hang gliders and incursions from dozens of tunnels, some of which come up in [Israeli] territory." | 2017-04-19 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "You try nonlethal means and they don't work. So you're left with bad choices. It's a bad deal. [To command snipers armed with fragmenting bullets to shoot at protestors, during the 2018 Great March of Return]. You know, you try and you go for below the knee, and sometimes it doesn't work, and unfortunately these things are avoidable." | 2018-05-14 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | Illegal infiltrators [asylum seekers and migrant workers from Africa] flooding the country [are a threat to Israel]. If we don't stop their entry, the problem that currently stands at 60,000 could grow to 600,000, and that threatens our existence as a Jewish and democratic state. The phenomenon is very grave and threatens the social fabric of society, our national security, and our national identity. [Israel's population was 7.8 million at that time.] | 2012-05-20 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "We did everything in our power to prevent civilian casualties, unnecessary casualties of non-combatants, while trying to attack the combatants who are trying to murder our citizens. We regret every loss of life, but I can tell you categorically, there is no army in the world that acts in a more moral fashion than the army of Israel." | 2021-05-21 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | [Benjamin Netanyahu was interviewed by United States television personality Dr. Phil McGraw and asked what his response was to those who characterize Hamas' 10/7/2023 attacks on Israel as "resistance."] "Hamas openly declares its goal to wipe out everything you see around here, to kill every man, woman, and child in Israel, to destroy the state. That's not resistance. That's naked, brutal aggression. That's their doctrine." "Iran is saying the same thing: 'Our goal is to destroy Israel,' We're the 'small Satan.' By the way, their goal is to destroy you [i.e. the United States of America.]. You are the 'big Satan.' We're just standing in their way and they're right. We're not merely protecting ourselves, we are, but in so doing we're protecting all of free civilization, all of Western culture. They want to erase it." | 2024-05-09 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | [Netanyahu was interviewed by United States television personality Dr. Phil McGraw and spoke about what his vision for "the day after" the armed conflict in Gaza was.] "I think we'll have to assure continuous demilitarization because, even if you destroy the terrorist army, you can have individual terrorists left. We have to uh root them out constantly." "We'll probably have to have some kind of civilian government, civilian administration, by Gazans who are not committed to our destruction, possibly, I think, with the aid of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and other countries that I think want to see stability and peace. "But we're going to have Israel continually root out terrorists because I don't see anyone coming in to do that right now...I'd love to see that but I don't see it, so we'll continue to take action against the remnants of the terrorist army." | 2024-05-09 | Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | [On 7/19/2024, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, ruled Israel's 56-year long presence in the "Palestinian territory occupied since 1967" is "illegal" and Israel is obligated to remove its presence from that territory "as rapidly as possible." (ICJ quotes are from first source posted for Netanyahu's quotes, which follow.) "The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land - not in our eternal capital Jerusalem, not in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]. No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth, just as the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested." | 2024-07-19 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "We meet today at a crossroads of history. Our world is in upheaval. In the Middle East, Iran's axis of terror confronts America, Israel and our Arab friends. This is not a clash of civilizations. It's a clash between barbarism and civilization. It's a clash between those who glorify death and those who sanctify life." [Benjamin Netanyahu made this claim on 24 July 2024, during his fourth address to U.S. Congress. On 20 July, Gaza's Ministry of Health reported that the Israeli military had killed 38,919 people in Gaza since 7 October 2023 and injured 89,622 others. These figures did not take into account those people who remained trapped in rubble and unreachable. There is ample evidence that suggests many of these victims were deliberately targeted by the Israeli military, not "collateral damage."] | 2024-07-24 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "They [i.e., people who protest Israel's decades'-long occupation of Palestine and its 2023 and 2024 genocide in Gaza] call Israel a colonialist state. Don't they know that the Land of Israel is where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob prayed, where Isaiah and Jeremiah preached and where David and Solomon ruled? "For nearly four thousand years, the land of Israel has been the homeland of the Jewish people. It's always been our home; it will always be our home." [According to the genealogical website Family Search (www.familysearch.org), with the exception of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's father (who was Polish), the Israeli prime minister's patrilineal ancestry is entirely based in the Russian Empire, as far back as 1740. That is, prior to his father's birth, six generations of Benjamin Netanyahu's male ancestors were Russian and shared the surname Mileikowsky (or a variation of the spelling), which the prime minister's father Hebrewized to "Netanyahu."] | 2024-07-24 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has shamefully accused Israel of deliberately starving the people of Gaza. This is utter complete nonsense. It's a complete fabrication. Israel has enabled more than 40,000 aid trucks to enter Gaza. That's half a million tons of food, and that's more than 3,000 calories for every man, woman and child in Gaza. If there are Palestinians in Gaza who aren't getting enough food, it's not because Israel is blocking it, it's because Hamas is stealing it." [Benjamin Netanyahu made these claims on 24 July 2024, during his fourth address to U.S. Congress. He decided not to remind U.S. Congress members that Israel imposed a complete blockade on Gaza in the early weeks of the genocide. Through its government leaders, its intent to render Gaza uninhabitable was revealed. Netanyahu failed to note that the presence of aid trucks in Gaza was not an assurance that the aid on those trucks would be delivered safely to aid workers and distributed to people who desperately need the aid. He failed to mention the obstacles to aid distribution within Gaza. For example: * Communication issues. Frequent communication blackouts in Gaza made coordination of aid deliveries challenging. *Denial of access. In early 2024, humanitarian aid agencies had greater difficulty reaching northern Gaza with much-needed aid because Israel repeatedly denied delivery missions to the north. The New Humanitarian reported, "Out of 51 planned UN missions to deliver aid [to northern Gaza], between 1 and 25 January, only eight were given access by the Israeli military while 29 were denied permission, according to OCHA [United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]." *Systematic targeted attacks. Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that between October 2023 and May 2024, Israeli military forces forces carried out at least eight strikes on aid workers' convoys and premises in Gaza - killing or injuring at least 31 aid workers and those with them - even though the aid groups provided their coordinates to the Israeli authorities to ensure their protection. HRW stated Israeli authorities failed to issue advance warnings to any of the aid organizations before the strikes. On 1 April 2024, the Israeli military, in targeted airstrikes, murdered seven aid workers employed by World Central Kitchen (WCK). After transporting humanitarian food supplies to a warehouse in Deir al Balah, Israeli drones targeted WCK's three-vehicle convoy in the Gaza Strip, even though WCK had coordinated their route with the Israeli military and the three convoy vehicles were clearly marked on roofs, windows, and sides with "World Central Kitchen" (and its logo). As a result of this attack, WCK suspended its aid operations in Gaza. * Security threats to humanitarian personnel. According to the OCHA, between 7 October 2023 and 30 April 2024, at least 254 aid workers were killed in Gaza, including 185 UN staff members and 27 staff and volunteers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society. The significant security threats to humanitarian personnel led to temporary pauses, suspensions, or delays in operations for a number of humanitarian organizations. * Navigational challenges. Navigating the roads in Gaza that haven't been damaged or destroyed in the hostilities is physically challenging and dangerous. According to the United Nations Office for the OCHA, ongoing hostilities have damaged and destroyed roads and key infrastructure in Gaza, limiting the movement of humanitarian workers. The accessible roads are often blocked by debris, congested, and made perilous by unexploded ordnance. The OCHA stated in May 2024 that humanitarian organizations' capacity to provide crucial assistance to Gaza's people was undermined by these factors, which could lead to delayed or even cancelled missions. * Massive overcrowding. As the genocide continued, it became more challenging for humanitarian workers to accomplish their work, due to the enormous number of people crowded into one area. At times, more than half of Gaza's population were living in the same city, or area within a city, reported as "safe" by the Israeli authorities. * Lack of fuel. Not all food aid is delivered pre-prepared. For example, one doesn't consume a bag of flour; it is made into bread and baked in an oven or over flames. But with the blockade on fuel that was imposed on Gaza by Israel early in the genocide, the fuel required to prepare food for consumption became rare; even firewood became scarce. * Danger accessing aid. For example, on 29 February 2024, one day after the World Food Programme reported that more than half a million Palestinians in Gaza were at risk of famine in Gaza, the "Flour Massacre" occurred. According to reports, at least 118 Palestinians were killed and an additional 760 were injured when the Israeli military opened fire on a large gathering of people seeking food from aid trucks near Gaza City. The Israeli military claimed to have killed only 10 people, stating the rest of the dead and injured were victims of a stampede. However, the combined numbers of people injured or killed by drone missiles, artillery shelling, and gunfire was in the hundreds according to the testimony of a medical doctor on the scene and medical personnel in two of four hospitals that treated massacre victims. | 2024-07-24 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "I didn't intend to come here this year [i.e., to the United Nations General Assembly meeting]. My country is at war, fighting for its life. "But after I heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight. I decided to come here to speak for my people. "To speak for my country, to speak for the truth. And here's the truth: Israel seeks peace. Israel yearns for peace. Israel has made peace and will make peace again. Yet we face savage enemies who seek our annihilation, and we must defend ourselves against them. "These savage murderers, our enemies, seek not only to destroy us, but they seek to destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror. [...]" [Benjamin Netanyahu made the preceding statement before the United Nations in New York city less than two weeks after coordinated attacks in Lebanon, believed to have been carried out by Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency, resulted in the explosions of thousands of pagers (on 9/17/2024) and walkie-talkies (on 9/18/2024), killing at least 42 people and injuring several thousand. While, initially, Israel officially denied responsibility, these attacks were widely labelled "terrorism," including by former director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency Leon Panetta.] [Beginning on 19 September 2024, Israel launched numerous airstrikes on Lebanon, allegedly targeting Hezbollah. Between 23 and 29 September 2024, Israeli bombings in Lebanon killed over 1,600 people and injured more than 8,000, with more than 250,000 Lebanese civilians displaced. The bombings caused significant damage to civilian infrastructure, leading to widespread chaos.] [On 28 September 2024, the Israeli military assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon. The following day, Israel's military struck targets in Yemen. About the Yemen strikes, The Jerusalem Post reported on 29 September 2024, "The [Israeli] military said it was impressive that the air force had managed such a large and complex operation while also attacking Israel's adversaries in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and elsewhere – all in the last 16 hours." These events are especially noteworthy in the context of Netanyahu's statement before the U.N. about Israel's yearning for peace.] | 2024-09-27 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "[...] Now, ladies and gentlemen, even with Hamas's greatly diminished military capability, the terrorists still exercise some governing power in Gaza by stealing the food that we enable aid agencies to bring into Gaza. "Hamas steals the food, and then they hike the prices. They feed their bellies, and then they fill their coffers with money they extort from their own people. They sell the stolen food at exorbitant prices, and that's how they stay in power. Well, this too has to end, and we're working to bring it to an end." [The above quote was taken from the full text of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, 27 September 2024, as provided by the Prime Minister's Office.] [In the speech delivered to the United Nations, Benjamin Netanyahu contradicted previous statements he made about humanitarian aid for Gaza. On 18 October 2023, he said he told U.S. President Joe Biden that until all of Israel's hostages were returned, "we will not allow humanitarian assistance, in the form of food and medicines, from our territory to the Gaza Strip." Netanyahu's statements at the UN also contradicted Israel's actions. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that on 15 November 2023, the As Salam Mill in Deir Al Balah – Gaza's last functioning wheat mill - was destroyed in a military strike, apparently by the Israeli military, ensuring that locally produced flour would no longer be available in Gaza. On 19 November 2023, Oxfam reported, "much farming has now been made impossible [in Gaza] with the almost constant bombardment and attacks, the lack of fuel and water, and the over 1.6 million people forced to flee to southern Gaza." On 23 November 2023, Scott Paul, a senior humanitarian policy adviser for Oxfam America, told the Associated Press, "Bakeries and grain mills have been destroyed, agriculture, water and sanitation facilities." The OCHA reported, on 28 November 2023, that "in the north, livestock is facing starvation and the risk of death due to shortage of fodder and water. Crops are being increasingly abandoned and damaged due to lack of fuel required to pump irrigation water." (Israel implemented a blockade on fuel to Gaza in October 2023.) Human Rights Watch reported that satellite imagery it had reviewed since the start of Israel's ground offensive began in Gaza on 27 October 2023 (until late November 2023), orchards, greenhouses, and farmland in northern Gaza, was razed, apparently by the Israeli military. ] [The United States government's two foremost authorities on humanitarian assistance concluded in the spring of 2024 that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza. USAID (United States Agency for International Development) submitted its conclusions in a 17-page memo, in April 2024, to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (a pro-Israel American Jew). Separately, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration also determined that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid and that the Foreign Assistance Act should be triggered to freeze almost $830 million in taxpayer dollars set aside to provide weapons and bombs to Israel, according to emails obtained by ProPublica, discussed in its 9/24/2024 report, "Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Rejected Them." (U.S. law requires the government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.- backed humanitarian aid.) However, the Secretary of State and U.S. President Joe Biden rejected the findings of both federal agencies. ProPublica gained access to a copy of USAID's April memo and a list of evidence used to support their conclusions. ProPublica reported that USAID's memo "described instances of Israeli interference with aid efforts, including killing aid workers, razing agricultural structures, bombing ambulances and hospitals, sitting on supply depots and routinely turning away trucks full of food and medicine." According to ProPublica, the memo also reported that "lifesaving food was stockpiled less than 30 miles across the border in an Israeli port, including enough flour to feed about 1.5 million Palestinians for five months. But in February the Israeli government had prohibited the transfer of flour [...]." | 2024-09-27 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "Hezbollah moved right up to our border. They secretly dug terror tunnels to infiltrate our communities and indiscriminately fired thousands of rockets into our towns and villages. "They fire these rockets and missiles not from military sites-they do that too-but they fire those rockets and missiles after they place them in schools, in hospitals, in apartment buildings, and in the private homes of the citizens of Lebanon. They endanger their own people. They put a missile in every kitchen. "A rocket in every garage. I said to the people of Lebanon this week: Get out of the death trap that Hezbollah has put you in. Don't let Nasrallah* drag Lebanon into the abyss. [*Netanyahu was referring to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom the Israeli military assassinated the day after Netanyahu made this speech.] We're not at war with you. We're at war with Hezbollah, which has hijacked your country and threatens to destroy ours. "As long as Hezbollah chooses the path of war, Israel has no choice. And Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their homes safely, and that's exactly what we're doing." [The above quote was taken from the full text of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, 27 September 2024, as provided by the Prime Minister's Office. Benjamin Netanyahu made the claims about Hezbollah embedding itself amongst civilians on 27 September 2024, not even two weeks after former Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus stated on the "Piers Morgan Uncensored" television program (18 September 2024), "Hezbollah has so far distinguished itself from civilian population. Israel has been able to take out more than 500 Hezbollah operatives, and with absolutely minimal collateral damage in Lebanon. Hezbollah hasn't been hiding amongst civilians yet."] | 2024-09-27 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "[...] What choice will you make? Will your nation stand with Israel? Will you stand with democracy and peace? Or will you stand with Iran, a brutal dictatorship that subjugates its own people and exports terrorism across the globe? "In this battle between good and evil, there must be no equivocation. When you stand with Israel, you stand for your own values and your own interests. Yes, we're defending ourselves, but we're also defending you against a common enemy that, through violence and terror, seeks to destroy our way of life. So there should be no confusion about this, but unfortunately, there is a lot of it in many countries and in this very hall, as I've just heard. "Good is portrayed as evil, and evil is portrayed as good." [The above quotes were taken from the full text of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, 27 September 2024, as provided by the Prime Minister's Office.] [Benjamin Netanyahu often accused Israel's "enemies" of terrorist activities, but failed to admit to Israel's acts of terrorism. In September 2024, for example, a suspected Israeli operation to rig pagers and walkie-talkies with explosives killed at least 37 people and injured thousands more across Lebanon. This attack was labelled by many in the international arena as "terrorism." Regarding the explosive events, five days before Netanyahu spoke at the United Nations in New York city, Leon Panetta, former director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency said, "I don't think there's any question that it's a form of terrorism."] | 2024-09-27 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "[...] We don't want to see a single innocent person die. That's always a tragedy. And that's why we do so much to minimize civilian casualties, even as our enemies use civilians as human shields." [The above quote was taken from the full text of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the United Nations General Assembly, 27 September 2024, as provided by the Prime Minister's Office. On the issue of Israel making great efforts to minimize civilian casualties, four days before Netanyahu spoke before the United Nations, the Israeli military carried out an aerial assault on Lebanon (23 September 2024). On 24 September 2024, Lebanese health minister, Dr. Firass Abiad, said in a phone interview that 558 people were killed the previous day in Lebanon by Israeli strikes. Dr. Abiad, a former board chairman at Lebanon's largest hospital, and generally regarded as apolitical, said the "overwhelming majority, if not all," of those killed and injured on September 23 were civilians .] [On the issue Netanyahu raised about human shields, in "The politics of human shielding [...]," an article published in 2015, Israeli professor of international law and human rights, Neve Gordon, wrote (with co-author Nicola Perugini), "One of the first instances of the use of human shields occurred during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in mandatory Palestine, when . . . Palestinian bodies became a warfare technology, used as human shields [by Zionist paramilitary forces] against insurgency attacks and as 'human mine sweepers.'" On 5 October 2005, the High Court of Israel ruled that Israel's longstanding practice of using Palestinians as human shields was illegal.] [The Israeli organization Breaking the Silence has published many testimonies from Israeli soldiers and veterans who confirmed the Israeli military's continued routine use of Palestinian men, women, and children as human shields. In June 2024, it was widely reported (with photographic evidence) that Israeli forces tied a wounded Palestinian man to a military jeep in the West Bank city of Jenin. A United Nations expert said the incident was a case of using the man as a human shield.] //[For quotes about how Israel has not only failed to protect its own citizens, but also killed them, select the category "Israeli fratricide" on this website.] | 2024-09-27 | Source |
| Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu | Israeli Prime Minister | "The secret [to fighting wars quickly] is that we have America. America... You see, the point is that Israel, when it fights, is subject to international pressures and the people who are fighting us are subject to international pressures." | 2006-09-08 | Source Source Source |
| Benjamin "Captain Loupy" Shmouel Sisse | French soldier serving with the Israeli military, using an alias | [The following quote comes from a video reportedly posted to social media by French soldiers serving with the Israeli military in southern Gaza. One soldier is speaking, in French, into the microphone on his helmet while filming.] "Here is Captain Loupy. He will take you to Gaza. It will be great. We are going to massacre them [Gazans]. Massacre them. So, here we go. We will continue with the tank, so come on, here we go, here we go. Here we go." [The soldier, identified later by the news agency Middle East Monitor as Benjamin Shmouel Sisse, was reportedly awarded an honor certificate by the Israeli forces one or two weeks after this video was posted to social media.] | 2024-01-19 | Source Source |
| Benny Ben-Muvhar | Israeli head of Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council | "I, if you ask me, am going for total annihilation, going to war, going to flatten the whole strip, up to the Litani [river]." | 2024-01-06 | Source Source Source |
| Benny Ben-Muvhar | Israeli head of Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council | [On Israel's Channel 14, Benny Ben Muvhar described what he believed Israel should do to the Lebanese people and their country.] "Erasing the whole area north of our border line (with Lebanon), 10-11 kilometers, completely clean... Simply to flatten the area." | 2024-02-08 | Source Source |
| Benny Ben-Muvhar | Israeli head of Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council | [In June 2024, Benny Ben-Muvhar, head of the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council, told a Kan 11 reporter about his solution for Israel's northern front.] "If you're asking for my opinion, I am advocating for total annihilation. I am in favor of going to war, to completely flatten the area up to the Litani [River]." [The Litani River is entirely in Lebanon, so a statement to "flatten" the area of southern Lebanon (near the border with Israel) up to the Litani would be highly controversial and inflammatory, as it suggests a mass displacement (or murder) of Lebanese civilians who live there, which could be seen as a form of ethnic cleansing or forced migration, violating international law and human rights. Historical context, including Israel's past occupations of southern Lebanon (especially during the 1978 and 1982 invasions), would make such a comment particularly sensitive.] | 2024-06-01 | Source Source |
| Benny Gantz | Israeli politician, retired Israeli army general | "What should we do with the north [of Israel] now, in your opinion?"//Benny Gantz: "Israel must respond to this event. Israel has a wide range of measures. It has thousands of targets in Lebanon. You can hit hard in Hezbollah. You can tear down* Lebanon." [*Israel National News' translation reads, "We can tear Lebanon apart."]//[The above quote was from an interview with Benny Gantz on Israel's Channel 12 in late July 2024. His comment was in response to what The Times of Israel reported as a "Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 11 people in the northern Druze town of Majdal Shams, most of them children and teens." | 2024-07-28 | Source Source Source |
| Benny Gantz | Israeli politician, retired Israeli army general | Dangerous nationalist terrorism is developing before our eyes - burning of homes and vehicles, shootings and many cases of taking the law into their own hands, and even harming IDF [i.e. Israeli military] soldiers. "The incident in Burqa - whatever the circumstances - joins a series of incidents causing security forces to be busy chasing Israelis rather than defending them. The price for our national leadership's silence, for the lack of backing for security forces by the top brass, and for the fact that government and coalition members are supporting these extremists, is an indelible stain on our character and a danger to our security." | 2023-08-06 | Source Source |
| Benny Gantz | Israeli politician, retired Israeli army general | "We must act not only against Hezbollah but also against the sovereign state of Lebanon, which bears responsibility for terrorism emanating from its territory." | 2024-09-23 | Source Source Source |
| Benny Morris | Israeli, Zionist, historian at Ben Gurion University of the Negev | "Ben-Gurion was a transferist [i.e., the de facto Zionist leader and man who became Israel's first prime minister believed ethnic cleansing of Palestinians must take place in Palestine – they must be 'transferred' out of Palestine, willing or not]. He understood that there could be no Jewish state with a large and hostile Arab minority in its midst. There would be no such state. It would not be able to exist." "Ben-Gurion was right. If he had not done what he did, a state would not have come into being. That has to be clear. It is impossible to evade it. Without the uprooting of the Palestinians, a Jewish state would not have arisen here." | 2004-01-08 | Source Source Source |
| Benny Morris | Israeli, Zionist, historian at Ben Gurion University of the Negev | [The following quotes are from an interview Israeli historian Ari Shavit conducted with Israeli historian Benny Morris in 2004.] Ari Shavit: "Benny Morris, for decades you have been researching the dark side of Zionism. You are an expert on the atrocities of 1948. In the end, do you in effect justify all this? Are you an advocate of the transfer of 1948?" Benny Morris: "There is no justification for acts of rape. There is no justification for acts of massacre. Those are war crimes. But in certain conditions, expulsion is not a war crime. I don't think that the expulsions of 1948 were war crimes. You can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. You have to dirty your hands." [Note: While ethnic cleansing has not been identified as an individual crime under international law, a United Nations Commission of experts that investigated violations of international law committed by the former Yugoslavia, stated that ethnic cleansing is "contrary to international law." Coercive and violent practices used to remove a civilian population can "... constitute crimes against humanity and can be assimilated to specific war crimes. Furthermore, such acts could also fall within the meaning of the Genocide Convention" (i.e., qualify as genocide). See United Nations S/1994/674, paragraph 129.] [Other quotes from this interview are catalogued on this website under the name "Benny Morris."] | 2004-01-08 | Source Source Source |
| Benny Morris | Israeli, Zionist, historian at Ben Gurion University of the Negev | [The following quotes are from an interview Israeli historian Ari Shavit conducted with Israeli historian Benny Morris in 2004.] Benny Morris: "[...] A Jewish state would not have come into being without the uprooting of 700,000 Palestinians. Therefore it was necessary to uproot them. There was no choice but to expel that population. It was necessary to cleanse the hinterland and cleanse the border areas and cleanse the main roads. It was necessary to cleanse the villages from which our convoys and our settlements were fired on." Ari Shavit: "The term `to cleanse' is terrible." Morris: "I know it doesn't sound nice but that's the term they used at the time. I adopted it from all the 1948 documents in which I am immersed." Morris: "[...] Even the great American democracy could not have been created without the annihilation of the Indians. There are cases in which the overall, final good justifies harsh and cruel acts that are committed in the course of history." Shavit: "And in our case [i.e., Israel's case] it effectively justifies a population transfer." Morris: "That's what emerges." [Other quotes from this interview are catalogued on this website under the name "Benny Morris."] | 2004-01-08 | Source Source Source |
| Benny Morris | Israeli, Zionist, historian at Ben Gurion University of the Negev | [The following quotes are from an interview Israeli historian Ari Shavit conducted with Israeli historian Benny Morris in 2004.] Ari Shavit: "You went through an interesting process. You went to research Ben-Gurion and the Zionist establishment critically, but in the end you actually identify with them. You are as tough in your words as they were in their deeds." Benny Morris: "You may be right. Because I investigated the conflict in depth, I was forced to cope with the in-depth questions that those people coped with. I understood the problematic character of the situation they faced and maybe I adopted part of their universe of concepts. But I do not identify with Ben-Gurion. I think he made a serious historical mistake in 1948. Even though he understood the demographic issue and the need to establish a Jewish state without a large Arab minority, he got cold feet during the war. In the end, he faltered." Shavit: "I'm not sure I understand. Are you saying that Ben-Gurion erred in expelling too few Arabs?" Morris: "If he was already engaged in expulsion, maybe he should have done a complete job. I know that this stuns the Arabs and the liberals and the politically correct types. But my feeling is that this place would be quieter and know less suffering if the matter had been resolved once and for all. If Ben-Gurion had carried out a large expulsion and cleansed the whole country - the whole Land of Israel, as far as the Jordan River. It may yet turn out that this was his fatal mistake. If he had carried out a full expulsion - rather than a partial one - he would have stabilized the State of Israel for generations." Shavit: "I find it hard to believe what I am hearing." Morris: "If the end of the story turns out to be a gloomy one for the Jews, it will be because Ben-Gurion did not complete the transfer in 1948. Because he left a large and volatile demographic reserve in the West Bank and Gaza and within Israel itself." [Other quotes from this interview are catalogued on this website under the name "Benny Morris."] | 2004-01-08 | Source Source Source |
| Benny Morris | Israeli, Zionist, historian at Ben Gurion University of the Negev | [The following quotes are from an interview Israeli historian Ari Shavit conducted with Israeli historian Benny Morris in 2004.] Ari Shavit: "[...] A large part of the responsibility for the hatred of the Palestinians rests with us. After all, you yourself showed us that the Palestinians experienced a historical catastrophe." Benny Morris: "True. But when one has to deal with a serial killer, it's not so important to discover why he became a serial killer. What's important is to imprison the murderer or to execute him." Shavit: "Explain the image: Who is the serial killer in the analogy?" Morris: "The barbarians who want to take our lives. The people the Palestinian society sends to carry out the terrorist attacks, and in some way the Palestinian society itself as well. At the moment, that society is in the state of being a serial killer. It is a very sick society. It should be treated the way we treat individuals who are serial killers." Shavit: "What does that mean? What should we [i.e., Israel] do tomorrow morning?" Morris: "We have to try to heal the Palestinians. Maybe over the years the establishment of a Palestinian state will help in the healing process. But in the meantime, until the medicine is found, they have to be contained so that they will not succeed in murdering us." Shavit: "To fence them in? To place them under closure?" Morris: "Something like a cage has to be built for them. I know that sounds terrible. It is really cruel. But there is no choice. There is a wild animal there that has to be locked up in one way or another." [Other quotes from this interview are catalogued on this website under the name "Benny Morris."] | 2004-01-08 | Source Source Source |
| Benny Morris | Israeli, Zionist, historian at Ben Gurion University of the Negev | [The following quotes are from an interview Israeli historian Ari Shavit conducted with Israeli historian Benny Morris in 2004.] Ari Shavit: "The title of the book you are now publishing in Hebrew is 'Victims.' In the end, then, your argument is that of the two victims of this conflict [i.e., between Israel and Palestine], we [i.e., Israel] are the bigger one." Benny Morris: "Yes. Exactly. We are the greater victims in the course of history and we are also the greater potential victim. Even though we are oppressing the Palestinians, we are the weaker side here. We are a small minority in a large sea of hostile Arabs who want to eliminate us. So it's possible than when their desire is realized, everyone will understand what I am saying to you now. Everyone will understand we are the true victims. But by then it will be too late." | 2004-01-08 | Source Source Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | [Following the 2024 trial, in which Gopstein was convicted of incitement to racism, he told the press that he thought people would relate more to his views after the violence perpetrated by Hamas' against Israelis on 7 October 2023.] "I warned that the Arabs want to exterminate us, they are our biggest danger, and if we don't fight them they will come and kill Jews, and this is what happened. This is what you are convicting me for? "I am proud of what I said [i.e., racist statements targeting Arabs] and don't regret it. If the State of Israel decides to put me in jail, I will go happily." | 2024-01-14 | Source Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | "On October 7, thousands of 'uninvolved' Gazans entered alongside Hamas terrorists to massacre, to rape and loot, shattering the illusion of coexistence, which I warned against; coexistence with the Arab enemy [will not] save the daughters of Israel." [The group Lehava, which Gopstein founded and leads, opposes intermarriage and the assimilation of Jews with Arabs, tries to stifle many public activities by non-Jews in Israel, and frequently calls for targeting of non-Jews to "save the daughters of Israel. Some Jewish lawmakers have attempted to designate Lehava a terrorist organization. In July 2024, the United States placed Lehava and its leader, Bentzi Gopstein, on a sanctions list for their role in inciting violence in Palestine's West Bank. The United States labelled Lehava "the largest violent extremist organization in Israel." ] | 2024-01-14 | Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | "Some 45 years ago, Rabbi Kahane said, shouted and cried out that the enemies within us [Arabs] are a cancer and that if we don't take this cancer and get rid of it, we won't continue to exist. Unfortunately, this dangerous cancer of coexistence has metastasized everywhere. There are various ministers in the government who are encouraging coexistence, who are giving them jobs, allowing them into the hi-tech world, allowing them to become doctors. "Everyone knows today that Rabbi Kahane was right, but knowing is not enough. The rabbi wanted action and so we haven't gathered here only to remember Rabbi Kahane; we are here to continue Rabbi Kahane's way. "The cancer we spoke about in the beginning has offshoots in the Knesset [parliament] of Israel too. Thirty years ago, Rabbi Kahane stood up in the Knesset and took out a hangman's noose for traitors, a noose for the Arab MK [Member of Knesset] who was there. It's no t a threat, it's a promise, the rabbi said when attacked for doing so. So, this is what I want to wish (former MK Azmi) Bishara on behalf of all of you." [Gopstein pulls out a noose and waves it before the crowd.] "Your day will come, Azmi! We are waiting for the Israeli government to come and hang you from the tallest tree! Azmi, only thanks to Rabbi Kahane will we make sure you are hanged one day." [Meir David HaKohen Kahane (born Martin David Kahane) was an American-born Israeli ordained Orthodox rabbi, writer, and nationalist politician. He was convicted of acts of terrorism after serving one term in Israeli parliament (Knesset).] | 2014-11-11 | Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | "[I am disturbed by] the fall of the line of defense of the Jewish people against our deadly enemy for hundreds of years – the Christian Church. [The Christian Church has used] the maximum tools at its disposal to destroy the Jewish people. [Today], the Church has been defeated roundly when the Jewish people has [sic] one of the strongest armies in the world and they have no chance any longer of destroying our body. "[But the Christian Church has not given up.] A last hope remains to those vampires and blood suckers – the mission. If Jews cannot be killed, they can still be converted. "Missionary bookstores offer their products in front of everyone on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, whole communities are crawling with missionaries, many businesses are run by them and are used by the mission, many cases using camouflage and without the knowledge of the employees. "[The] fear that every Jew felt, the disgust that we described above at Christianity – disgust that was the only thing that saved us from the dark days in Europe – has disappeared with the 'good life' of the democratic age and the missionary is on the prowl for prey. I call on everyone to raise a cry and fight this corrupt phenomenon in the best tradition of Judaism, before we all, including those who observe the commandments among us, become a community of sycophants. "Christmas has no place in the Holy Land. Let us remove the vampires [i.e. Christians] before they once again drink our blood." [Bentzi Gopstein has become a top ally and advisor to Itamar Ben-Gvir in Ben-Gvir's role as Minister of National Security.] | 2015-12-22 | Source Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | "I'm not a pacifist. Some people deserve to have violence visited upon them. An Arab hitting on a Jewish woman shouldn't be allowed to parade in the street with his Jewess." [The preceding quote was Gopstein's answer to a media member's question about violence perpetrated against Arabs as part of the efforts to prevent assimilation. Gopstein is the founder and director of Lehava, an Israeli Jewish anti-assimilation organization that the United States listed as a terrorist organization (in July 2024) to be sanctioned along with its leader, Bentzi Gopstein.] | 2012 | Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | "There's no shortage of Arabs who deserved to be beaten up," [particularly ones who flirt with Jewish women]. [The preceding quote is from a 2012 interview Gopstein did with Israel's Channel 2.] | 2012 | Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | [The sheet of charges against Bentzi Gopstein in his 2024 trial that led to a conviction for incitement to racism, lists a 2012 interview with Israel National News in which Gopstein praised a group of Jewish youths for beating Arab teens at Zion Square in Jerusalem.] "[The Jewish youths] lifted Jewish dignity from the floor and did what the police should have done. They brought justice to Arab rioters who harassed Jewish girls. [This was likely a reference to Palestinian youths who dated Jewish youths, since Gopstein was vehemently opposed to cultural/religious assimilation.] A shame that they let those boys do it and the police didn't take care of it." | 2012 | Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | "The first condition whenever I'm invited to a wedding is for no Palestinians to be present. No Arabs either. We seek only unadulterated Hebrew labor. Let's say if an Arab waiter were here he wouldn't be serving food. [...] He would be looking for the nearest hospital." [In November 2017, when the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office announced that, pending a hearing, Bentzi Gopstein may face indictment over incitement to violence, racism, terrorism, and obstruction of justice charges, Itamar Ben-Gvir (who was appointed Minister of National Security in November 2022) was his attorney. Gopstein later became a top ally and advisor to Itamar Ben-Gvir in his role as Minister of National Security. On 14 January 2024, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court found Gopstein guilty of incitement to racism, based on several anti-Arab statements he had made between 2012 and 2017.] | 2012 | Source Source Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | "The first condition for my coming to a wedding is that there aren't Palestinians at our wedding...Let's say that if there was an Arab waiter here he wouldn't be serving the food. He'd be looking for the nearest hospital, I think." [Gopstein was charged with incitement to violence for this statement.] [Context: In 2013, Bentzi Gopstein's daughter married Israeli far-right activist Hanamel Dorfman, in what became known as the 'wedding of hate.' Gopstein was filmed dancing at the wedding as guests waved firearms and stabbed a photograph of Ali Dawabsheh, the Palestinian toddler who was killed with his parents in an arson-murder carried out by far-right Jews. According to Haaretz news media, one source of this quote, "[s]even wedding attendees were later convicted of incitement to violence and terror. In the quote above, Gopstein explained his presence at the wedding.] | 2013 | Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | "The enemies within us [i.e. Israel] are a cancer, and if we don't get rid of this cancer, we won't be able to continue existing here as Jews. The Temple Mount has the largest cancer growth of them all... as long as the Israeli government fails to remove that growth from the Temple Mount, Israel will never be fully redeemed." [The Temple Mount is home to Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, which is the world's oldest Islamic structure in existence. On 14 January 2024, Bentzi Gopstein was convicted of incitement to racism based on numerous inflammatory public statements he made about Arabs between 2012 and 2017, including the one quoted above which was part of a speech Gopstein made in 2014, commemorating extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane.] | 2014 | Source Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | "The enemies within us are a cancer, and if we don't get rid of this cancer, we won't be able to continue existing here as Jews. The Temple Mount has the largest cancer growth of them all... as long as the Israeli government fails to remove that growth from the Temple Mount, Israel will never be fully redeemed." [Bentzi Gopstein made the statement above in a 2014 speech at a memorial ceremony for deceased extremist rabbi Meir Kahane. On 14 January 2024, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court found Gopstein guilty of incitement to racism based partially on this statement. In their ruling, judges stated that "all Arab Israelis were enemies in his eyes."] | 2014 | Source Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | Bentzi Gopstein said to Arab Israeli journalist Lucy Aharish, during an interview he was giving on Israel's Channel 2 (now Channel 12): "You're not supposed to be here" [in the Jewish state]. Aharish replied that she wasn't going anywhere. Gopstein: "We shall see." [On 14 January 2024, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court found Bentzi Gopstein guilty of incitement to racism. In their ruling, judges said, "all Arab Israelis were enemies in his eyes" and that, according to Gopstein, "there is no place to employ Arabs in senior positions in the country," referring to his remarks quoted above.] | 2014-07-?? | Source Source |
| Bentzi Gopstein | Advisor to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, prominent far-right Israeli activist | [The following quote is Bentzi Gopstein's response to reports that he advocated burning churches.] "The law is straightforward, Maimonides' interpretation is that one must burn idolatry. There's not a single rabbi that would deliberate that fact. I expect the government of Israel to carry that out." [Gopstein has stated, in this quote, that Christian churches are associated with idolatry and the government of Israel has a duty to burn all Christian churches. Maimonides, among other things, was one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages.] | 2015-08-06 | Source |
| Benzion Sanders | Israeli military veteran, anti-war activist | "When my Israeli infantry unit arrived at the first village in Gaza, in July 2014, we cleared houses by sending grenades through windows, blowing doors open and firing bullets into rooms to avoid ambush and booby traps. We were told Palestinian civilians had fled. "I realized this wasn't true as I stood over the corpse of an elderly Palestinian woman whose face had been mutilated by shrapnel. She had been lying on the sand floor of a shack, in a pool of blood. "That was my experience the last time Israeli troops entered the Gaza Strip in a large-scale way, when my special forces unit, attached to the 993rd Nahal Brigade, was one of the first to go in." | 2023-10-28 | Source |
| Benzion Sanders | Israeli military veteran, anti-war activist | "Our main task over the two weeks I was in the northern Gaza Strip [as a soldier with an Israeli military special forces unit] was to clear and secure a perimeter in urban areas to enable combat engineers to identify and demolish tunnels leading into Israel. We never wanted to stay stationary and become easy targets, so we would take up positions in a new house every night. "As we withdrew from Beit Hanoun, we heard the roar of [Israeli] Air Force fighter jets overhead, followed by deafening explosions and towering plumes of debris and smoke rising from Al-Burrah. I later learned that in those moments, the airstrikes killed eight members of the Wahdan family, mostly women and children, whose home soldiers from my unit had occupied for days while the family was there." "At one point, I scribbled some thoughts on a piece of paper. I wrote that some members of my team had been tallying the number of soldiers killed and discussing whether this operation was worth the losses. 'I think it could be worth it,' I wrote, 'as long as we decisively eliminate the threat.' "That's the lie they told us, and the lie that's being repeated today: that we can decisively eliminate the threat of Hamas through a military operation. In the years since, Hamas has only grown stronger, despite our sacrifices and despite the death and destruction we had wrought on Gaza. "These periodic episodes of killing and destruction, which Israeli commentators and politicians cynically call 'mowing the lawn,' have been a price Israel was willing to pay to avoid being pushed toward a two-state solution. We chose to 'manage' the conflict through a combination of brute force and economic incentives, instead of working to solve it by ending our perpetual occupation of Palestinian territory." | 2023-10-28 | Source |
| Bernie Sanders | United States Senator from Vermont | Interviewer: "Do you support a ceasefire? And if not, why not?" Sanders: "Well, I don't know how you can have a ceasefire, permanent ceasefire, with an organization like Hamas- which is dedicated to turmoil and chaos and destroying the state of Israel. And I think what the Arab countries in the region understand is that Hamas has got to go. So, what we need right now, the immediate task right now, is to end the bombing, end the horrific humanitarian disaster, to build, go forward, with the entire world, for a two-tier, two-state solution to the crisis, to give the Palestinian people hope." | 2023-11-05 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Bernie Sanders | United States Senator from Vermont | Interviewer: "I know you know the definition of genocide. It is defined as a crime committed with intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Do you think that's what Israel is doing here?" Sanders: "What's going on right now is a horror show. We don't have to quibble about words. Thousands of men, women, and children are being killed. It has got to end right now. And one of the things that concerns me, Dana, is that there has not been enough talk about what right-wing Republicans are doing right now. They don't want any aid to go to the Palestinians. Somebody should be talking about that. Somebody should be talking about how Trump wants to expel Palestinians from this country. So, it's– you can disagree with Joe Biden, but on his worst day, it'll be 100 times better than where Trump and the right-wing Republicans..." | 2023-11-05 | Source Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Bernie Sanders | United States Senator from Vermont | "In terms of a permanent ceasefire, I don't know how you could have a permanent ceasefire with Hamas who has said before October 7th, and after October 7th, that they want to destroy Israel. They want a permanent war. I don't know how you have a permanent ceasefire with an attitude like that." | 2023-12-10 | Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Bernie Sanders | United States Senator from Vermont | "What's going on [in Gaza] right now is absolutely outrageous. We've got to do everything that we can to end the slaughter of innocent men, women, and children. What I have supported, and I will work as hard as I can to get the Biden administration to support, is a UN- trying to bring about a ceasefire and a humanitarian pause or ceasefire, in order to provide the desperately needed aid that the Gazan people need. When you get to the word [genocide], I get a little bit queasy and I, you know, I don't know, what's genocide? You use the word, gotta be careful about that word, too..." [interrupted by hecklers in the audience]. | 2024-02-16 | Source Source Source |
| Betzalel Taljah | IDF soldier, violent settler from the South Hebron Hills | "I tried to correct you to the answer. The war is not just with Hamas. The war is with all the civilians that cannot see us as human beings. They want to kill us. Because what I saw in that place near Gaza. Civilians from Gaza came on bicycles, on bicycles, to the kibbutz just to kill and destroy. It's not just, you know like, people that are warriors of Hamas. I cannot even call them warriors, they are not warriors. Somebody that fights with kids and women is not a warrior. They are not warriors. They are nothing. They are monsters." | 2023-10-10 | Source Source Source Source |
| Betzalel Taljah | IDF soldier, violent settler from the South Hebron Hills | "It annoys me that I hear in the media, in the government, 'Hamas Hamas Hamas Hamas Hamas'. [I'm] fed up from hearing about Hamas. I'll tell you something, until Gaza is wiped off the face of the earth, no one will be safe here. They will do it to us again and again and again and again and again and again. Simply, we need to destroy Gaza, end this story, once and for all. To turn Gaza into a place with beaches, soccer fields. A place that is ours without anyone threatening to slaughter our children, kill our babies with a hoe, rape, loot, cut off organs. As long as Gaza is not erased, as long as it is not an inseparable part of the State of Israel, we simply will not live in security. This is the story. Friends, fight until there is no Gaza anymore. Until each of the kibbutzim there in the area, as far as I'm concerned, will live on a beach, as things should be. Because otherwise, we have no chance." | 2023-10-26 | Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "There is a broad consensus in Israel against a Palestinian state and the division of the land. Israel's friends should understand that the push for the establishment of a Palestinian state is a push for the next massacre, God forbid, and the risk of the existence of the State of Israel." [Translated from Hebrew by Google.] | 2024-01-20 | Source Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "We are rising, we have a nation of lions [and many children] are returning there [Gaza] as combat fighters. We must make sure they return there as settlers to protect the people of Israel." "Without settlements there is no security." | 2024-01-28 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "There will be a military administration in Gaza the day after the war ... We [the Israeli cabinet] all agree we must stay in Gaza. I have told everyone in the Ministerial Cabinet for Political and Security Affairs that I am not against bringing in a moderate party [to govern Gaza], but there is no such party. It's either us or Hamas and we committed to destroying Hamas and the military and civilian capabilities of Hamas." | 2024-01-28 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "We shouldn't allow the aid to UNRWA, because UNRWA is Hamas. I'm in favour that in order to keep the international law and to maintain our international backing, we'll get humanitarian aid into Gaza and we'll distribute it ourselves." | 2024-01-29 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "There will be an Israeli military regime in Gaza. Because it's agreed upon by all of us, that we need to stay in Gaza and rule there militarily. And we will not control it militarily, if we don't have civil control." | 2024-01-29 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | Interviewer: "Should Israel settle the Gaza Strip?" Smotrich: "Israel must control Gaza in the long run. We can't control it without civilian presence. Period. Why did Jenin and Tulkarem turn into terrorist strongholds? Because there's no permanent Jewish presence there." Interviewer: "So we should re-establish Gush Katif?" Smotrich: "Gush Katif was truly ridiculous, because it was a few tiny confined settlements, within a big area. We need to establish a proper Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip in order to ensure Jewish presence in the long term, so that terrorism can't develop there, because if we aren't there, if there are 2 million Nazis who want to wipe us out every day when they wake up in the morning, we won't exist. Period. We'll wake up in 10 or 15 years to another October 7th." | 2024-01-08 | Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | [During discussion in the Knesset of a contentious immigration bill introduced by the political opposition, Bezalel Smotrich shouted about the "need" to maintain Israel as a Jewish state.] "Yes, Jewish, with a Jewish majority. With security for the citizens of the State of Israel." [After being heckled by several Palestinian Knesset members, Smotrich angrily answered them with the suggestion that all Arabs should have been expelled from the region when the "State of Israel" was founded.] "I'm not speaking to you, anti-Zionists, terror supporters, enemies. You're here by mistake, it's a mistake that Ben-Gurion [Israel's first prime minister] didn't finish the job and didn't throw you out in 1948." | 2021-10-13 | Source Source Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "In war as in war, you have to be brutal. ... We need to deal a blow that hasn't been seen in 50 years and take down Gaza." | 2023-10-08 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "I welcome the initiative of Knesset Members Ram Ben Barak and Danny Danon [published in the Wall Street Journal] regarding the voluntary emigration of Gaza Arabs to the countries of the world. This is the right humanitarian solution for the people of Gaza and the entire region after 75 years of living as refugees in poverty and misery. The majority of Gaza's population are the 4th or 5th generation of the refugees of '48, who instead of being rehabilitated long ago on a personal and humane basis, like hundreds of millions of other refugees around the world, have been kept as hostages in Gaza under poverty and population density and were a symbol for the aspiration to annihilate the State of Israel and the return of the refugees to Jaffa, Haifa, Acre, and Tiberias. That's the reason for the intense hatred for the State of Israel and Jews on whose lap the population of Gaza has been educated, a hatred which is the only way to explain the cruelty of the horrible massacre committed by Hamas-ISIS against the citizens of Israel, as if Israel was the source of all their troubles, and in its destruction lies the solution. A small parcel of land like the Gaza Strip, devoid of natural resources or any independent sources for making a living, any prospects of existing independently, economically or politically, with such high population density, in the long term. Therefore the acceptance of refugees by the countries of the world who truly care about [Gazans'] wellbeing, with the support and generous economic support of the international community, including the State of Israel, is the only solution that will bring to an end the suffering of Jews and Arabs both. The State of Israel will not be able to accept any longer the existence of an independent entity in Gaza, which, as noted above, will inherently rely upon the hatred of Israel and an aspiration to destroy it." | 2023-11-14 | Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "I agree with every word of Giora Eiland in this article [in which Eiland called for targeting "the entire Gaza population" and causing "severe epidemics" to break out there]" | 2023-11-19 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "I don't see a big difference between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. The Arabs are the same Arabs. And the sea they want to throw us into, is the same sea." | 2023-11-04 | Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "My demand is that the Gaza Strip will no longer exist as an incubator where two million people are raised on hate and the aspiration to destroy Israel." | 2023-12-31 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "If there are only 100-200 thousand Arabs in Gaza instead of two million, the conversation about the day after will be different." | 2023-12-31 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation. There is no Palestinian history. There is no Palestinian language." | 2023-03-19 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people." | 2023-03-19 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | [According to a reporter for The Jewish Chronicle (The JC), in a speech delivered in Paris, Bezalel Smotrich said that international law sets out five characteristics of a state: history, culture, language, currency, and historical leadership.] "Who was the first Palestinian king? What language do the Palestinians have? Has there ever been a Palestinian currency? Is there a Palestinian history or culture? There isn't any. There are Arabs who are in the Middle East and who arrived in the Land of Israel at the same time as the Jewish aliyah [immigrants] and the early days of Zionism. After 2,000 years of exile, the people of Israel are returning home, and there are Arabs around who do not like it. So, what do they do? They invent a fictitious people and claim fictitious rights in the Land of Israel just to fight the Zionist movement." [Smotrich erred when listing the criteria for statehood under international law. Article 1 of the 1933 Convention on the Rights and Duties of States lists the FOUR criteria: "(a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.] | 2023-03-19 | Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "I am actually very sad that she [Ahed Tamimi] is under arrest [...]. In my opinion, she deserved a bullet, at the very least to the kneecap. That would put her under house arrest for the rest of her life." [Smotrich was responding on social media to a post on Twitter about Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian who was arrested at age 16 after the Israeli military had just shot her 15-year-old cousin in the head with a rubber-coated steel bullet, seriously wounding him (according to the family). Tamimi left her home to confront the soldiers and slapped one Israeli soldier. She was charged with, and convicted of (in a military court), assaulting a soldier, incitement, and interfering with a soldier in the line of duty. Tamimi was sentenced to eight months in prison. Twitter temporarily suspended Smotrich from using the social media platform because of his post suggesting Tamimi, a child, should have been shot by the Israeli military for slapping a soldier.] | 2018-04-21 | Source Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | [Following reports that there existed an unofficial policy of racial segregation in Israeli maternity wards, Smotrich attempted to justify the reality on Twitter.] "It's natural that my wife wouldn't want to lie down [in a bed] next to a woman who just gave birth to a baby who might want to murder her baby twenty years from now." "Arabs are my enemies and that's why I don't enjoy being next to them." | 2016-04-05 | Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "For victory we need to go into the north and fight Hezbollah and destroy them. We want victory! Let our heroic warriors win, restore our national honour, national pride and security and allow the heroic residents to return home safely. The people of Israel are behind you!" [Bezalel Smotrich made the preceding statement on "Jerusalem Day," an Israeli national holiday on which Israelis commemorate what they claim was the "reunification" of East Jerusalem (including the Old City) with West Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War but is more widely recognized (including under international law) as the illegal military occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967. During their speeches, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for an expansion of the "war" in Gaza by invading southern Lebanon (in an effort to end attacks on Israel by Hezbollah), to the enthusiastic praise of the enormous crowd. Smotrich directed his comments to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.] | 2024-06-05 | Source Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "For the deaths of little children, [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah should pay with his head." "[It is] time for action. Lebanon as a whole has to pay the price." [The above quote is from a social media post Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made in response to, what The Times of Israel reported as a "Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 11 people in the northern Druze town of Majdal Shams, most of them children and teens." Smotrich did not issue a similar call regarding the leader of Israel's culpability (or the nation of Israel as a whole) for the killings of dozens of Lebanese children by the Israeli military since 8 October 2023.] | 2024-07-27 | Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "IDF soldiers deserve respect. "IDF soldiers will not be arrested like the last of the criminals. "I call on the Military Advocate General, take your hands off our heroic fighters!" [Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli finance minister, made this statement in response to the news that at least nine Israeli military reservists were arrested by military police at the Sde Teiman concentration camp (referred to as "Israel's Guantanamo Bay") in the Negev desert where, according to numerous reports, Israel had detained thousands of kidnapped Gazans - blindfolded, handcuffed, and held without charge or legal representation. According to the military, the Israeli reservists who were arrested were being questioning as part of an investigation into "suspected substantial abuse of a detainee" at Sde Teiman.] [Articles in several Israeli media outlets reported that the Palestinian hostage had been hospitalized with a serious injury to his anus; some news outlets reported that the reservists were accused of sexually abusing the detainee. Medical officials at Beersheba's Soroka Medical Center told Israel's Channel 12 News that the Palestinian detainee arrived at their hospital with a severe injury to the buttocks and was barely able to walk. They stated that his injuries were not hemorrhoids or fissures and could not have been self-inflicted. ] [According to Israeli Military Prosecutor's Office senior officials who spoke to Israel's Channel 13, the hostage was "critically wounded" by the reservist soldiers under suspicion. Smotrich did not express shock out outrage at whomever was involved in the sexual torture of a kidnapped Palestinian but, instead, praised those suspected of the crime and elevated them to the status of heroes.] | 2024-07-29 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "Connecting Gush Etzion to Jerusalem - a national mission! "Today the Civil Administration finished its professional work and published a new blue line for the settlement of Nahal Heletz in Gush Etzion. "The publication of the blue line makes it possible to initiate the procedures for establishing the settlement of Nahal Heletz, one of the settlements that the [Israeli] cabinet decided upon as part of the establishment of five new settlements [in Yhanda and Samaria] [...]. Connecting Gush Etzion to Jerusalem by establishing a new settlement is a historic moment. "[...] No anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist decision will stop the further development of the settlement. We will continue to fight the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state and establish facts on the ground. This is my life's mission and I will continue it as much as I can. "[...] Together we will continue to make Zionism. We will build, open, fight and win." [Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich – who was also given settlement planning approval control in the occupied West Bank by Prime Minister Netanyahu - made the preceding statement in response to an August 2024 announcement that Israel's Civil Administration had formally designated a 148-acre plot of land for the first settlement (Nahal Heletz) to be built from scratch in the West Bank since 2017. All of Israel's settlements in the West Bank (which Israel has occupied since 1967) are illegal under international law, whether they have Israeli planning permission or not. In July 2024, the International Court of Justice confirmed this when it issued a non-binding opinion declaring Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and its settlements there, to be in violation of international law. The international court called for for Israel to end its presence in the territories as soon as possible and to provide full reparations for the damage it had caused.] [One month after Smotrich's announcement about building Nahal Haletz, on 18 September 2024, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution that demanded Israel "brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence" in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, within 12 months. The resolution also demanded Israel withdraw its military forces; immediately cease all new settlement activity; evacuate all settlers from occupied land; dismantle parts of the separation wall it constructed inside the occupied West Bank; and return land and other "immovable property", as well as all assets seized since the occupation began in 1967, and all cultural property and assets taken from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions.] [Peace Now, an organization that campaigns against illegal settlements on Palestinian territory, voiced numerous objections to Nahal Heletz settlement, one being that the land it will occupy belongs to Battir, which was designated as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2014 under the name "Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir" for the area's ancient agricultural stone terraces, irrigation system, and architecture. In July 2024, UNESCO decided to retain this site in Battir on the List of World Heritage in Danger. It stated it "takes note with concern the reports of ongoing illegal constructions, settlements and other developments within the property and its buffer zone, and asks all parties to avoid any action that would cause damage to the property." ] | 2024-08-14 | Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "We bring in aid [to Gaza] because there is no choice. We can't, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody [in the world] will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned." [On 9 July 2024, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights reported that a group of independent experts declared, "Israel's intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza. [...]" | 2024-08-05 | Source Source Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | "We bring in aid [i.e., to Gaza] because there is no choice. We can't, in the current global reality, manage a war. Nobody [in the world] will let us cause 2 million civilians to die of hunger, even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned." [On 9 July 2024, the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights reported that a group of independent experts declared, "that Israel's intentional and targeted starvation campaign against the Palestinian people is a form of genocidal violence and has resulted in famine across all of Gaza. [...]" | 2024-08-05 | Source Source Source Source |
| Bezalel Smotrich | Israeli Minister of Finance, Israeli Minister in the Defense Ministry | [The following quote from Bezalel Smotrich is from a speech delivered at a 2017 conference of the National Union faction, which had members in Israel's parliament as part of the Jewish Home Party. The National Union had just unanimously approved a plan to essentially annex the Occupied Palestinian Territories. "The Decision Plan," as it was called, aimed to "alter the discourse and present a true alternative to any plan based on dividing the land [of "Israel"] according to a National Union statement. Smotrich explained the purpose of the plan, and how It would work, to those assembled.] "After a hundred years of managing the conflict [between Israel and Palestine] the time has come for a decision. The principles [of the left] have within a few years become accepted by growing parts of the Israeli leadership. First on the left, and later, unfortunately, also on the right, which to a great extent has lost its belief in the justice of our path and has been dragged toward the two-state solution. "The vision of the decision plan is not new. These are the foundations on which Zionism was erected. We do not assume that there are two narratives here that are equal. There's one side that's correct, and another that is undermining the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state. "We have to engrave in the consciousness of the Arabs and the entire world that there is no chance of establishing an Arab [Palestinian] state in the Land of Israel. "Two alternatives will be offered to the Arabs of the Land of Israel: "1. Anyone who is willing and able to relinquish the fulfillment of his national aspirations [the desire to be a citizen of the State of Palestine, one day] will be able to stay here and live as an individual in the Jewish state. "2. Anyone who is unwilling or unable to relinquish his national aspirations will receive assistance from us to emigrate to one of the Arab countries. "Anyone who insists on choosing the third 'option' – to continue to resort to violence against the Israel Defense Forces, the State of Israel and the Jewish population will be determinedly handled by the security forces with greater force than at present and under more comfortable conditions for us." | 2017-09-12 | Source Source Source |
| Binyamin ("Rosky/Roski") Eshet | Zionist soldier who joined Palmach in 1948; fought with Yiftach Brigade, 3rd Battalion, "Galilee" | [The following quotation is from an interview Israeli scholars Ilan Pappé and Eyal Sivan conducted at Kibbutz Palmachim with Binyamin Rosky, a former Zionist soldier who confessed to being in Lydda when the massacre at Lydda's great mosque took place, in 1948, during the Zionist conquest of Palestine.] Rosky: "There is something. I'm not going to tell you what happened or did not happen; it does not matter." Interviewer: "What is it?" Rosky: "Drop it." Interviewer: "What about the massacre in the mosque?" Rosky: "You said it, not me. They [Palestinians in Lydda] fled to the mosque, they thought it was the safest place, where they would not be killed. They thought Israelis will not destroy a mosque." [They were wrong. Israeli historian Ilan Pappe states that ample scholarly and journalistic evidence exist to believe 250 men, women, and children who had taken refuge in Lydda's mosque were massacred.] | 2012-07-26 | Source Source |
| Boaz Bismuth | Israeli Member of Knesset | "We must not forget that the cruel and monstrous 'innocent civilians' from Gaza had an active role in the pogrom inside the Israeli settlements, in the systematic murder of Jews and the spilling of their blood, the kidnapping of kids, elderly, and mothers, and in the tying up of babies and burning them alive! It is forbidden to show mercy to the cruel, there is no place for any humanitarian gesture- the memory of Amalek must be wiped out." | 2023-10-16 | Source Source |
| Chaim (Haim) Levy | Former Commander of Israeli Border Police's southern company | [The following quotes are from the transcript of a trial that took place in Israel in 1957. The defendants were Israeli border policemen who shot and killed almost 50 Israeli Arabs in the town of Kafr Qasem (including elderly, children, and a pregnant woman) after the civilians unknowingly violated a curfew. On 29 October 1956, the Israeli Border Police Commander decided to change the curfew time, without notifying the many villagers who were out working in the fields. At that time, Chaim Levy was the commander of the border police's southern company. Attorney Asher Levitsky: "You always [say] the commander [of the Israeli Border Police] allegedly said that it's best if there be some casualties." [The commander referred to was Colonel Issachar 'Yiska' Shadmi, who oversaw the sector that included Kafr Qasem.] Chaim Levy: "He said, 'It's desirable that there be some fatalities.'" [Regarding the shooting of civilians who were unaware of the curfew change and were returning from the fields after curfew, Levy confirmed the order he received.] Levy: "The same goes for them as anyone else." Attorney: "Doesn't your reason tell you that 'violating a curfew' means by someone who knows that there is a curfew?" Levy: "Yes." Attorney: "How can you say that someone told you to kill people who don't know that there is a curfew?" Levy: "Because I was given such an order... Today I find this unreasonable. At the time, I thought it was reasonable." Attorney: "From what you understood, the policy was to get rid of Arabs?" Levy: "The company commander said that the eastern side [i.e. to Jordan] should be open. When they want to leave, they'll leave... I understood that it would be no great calamity if they took this opportunity to go away." [Here, Levy referred to a plan Israel had devised to deport the Arabs of the Little Triangle area in central Israel to Jordan. This plan was code-named Hafarperet (Mole).] Attorney: "What do Arabs fleeing have to do with the order to shoot curfew violators?" Levy: "The connection is that as a result, part of the population would get scared and decide that it's best to live on the other side. That's how I interpret it." Attorney: "Enforcing the curfew could have helped increase the desire to flee in relation to Mole?" [In other words, encourage the expulsion of the Arabs.] Levy: "Yes." [The transcript from this trial remained classified for 66 years, but photos from the scene of the massacre were not declassified when the court transcript was.] | 1957 | Source |
| Chaim Weizmann | Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader, first president of Israel | [Ivan Maisky (Maiskii), the Soviet ambassador in London in 1941, wrote in his diary about a conversation he had with Zionist Chaim Weizmann regarding the settlement of Jews in Palestine and the "transfer" (i.e. forced displacement) of the Palestinian population who inhabited the land. The following quotes encapsulate Weitzmann's contribution to the conversation.] "If half a million Arabs could be transferred [from Palestine], two million Jews [i.e., Jewish immigrants] could be put in their place. That, of course, would be a first instalment ..." "[I also propose] to move a million Arabs ... to Iraq, and to settle four or five million Jews from Poland and other countries on the land where these Arabs were." [When Maisky asked how four to five million Jews could successfully settle on lands previously inhabited by just one million Arabs, Weizmann laughed.] "Oh, don't worry. The Arab is often called the son of the desert. It would be truer to call him the father of the desert. His laziness and primitivism turn a flourishing garden into a desert. Give me the land occupied by a million Arabs, and I will easily settle five times that number of Jews on it. The only thing is, how do we obtain this land?" [Weizmann shook his head sadly.] | 1941-02-03 | Source Source |
| Chaim Weizmann | Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader, first president of Israel | In its initial stage, Zionism was conceived by its pioneers as a movement wholly depending on mechanical factors: there is a country which happens to be called Palestine, a country without a people, and, on the other hand, there exists the Jewish people, and it has no country. What else is necessary, then, than to fit the gem into the ring, to unite this people with this country? The owners of the country [the Ottomans] must, therefore, be persuaded and convinced that this marriage is advantageous, not only for the [Jewish] people and for the country, but also for themselves. | 1914-03-28 | Source Source Source |
| Chaim Weizmann | Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader, first president of Israel | [Chaim Weizmann opposed the establishment of both a bi-national state (made up of Zionists and Palestinians) and self-government for the Palestinians in Palestine. He considered Palestinians backward, and democracy inappropriate for them because of that. The following statements are from an interview Weizmann did with Ronald Campbell in April 1917.] "Constitutional government is not a panacea. . . in a country like Palestine 'democracy' cannot be introduced by decree. In most non-European countries Parliamentary government has proved a sheer farce." "Whatever Assembly is created [in Palestine], its Arab side will merely be a gathering of feudal effendis ... They are too primitive... and too much under the influence of Bolshevik, Catholic agitation... to understand what we are bringing them." "We wish to spare the Arabs as much as we can of the sufferings which every backward race has gone through on the coming of another, more advanced nation... we must not be driven into the position where any Arab complaint is considered sufficient ground for impeding our work [i.e., establishing a Zionist state]... a Jew must be able to buy land from an Arab...and must not be made responsible for what may or may not happen to the willing seller, or possibly to his grandchildren." | 1917-04-25 | Source |
| Chaim Weizmann | Russian-born biochemist, Zionist leader, first president of Israel | [According to Arthur Ruppin, head of the colonizing department of the Jewish Agency, Chaim Weizmann made the following statement when asked about the fate of Palestinian Arabs living in the region Zionists wanted to claim.] "The British told us that there are there some hundred thousands negroes and for those there is no value." | 1936-05-20 | Source Source |
| Chen Goldstein-Almog | Former social worker, abducted (with three of her children) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel 10/7/2023; released from captivity 11/26/2023 | [While in captivity, Chen and her daughter, Agam, believed their captors were growing fond of them. The captors gave Chen a warning, which she recounts in the following quote.] "'We love you, don't go home. Go to Tel Aviv, don't return to Kfar Aza' [the captors told me]. They have plans to come back, there should be no illusion. However much we strike them, they're not bowing down, they'll come back more [next time], that's what they said. They are intoxicated by October 7." | 2024-01-23 | Source Source |
| Chen Goldstein-Almog | Former social worker, abducted (with three of her children) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel 10/7/2023; released from captivity 11/26/2023 | [Goldstein-Almog said that while she and three of her children were held hostage in Gaza, they were frequently moved from one location to another by heavily armed captors, who didn't always seem to know what to do. Goldstein-Almog describes one such move:] "It was the middle of the night. Everything was dark. They [the captors] started deliberating among themselves. I could see the helplessness on their faces. When we were out into the street, in total darkness, there was a shot above us, We were pressed against the wall, and I could see a laser pointer, as if we were being targeted from above. [She realised it was her country's air force above them, shooting.] "It was crazy, this absurdity." | 2023-12-15 | Source |
| Chen Goldstein-Almog | Former social worker, abducted (with three of her children) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel 10/7/2023; released from captivity 11/26/2023 | [About the Israeli military bombing she experienced as a hostage in Gaza:] "It's crazy booms, they're physical. It's panic, it's dread, it's something physical that would take us a while to calm down from. It's something we couldn't control, and we live in the Gaza periphery, we know what it's like." | 2023-12-23 | Source |
| Chen Goldstein-Almog | Former social worker, abducted (with three of her children) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel 10/7/2023; released from captivity 11/26/2023 | [Goldstein-Almog recounted a time when she and her children were being held by resistance soldiers close to a supermarket and Israeli airstrikes exploded nearby. Her family tried to protect themselves by hiding under mattresses.] "...and then our guards, our captors, the terrorists, were on top of us, protecting us with their bodies from the strikes. We were very valuable to them." | 2023-12-23 | Source Source |
| Chen Goldstein-Almog | Former social worker, abducted (with three of her children) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel 10/7/2023; released from captivity 11/26/2023 | "I would have expected the liberation of the hostages to be the top priority [for Israel's government] and for the government to say: 'First of all, we have to get them out of there.' And not: 'First we have to destroy Hamas.' The conditions there are really, really tough. We were often hungry, there was hardly any fresh air, there was intense fighting all around us. We were constantly afraid. We must free [the hostages] at all costs. It is our moral obligation as a country towards the hostages, they are women, children, elderly people, soldiers. Yes, children! We have no right to exist as a country if we don't free them. The women there are doing everything they can to survive, to function, with their wounds and with their disabilities, even though one of the women has lost her fingers. So, are we doing everything for them too? That's what I'm asking. [...] I feel anger that we were abandoned on October 7 and that seven weeks had to pass before we were released. How could our political leadership abandon us like that, why are they still abandoning the hostages who have already been in captivity for a quarter of a year?" | 2024-02-05 | Source |
| Chen Goldstein-Almog | Former social worker, abducted (with three of her children) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel 10/7/2023; released from captivity 11/26/2023 | Interviewer: "You probably tried to keep the terrorists in a good mood?" Goldstein-Almog: "Yes. We tried to talk to them. Those were difficult conversations. Sometimes, it was about the roots of the conflict. They said that we had started in 1948, that we had killed their grandparents, we expelled them. Agam [Chen's teenaged daughter] and I usually stopped the discussion at this point because we didn't want to get to bad places with them. It always created a tense atmosphere." [...] Interviewer: "And at the same time, the war was raging around you. Were you afraid that a bomb might fall on the house?" Goldstein-Almog: "Yes, it was very frightening. During the day, it was relatively quiet, but at night there was a lot of shelling from [Israeli] fighter jets and artillery. We heard other apartments around us being hit. And we were also afraid all the time that our guards would turn against us. We understood that they were just cogs in the system and that they would kill us if they were ordered to do so. We sometimes asked them about it. But they replied: 'No, we're looking after you. We will die, you will not die.' At one point they said: 'We're going to die together.'" | 2024-02-05 | Source |
| Chen Goldstein-Almog | Former social worker, abducted (with three of her children) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel 10/7/2023; released from captivity 11/26/2023 | [Chen Goldstein-Almog said that while they were held captive in Gaza, her daughter, Agam, was concerned about Prime Minister Netanyahu's talk of aiming to overthrow Hamas. If he succeeded, and killed her captors, Agam wondered what would happen to her.] "We have received answers for such questions here in Israel. Without our captors, we would have been killed by the fire of our own forces." | 2023 | Source |
| Chen Goldstein-Almog | Former social worker, abducted (with three of her children) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel 10/7/2023; released from captivity 11/26/2023 | [Chen Goldstein-Almog said there were times when her captors displayed "sensitivity and care" and one of the gunmen apologized for the killing of her husband.] "We saw [our captors] cry, we saw them miss their wives. We saw them writing letters to their wives and putting them in their pockets. We were worried about this, thinking why are you writing a letter now?" [After about five weeks in captivity, Chen and her children were moved to another location – a supermarket a 40-minute walk away. They had the opportunity to witness, for the first time, the damage caused by the Israeli military offensive.] "I saw a lot of devastation and destruction. It made me feel terrible seeing such poverty. It was very difficult to see that. It was not a great feeling of: 'Oh great, we Israelis showed them.'" [Later, Chen said, the three guards apologized for making the family sleep in the storage room at a supermarket.] [Note: The news source this quote was taken from, gave Chen the surname "Almog-Goldstein," as do some outer sources. Many, however, including the list of released hostages, refer to her as "Goldstein-Almog."] | 2024-03-03 | Source |
| Chen Goldstein-Almog | Former social worker, abducted (with three of her children) from Kibbutz Kfar Aza in southern Israel 10/7/2023; released from captivity 11/26/2023 | "Whenever I'm talking about a shock wave from a bombing, what it actually means is that doorframes get blown out, windows shatter and the Palestinians just put some blankets up, fix it up to the best of their ability, and carry on. But the bodily toll it took on us [while captives in Gaza] was unimaginable." [Note: The news source this quote was taken from, gave Chen the surname "Almog-Goldstein," as do some outer sources. Many, however, including the list of released hostages, refer to her as "Goldstein-Almog."] | 2024-03-03 | Source |
| Chen Kugel | Director of Israel's National Center of Forensic Medicine | "We did a lot of work in the past nine days... Now we are at a peak, the rate of identification will decline as we are reaching the hard cases. I'm afraid there will be some [victims] that we will never find, and we will never be able to identify... People have to be prepared for this." | 2023-10-17 | Source |
| Chuck Schumer | United States Senator | "You know, my name... comes from the word 'shomer', guardian, watcher. My ancestors were guardians of the ghetto wall in Chortkov. And I believe Hashem [Orthodox Jewish term for "God"] actually gave me that name. One of my roles, very important in the United States Senate, is to be a shomer – to be a shomer Yisrael [i.e., the guardian of Israel]. And I will continue to be that with every bone in my body." | 2010 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Col. A. | Israeli representative of COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) | Interviewer Nir Gontarz: "Hello to Col. A., a representative of COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories), which is responsible for supervising the transfer of aid into Gaza. Is there hunger in the Gaza Strip today?" Col. A: "To the best of my understanding, and according to all the analyses we have conducted, there is no hunger in Gaza, and for sure the population is not being starved." Interviewer: "Israel says that 70 tons of food have entered the Gaza Strip since the war began. Divide that by 90 days of fighting, and then among 2.3 million people, and you get less than 350 grams per day per person." Col. A: "Before the war, the Strip was bursting with food. The warehouses and the supermarkets were full. Both in the private sector, among the farmers, and in the UN's warehouses. The food industry worked vigorously – so that calculation is nonsense. There were stockpiles of food in Gaza. Don't forget that this is an Arab, Gazan population whose DNA is to hoard, certainly when it comes to food." | 2024-01-12 | Source Source |
| Dan Gillerman | Former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations | "I am very puzzled by the constant concern which the world is showing for the Palestinian people and is actually showing for these horrible inhuman animals who have done the worst atrocities that this century has seen." | 2023-10-25 | Source Source Source Source |
| Dan Halutz | Former Lt. Gen. of Israeli Air Force, Former IDF Chief of Staff, Former Commander of Israeli Air Force | "There will be no image of victory because the image reflects the loss of 1,300 lives and 240 prisoners, despite their return, and approximately 200,000 refugees who failed to return to their homes." | 2023-12-26 | Source Source |
| Dan Halutz | Former Lt. Gen. of Israeli Air Force, Former IDF Chief of Staff, Former Commander of Israeli Air Force | "Operation Iron Swords will not produce an image of victory, but only an image of defeat." | 2023-12-26 | Source |
| Dan Halutz | Former Lt. Gen. of Israeli Air Force, Former IDF Chief of Staff, Former Commander of Israeli Air Force | "For me, the picture of victory will be when Prime Minister Netanyahu steps down." | 2023-12-26 | Source Source Source |
| Dan Illouz | Canadian-born Israeli politician, Knesset member (2023- ) | "The burden of consequence [of the internal displacement of Gazans during genocide] should not fall on Israel's shoulders alone. Why is the world silent on providing sanctuary? Nations worldwide must step up. Open your gates. Welcome Palestinians fleeing Hamas' tyranny and share the load in this humanitarian effort. "It's time to dismantle the infrastructures, such as UNRWA, that perpetuate their [i.e. Palestinians] suffering and offer them a chance to thrive in free societies. UNRWA has been perpetuating the Palestinian refugee crisis, defining children of refugees as refugees, instead of encouraging their integration. They use Palestinians as pawns in a public relations battle against Israel. This should stop. "The world needs to wake up and take responsibility for the refugees by integrating them in various countries. That is not just Israel's fight. It's a call to humanity to stand against terrorism and oppression. By providing Palestinians with true refuge, we counteract Hamas' malice. Let's unite to bring them dignity, safety, and a new start. Open your gates and let's end this humanitarian crisis together." | 2023-12-10 | Source |
| Daniel "Danny" Ayalon | Former Israeli Ambassador to US, Former Deputy Foreign Minister | "The residents of Gaza must evacuate their homes just as the residents of Israel near the border evacuated. The Gazans have large spaces in the Sinai where they can evacuate, the international community will mobilise and set up tent cities for them if necessary and ensure that their immediate needs are met." | 2023-10-11 | Source |
| Daniel "Danny" Neuman | Israeli sports commentator | "I tell you, in Gaza, without exception, they are all terrorists, sons of dogs. They must be exterminated, all of them killed. We will flatten Gaza, turn them to dust, and the army will cleanse the area. Then we will start building new areas for us, above all, for our security." | 2023-12-13 | Source |
| Daniel Hagari | Rear Admiral, Head of IDF Spokesperson's Unit | "As a moral military committed to international law, we are making vast efforts to minimize harm to the civilians that Hamas has forced into the role of human shields. Hamas attacks Israelis and then takes shelter behind Gazans because Hamas seeks the suffering of Israelis and Gazans." | 2024-01-11 | Source |
| Daniel Hagari | Rear Admiral, Head of IDF Spokesperson's Unit | "Every building that falls in Gaza is a building from which Hamas executes their terrorist activities." | 2023-10-22 | Source |
| Daniel Hagari | Rear Admiral, Head of IDF Spokesperson's Unit | "We will never forget what they did. The world will never forget what they did." | 2023-10-23 | Source |
| Daniel Hagari | Rear Admiral, Head of IDF Spokesperson's Unit | "The emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy." | 2023-10-09 | Source |
| Daniel Hagari | Rear Admiral, Head of IDF Spokesperson's Unit | "The goal that has been outlined in the IDF is that on the day after the war, every being left in Gaza will understand the price of starting a war with the State of Israel... Throughout the past 24 hours, we have been conducting aerial strikes- destructive aerial operations that include thousands of armaments. To put that in perspective, the pace of the strikes is five times that of the strikes on Hezbollah in the Second Lebanon War. I repeat, five times what it was against Hezbollah in the Second Lebanon War." | 2023-10-09 | Source |
| Daniel Hagari | Rear Admiral, Head of IDF Spokesperson's Unit | [Noa Marciano, age 19, in the Israeli military's Combat Intelligence Collections Corps of 414th Regiment, was serving on the Nahal Oz Israeli military base when she was abducted to Gaza on 10/7/2023. On 11/13/20213, Hamas released a pre-recorded video of Marciano in which she provided identifying information, stated she was being held in Gaza, and pleaded with the Israeli military to stop bombarding the area. The video then cut to an image of what appeared to be her lifeless body. Hamas claimed Marciano had been killed in a bombing attack by the Israeli military. While Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israeli military, stated it was Hamas that killed Marciano, he did admit that the place where she was being held hostage was bombed by the Israeli military, while Marciano was there, and her captor was killed.] "Noa was abducted to a hiding apartment near Shifa, and during IDF attacks in the area, the Hamas terrorist who held her was killed, and Noa was injured - but not in a life-threatening manner." [Translation from Hebrew by ChatGPT.] | 2023-11-19 | Source Source Source |
| Daniel Hagari | Rear Admiral, Head of IDF Spokesperson's Unit | "During the fighting in Shijaiyah, the IDF inadvertently identified three kidnapped Israelis as a threat. As a result, the IDF fired at them and they were killed. ... This is a sad and painful event for all of us, and the IDF bears responsibility for everything that happened. ... This is an area where the soldiers encountered many terrorists, including suicide bombers. ... [when asked how the hostages were able to escape Hamas captivity] the three fled or were abandoned by the terrorists who held them captive. ... after the shooting, during a scan and examination, an immediate suspicion arose regarding the identity of the dead, and their bodies were quickly transferred for examination in Israel, where the hostages were identified." | 2023-12-15 | Source Source Source |
| Daniella Weiss | Israeli Orthodox Zionist settler activist | "Millions of war refugees go from country to country around the world. Only the monsters who grew in Gaza and turned this beautiful part of the land into a ghost land - only they should be connected to it? They, specifically, can't move from a land they turned into hell and from where they threaten to destroy Israel? Only the people of Israel will settle the entire Gaza Strip and will rule the entire Gaza Strip." | 2024-01-28 | Source Source |
| Daniella Weiss | Israeli Orthodox Zionist settler activist | [In January 2024, Daniella Weiss helped organize a "Settlements Bring Security" conference, which called for Israel to rebuild settlements in Gaza and the Occupied West Bank. Following the conference, Weiss was interviewed and asked, if Gaza was settled by Israelis, what would happen to the two million Palestinians already living in Gaza.] Weiss: "The Arabs will move." Interviewer: "Why do you say that?" Weiss: "If you don't give them, if you don't give...We want to have our hostages back, right? So, we don't give them food. We don't give the Arabs anything. They will have to leave. The world will accept them." | 2024-01-28 | Source Source Source Source |
| Daniella Weiss | Israeli Orthodox Zionist settler activist | [Daniella Weiss in interview with Arutz Sheva (Channel 7 Israeli National News) says Israel's goal of eradicating Hamas is not enough.] "[...] we should have another goal, and this is to resettle the settlements, the places, the cities that were evacuated - wrongly evacuated - and to plan the entire area of the Strip as a nice, growing, Jewish - it's a part of Israel, for Jews. I think the Arabs will not – in spite of the fact there are big numbers of Arabs – two million – they will not stay in Gaza, they will go to Egypt, to Turkey, to Germany, to Holland, to Britain, and to the Americas, and they will not stay here. [...Even] now when I see on the T.V. the situation of the Arab refugees, and I think we shouldn't help them. We should create a problem, a humanitarian problem that will force Egypt and Turkey and Europe to absorb as refugees, as they absorb from Syria. [...The] next step is the – after the total, complete victory of the IDF in Gaza – the next stage is establishing Jewish communities in Gaza itself, in the city of Gaza, in [...] all the beautiful places I saw with my own eyes, we want to return there." [Weiss directs the next statement to U.S. President Joe Biden.] "Don't think that we will stop the war in Gaza before we put a total end to Hamas, to the supporters of Hamas, AND resettling the entire area of Gaza by Jews." | 2023-12-17 | Source |
| Daniella Weiss | Israeli Orthodox Zionist settler activist | "Gaza must be erased so the settlers can see the sea. The situation needs to end. What we did in Northern Gaza, we must do in the south of Gaza, evacuating Gaza of Arabs and building Jewish settlements in all of Gaza because the Settlers of the Gaza Strips want – they want to see the sea. In order to see the sea, all the homes in Gaza must be destroyed. There are no homes or Arabs left in Gaza. This is a logical and romantic demand. The Settlers want to see the sea. How will they do it? In the south of Gaza? We, the Settlers will see the sea. Gaza is a Jewish city. Gaza is not a Hamas city. Gaza is one of the cities of Israel. We will simply go back there. A historical mistake has occurred now we correct it." [Weiss' interview begins at 00:12:27 on the first linked source: CNN's "The Majority Report."] | 2023-12-22 | Source Source Source |
| Daniella Weiss | Israeli Orthodox Zionist settler activist | [In March 2024, while Israel's most recent military campaign of destruction in Gaza was in its sixth month, Zionist settler Daniella Weiss was busy encouraging and organizing Zionist re-settlement there. She claimed to possess a list of 500 families ready to move to Gaza immediately.] Weiss: "Gaza Arabs will not stay in the Gaza Strip. Who will stay? Jews." "The world is wide. Africa is big. Canada is big. The world will absorb the people of Gaza. How we do it? We encourage it. Palestinians in Gaza, the good ones, will be enabled. I'm not saying forced, I say enabled [to leave their Palestinian homeland] because they want to go." [The interviewer told Weiss her comments sounded like a plan for ethnic cleansing.] Weiss: "You can call it ethnic cleansing. I repeat again, the Arabs do not want, normal Arabs do not want to live in Gaza. If you want to call it cleansing, if you want to call it apartheid, you choose your definition. I choose the way to protect the state of Israel. " | 2024-03-?? | Source |
| Daniella Weiss | Israeli Orthodox Zionist settler activist | [Weiss was interviewed by Israeli journalist Bradley Burston.] Interviewer: "Would you like Israel to expand further, beyond Gaza, beyond Judea and Samaria? Would you like Israel to extend beyond the Jordan River?" Weiss: "Yes, I want to have for the Jewish nation the promised land from the Bible, the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the Euphrates to the Nile. And I'm sure it will be [...]." Interviewer: "What about southern Lebanon?" Weiss: "It is part of it. All of it. Even parts of Syria. Part of Iraq. Part of Iran. It's huge! This is the promised land [...]. I don't see anything extreme in my approach. This is the basic Jewish approach. The clearer we make this point, the better it will be for all of us – for Jews and Arabs alike. That this is going to be a state just for Jews." Interviewer: "What will life be like in that future Israel?" Weiss: "I believe that the future of the state of Israel is a religious country run by religious laws. Yes. So, I believe." | 2019-03-24 | Source Source |
| Daniella Weiss | Israeli Orthodox Zionist settler activist | [Interview with Israeli journalist Bradley Burston.] Weiss: "[By] no means [can we] enlarge the right of Arabs [who live in Israel] to vote for the Knesset, God forbid, to Arabs who live here [in the West Bank]." Interviewer: "Why should the Palestinians agree to this [living in the West Bank, alongside settler Jews, but lacking the right to vote in national elections]?" Weiss: "If we utter these words clearly, and we are self-confident that this is the truth - and it's not anti-democratic, and it's not against human pride – then the Arabs will be affected by it. They will know that the Jews have come here to stay. For good. Forever." | 2019-03-24 | Source |
| Daniella Weiss | Israeli Orthodox Zionist settler activist | [Interview with Israeli journalist Bradley Burston.] Weiss: "It is very clear to me why the young Jewish generation in the United States in North America are very much aggravated by what people like me do here. It's very clear. People say to me, why don't you explain to the Jews of the United States what it is exactly behind your thinking?' I explain [she laughs], 'You have to brainwash all the time. You have to say it, to explain it, to live it, to cope with it.' "You know, we have a family confrontation. My husband says to me every week, 'Why do you speak to your children all the time about Zionism, pioneers in Judea and Samaria [Occupied West Bank], settling and settling?' [...] Because this is the only way to continue Zionism. If there is no enthusiasm, there is no sex. If there is no sex, there is no pregnancy. If there is no pregnancy, there are no babies. This is the problem in the United States today. "[...] Now, you may ask [she says to journalist Bradley Burston], [...] 'Why didn't the brainwashing work on me?' Because I didn't do it on you. Two hours of a meeting is not brainwashing. I do it to my children a few hours every day. My husband says to me, 'What do you do all the time?' I brainwash." | 2019-03-24 | Source |
| Daniella Weiss | Israeli Orthodox Zionist settler activist | "Let's go with the times and say, 'Okay, [the West Bank] is going to stay in Israeli hands. So, I say, give them [Palestinians] the vote. Let them vote in Israeli elections." Weiss: "The land of Israel is only for the Jewish nation as far as sovereignty is concerned. Arabs can live here. They can have their rights, human rights, education, and culture, but not sovereignty." | 2019-03-24 | Source Source |
| Danielle Aloni | Israeli hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive with her 5-year-old daughter 10/7/2023, released 11/24/2023 | "[In a video taken while in Hamas captivity] Hello Bibi Netanyahu, we have been held captive by Hamas for 23 days. We know that there was supposed to be a ceasefire and you were supposed to set us all free. You vowed to free us all. Instead, we are suffering because of your political, security, and military failure. We are citizens who pay taxes to the State of Israel. We are now in captivity. You are killing us. Do you want to kill us? Do you want the army to kill us? Isn't it enough that you killed everyone? ... Release us now! Release their prisoners and citizens! Set us all free!" | 2023-10-30 | Source Source |
| Danielle Aloni | Israeli hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive with her 5-year-old daughter 10/7/2023, released 11/24/2023 | "To the generals who have accompanied me in recent weeks, it seems we will part ways tomorrow, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your extraordinary humanity shown towards my daughter, Emilia. You were like parents to her, inviting her into your rooms whenever she desired. She acknowledges feeling like all of you are her friends, not just friends, but truly beloved and good. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the many hours you spent as caregivers. Thank you for being patient with her and showering her with sweets, fruits, and everything available even when it was not. Children should not be in captivity, but thanks to you and other kind people we met along the way, my daughter felt like a queen in Gaza... In general, she acknowledges feeling like the centre of the world. She hasn't met anyone on our long journey, from the rank and file to the leadership, who didn't treat her with gentleness, affection, and love. I will forever be a prisoner of gratitude because she did not leave here with a lifelong psychological trauma. I will remember your kind behavior, granted here despite the difficult situation you were dealing with yourselves and the severe losses you suffered here in Gaza. I wish in this world we could truly be good friends. I wish you all health and well-being... Health and love to you and your families' children. Many thanks. Danyal and Emilia" | 2023-11-23 | Source Source |
| Danny Danon | Israeli Member of Knesset | "There was a large Gazan public that took part in the riots and the pogrom against the Jewish people. It was not only Hamas terrorists, it was also a public that simply came, murdered, and kidnapped." | 2023-10-16 | Source |
| Danny Danon | Israeli Member of Knesset | "I'm usually behind what I'm saying, and I say it clearly - the fierce public took part in the murder, massacre, kidnapping, rape, and even today, the Gazan public, not terrorist organizations, have Israeli abductees in their hands." | 2023-10-16 | Source |
| Danny Danon | Israeli Member of Knesset | "It is imperative that the international community explore potential solutions to help civilians caught in the crisis. One idea is for countries around the world to accept limited numbers of Gazan families who have expressed a desire to relocate... We simply need a handful of the world's nations to share the responsibility of hosting Gazan residents. Even if countries took in as few as 10,000 people each, it would help alleviate the crisis" | 2023-11-14 | Source |
| Danny Danon | Israeli Member of Knesset | "International law permits us to hit the [Shifa] hospital, even if there are uninvolved people [i.e., civilians] there. You give a notice in advance, it is not the first time [in history] that a military conflict takes place around hospitals... despite all our humanitarian efforts, the international community still comes to us with claims and accusations, perhaps we have to reconsider [whether these efforts are worth it]... We are 40 days into the war, and we are conducting ourselves a little bit like we are wearing silk gloves. We must understand that we have here a cruel enemy who must be beaten cruelly. Cruelly, forcefully, with great power. Without putting our forces in danger, and if there are [civilian] casualties- they should blame Hamas" | 2023-11-15 | Source |
| Danny Danon | Israeli Member of Knesset | "I support the taking of land. Why? Because in [sic] the essence of the Middle East, that's the language they understand. Any terrorists we will kill- they will replace them with others. Economy and houses we will destroy- it is obvious they will be compensated. But land that will be taken away from them- that's something irreplaceable" | 2023-11-04 | Source |
| Danny Danon | Israeli Member of Knesset | Wasn't it possible to send D9 [armoured demolition bulldozers used by the Israeli military] to flatten the buildings [in Gaza] before we send our soldiers, our children, inside to fight? | 2023-12-13 | Source Source |
| Daphna Liel | Israeli Channel 12 Reporter | "There's no doubt that [Yocheved] Lifshitz's statement [to the press, following her release from captivity as a hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz after October 7] could have been managed better. But on the other hand, what she told is also shocking- an 85-year-old woman who was violently taken, beaten, almost broke her ribs and was forced to stay 17 days in a suffocated Hamas tunnel. Anyone sane should understand that medical attention she was given was intended to keep their bargaining chips alive and not from the kindness of their hearts." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source Source |
| David Azulai | Mayor of Metula in northern Israel | "The whole Gaza Strip needs to be empty. Flattened. Just like in Auschwitz. Let it be a museum for all the world to see what Israel can do. Let no one reside in the Gaza Strip for all the world to see, because October 7 was in a way a second Holocaust." | 2023-12-17 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| David Azulai | Mayor of Metula in northern Israel | "After October 7, instead of urging people to go south, we should direct them to the beaches. The Navy can transport them to the shores of Lebanon, where there are already sufficient refugee camps. Then, a security strip should be established from the sea to the Gaza border fence, completely empty, as a reminder of what was once there. It should resemble the Auschwitz concentration camp. Tell everyone in Gaza to go to the beaches. Navy ships should load the terrorists onto the shores of Lebanon [...]." | 2023-12-17 | Source Source Source Source |
| David Azulai | Mayor of Metula in northern Israel | "[In response to being shamed by @AuschwitzMuseum on Twitter for his comments on 12/17/2023] What a disgrace, after what happened to Jews in Poland, for them to defend lowly murderers [referring to Hamas]. It's not for me to educate Polish people, they are brought up to hate us." | 2023-12-19 | Source |
| David Bar Khalifa | Israeli military brigadier general, commander of 36th Armored Division | The commander of the Israeli military's 36th Armored Division, Brig. Gen. David Bar Khalifa, wrote the following directive for his troops on letterhead with a quote from the book of Psalms at the top (As arrows in the hand of a mighty man").] "What has been will be no more! We shall go out to it in war, we shall pulverize every accursed plot of land from which it came, we shall destroy it and the memory of it ... and we shall not return until it is annihilated, and [God] doth render vengeance to his adversaries, and doth make expiation for the land of His people... The Lord will give strength to his people, and He shall guard thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth and forever. This is our war, today is our turn. Here we are!" | 2023-10-?? | Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | "We view them like donkeys. They don't care. They accept it with love." [Ben-Gurion speaking about Palestinians in a meeting of the Mapai (political party) Secretariat.] | 1962-01-01 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | We shall admit into the state all the Jews we can. We firmly believe that we can admit more than two million Jews. We shall build a multi-faceted Jewish economy– agricultural, industrial, and maritime. We shall organize an advanced defense force-a superior army which I have no doubt will be one of the best armies in the world. At that point I am confident that we would not fail in settling in the remaining parts of the country [Palestinian territory], through agreement and understanding with our Arab neighbors, or through some other means. [David Ben-Gurion in a letter written to his son.] | 1937-10-05 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | "The establishment of a state, even if only on a portion of the land, is the maximal reinforcement of our strength at the present time and a powerful boost to our historical endeavors to liberate the entire country [i.e., Palestine]." [The quote above is from a letter Ben-Gurion wrote to his son in 1937, after the Palestine Royal Peel Commission recommended historic Palestine be divided into one Arab and one Jewish state.] | 1937-10-05 | Source Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | [The following quote is taken from the text of David Ben-Gurion's 5 October 1937 letter to his son, Amos. All cuts of text are indicated by ellipses.] "... Of course the partition of the country gives me no pleasure. But the country that they [the Royal (Peel) Commission] are partitioning is not in our actual possession; it is in the possession of the Arabs and the English. "What is in our actual possession is a small portion, less than what they [the Peel Commission] are suggesting as a Jewish state... . But in this proposed partition we will get more than what we already have, though of course much less than we merit and desire. The question is: would we obtain more without partition? If things were to remain as they are [emphasis in original], would this satisfy our aspirations? What we really want is not that the land remain whole and unified. What we want is that the whole and unified land be Jewish [emphasis in original]. A unified Eretz Israel would be no source of satisfaction for me-if it were Arab."From our standpoint, the status quo is deadly poison. We want to change the status quo. But how can this change come about? How can this land become ours? The decisive question is: Does the establishment of a Jewish state [in only part of Palestine] advance or retard the conversion of this country into a Jewish country? "My assumption.... is that a Jewish state on only part of the land is not the end but the beginning... "We will admit into the state all the Jews we can. We firmly believe that we can admit more than two million. We will build a multi-faceted Jewish economy-agricultural, industrial, and maritime. We will organize an advanced defense force-a superior army which I have no doubt will be one of the best armies in the world. At that point I am confident that we would not fail in settling in the remaining parts of the country, through agreement and understanding with our Arab neighbors, or through some other means. "... Our ability to penetrate the country will increase if we have a state. Our strength vis-à-vis the Arabs will likewise increase. The possibilities for construction and multiplication will speedily expand. The greater the Jewish strength in the country, the more the Arabs will realize that it is neither beneficial nor possible for them to withstand us. On the contrary, it will be possible for the Arabs to benefit enormously from the Jews, not only materially but politically as well. "I do not dream of war nor do I like it. But I still believe, more than I did before the emergence of the possibility of a Jewish state, that once we are numerous and powerful in the country the Arabs will realize that it is better for them to become our allies. "They will derive benefits from our assistance if they, of their own free will, give us the opportunity to settle in all parts of the country. The Arabs have many countries that are under-populated, underdeveloped, and vulnerable, incapable with their own strength to stand up to their external enemies.... This need for protection means subjugation and dependence on the other. But the Jews could be equal allies, real friends, not occupiers or tyrants over them. "Let us assume that the Negev will not be allotted to the Jewish state. In such event, the Negev will remain barren because the Arabs have neither the competence nor the capability to develop it or make it prosper. They already have an abundance of deserts but not of manpower, financial resources, or creative initiative. It is very probable that they will agree that we undertake the development of the Negev and make it prosper in return for our financial, military, organizational, or scientific assistance. It is also possible that they will not agree. People don't always behave according to logic, common sense, or their own practical advantage... . "lt is possible that the Arabs will follow the dictates of sterile nationalist passions and tell us: "'We want neither your honey nor your sting. We'd rather that the Negev remain barren than that Jews should inhabit it.' If this occurs, we will have to talk to them in a different language-and we will have a different language - but such a language will not be ours without a state. This is so because we can no longer tolerate that vast territories capable of absorbing tens of thousands of Jews should remain vacant, and that Jews cannot return to their homeland because the Arabs prefer that the place [the Negev] remains neither ours nor theirs. We must expel Arabs and take their place. Up to now, all our aspirations have been based on an assumption-one that has been vindicated throughout our activities in the country - that there is enough room in the land for the Arabs and ourselves. But if we are compelled to use force-not in order to dispossess the Arabs of the Negev or Transjordan, but in order to guarantee our right to settle there - our force will enable us to do so. "Clearly in such event we will have to deal not only with the Arabs living in Eretz Israel, since it is very probable that Arabs from the neighboring countries will come to their aid. But our power will be greater, not only because we will be better organized and equipped, but also because behind us stands a force still greater in quantity and quality. This is the reservoir of the millions in the Diaspora. The entire younger generation of Poland, Romania, America, and other countries will rush to our aid at the outbreak of such a conflict. I pray to God that this does not happen at all. Nevertheless the Jewish state will not rely only on the Jews living in it, but on the Jewish people living in every corner of the world: the many millions who are eager and obliged [emphasis in original] to settle in Palestine... . Of course it is likely that Arab adventurers and gangs will come from Syria or Iraq or other Arab countries, but these can be no match for the the tens and hundreds of thousands of young Jews to whom Eretz Israel is not merely an emotional issue, but one that is in equal measure both personal and national. "For this reason I attach enormous importance to the conquest [emphasis in original] of the sea and the construction of a Jewish harbor and a Jewish fleet. The sea is the bridge between the Jews of this country and the Jewish Diaspora - the millions of Jews in different parts of the world. We must create the conditions that will enable us in times of necessity to bring into the country, in our own ships manned by our own seamen, tens of thousands of young men. Meanwhile we must prepare these young men while they are still in the Diaspora for whatever task awaits them here. ..." [The letter that was the source of the above quotes is well-known to scholars of the "Arab-Israeli War," but the Institute for Palestinian Studies (IPS), in 2012, stated it believed the letter had never been published in full in English. The full text of the letter was subsequently translated by the Hebrew Department of the IPS in Beirut from the original Hebrew, which was obtained from the Ben-Gurion Archives Online, housed at the Ben-Gurion Heritage Institute in S'de-Boqer, Israel, affiliated with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.] | 1937-10-05 | Source Source Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | "The important difference with [the First Intifada of] 1937 is the increased vulnerability of the Arab urban economy. Haifa and Jaffa are at our mercy. We can starve them out. Motorized transport, which has also become an important factor in their life, is to a large extent at our mercy." [In a letter to Moshe Sharett, who held the foreign policy post under the Jewish Agency, Ben-Gurion drew attention to the urban Palestinian population's economic vulnerability and potential for future collapse.] | 1947-12-14 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | "In the area allocated to the Jewish State [i.e., through the partition of Palestine plan] there are not more than 520,000 Jews and about 350,000 non-Jews, mostly Arabs.Together with the Jews of Jerusalem, the total population of the Jewish State at the time of its establishment, will be about one million, including almost 40% non-Jews. Such a [population] composition does not provide a stable basis for a Jewish State. This [demographic] fact must be viewed in all its clarity and acuteness. With such a [population] composition, there cannot even be absolute certainty that control will remain in the hands of the Jewish majority .... There can be no stable and strong Jewish state so long as it has a Jewish majority of only 60%, and so long as this majority consists of only 600,000 Jews." [Ben-Gurion made this statement in an address to the Central Committee of the Histadrut (i.e., Eretz Israel Workers' Party) on 30 December 1947, days after the United Nations' vote to partition Palestine.] | 1947-12-30 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | After the formation of a large army in the wake of the establishment of the state [of Israel], we will abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine. [David Ben-Gurion was speaking to the Zionist Executive in the summer of 1937.] | 1937 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | Zionism is a TRANSFER of the Jews. Regarding the TRANSFER of the [Palestinian] Arabs this is much easier than any other TRANSFER. There are Arab states in the vicinity... and it is clear that if the [Palestinian] Arabs are removed [to these states] this will improve their condition and not the contrary. | 1944 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | "We must respond with a decisive blow: the destruction of the place or the expulsion of the residents along with the seizure of the place. When in action we ... must fight strongly and cruelly, letting nothing stop us. It is not our task to worry about the return of the Arabs.'" | 1947 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | We are inferior to other peoples in our numbers, dispersion, and the characteristics of our political life, but no other people is superior to us in its intellectual prowess. Until now we have disseminated our intellectual capital in foreign lands, and helped many nations in the great scientific achievements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries [...]. There is no reason why the genius of science would not blossom and flourish in his native land ['Israel']. | 1948 | Source Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | [In the following quote, David Ben-Gurion was speaking at an Israeli cabinet meeting, in 1951, on abolishing the death penalty. Jewish-Arab tensions were high following the 1948 Nakba.] "In general, those who have guns use them. [Some Israelis] think Jews are people but Arabs aren't, so you can do anything to them. And some think it's a mitzvah [i.e., a commandment or good deed prescribed by Jewish religious law] to kill Arabs, and that everything the government says against murdering Arabs isn't serious, that it's just a pretense that killing Arabs is forbidden, but in fact, it's a blessing because there will be fewer Arabs here. As long as they think that, the murders won't stop. "Abolishing the death penalty will increase bloodshed, [especially between Jews and Arabs]. Soon, we won't be able to show our faces to the world. Jews meet an Arab and murder him." | 1951 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | "[...] New Jerusalem was occupied, and the guerrillas were expelled from Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberias, Safad while still the Mandatory [i.e. the British administration of the territories of Palestine] was present. It needed sagacity and self-control not to fall foul of the British army. The Hagana did its job; until a day or two before the Arab invasion not a settlement was lost, no road cut, although movement was seriously dislocated, despite express assurances of the British to keep the roads safe so long as they remained. Arabs started fleeing from the cities almost as soon as disturbances began in the early days of December 1947. As fighting spread, the exodus was joined by bedouin and fellahin [i.e. Palestinian peasants], but not the remotest Jewish homestead was abandoned and nothing a tottering Administration (meaning the British Mandatory) could unkindly do stopped us from reaching our goal on May 14, 1948, in a State made larger and Jewish by the Haganah [...]" | 1954 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | [In the following quote, David Ben-Gurion was speaking to the Mapai Party Council] on 6 February 1948.] "Without populating the Jerusalem mountains and the hills [surrounding] the coastal plains ... I am doubtful whether we would be able to maintain the link with Jerusalem. It is necessary to be in [to settle] the mountains." [One audience member objected, saying, "We have no land there" (in the hills and mountains).] "The war will give us the land. The concept of 'ours' and 'not ours' are peace concepts, only, and in war they lose their whole meaning." | 1948-02-06 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | [David Ben-Gurion shared the following observation with the Mapai Party Central Committee, about Jerusalem's Western neighborhoods, from which the Palestinians had fled or been expelled.] "[I have seen] no strangers [Palestinian Arabs]. Not since Jerusalem's destruction in the days of the Romans has it been so Jewish... I do not assume this will change...And what happened in Jerusalem . . . could well happen in great parts of the country...if we hold one, it is very possible that in coming six to eight or ten months of the war there will take place great changes. . .Certainly there will be great changes in the composition of the population of the country." | 1948-02-07 | Source Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | "Everybody sees a difficulty in the question of relations between Arabs and Jews. But not everybody sees that there is no solution to this question. No solution! There is a gulf, and nothing can fill that gulf ... I do not know what Arab will agree that Palestine should belong to the Jews - even if the Jews learn Arabic ... And we must recognize this situation. If we do not acknowledge this and try to come up with "remedies," then we risk demoralization ... We, as a nation, want this country to be ours; the Arabs, as a nation, want this country to be theirs. The decision has been referred to the Peace Conference." [The preceding quote was from a speech to Vaad Zmani that Ben-Gurion delivered in June 1919. Vaad Zmani translates to "temporary committee" or "provisional committee," according to ChatGPT.] | 1919-06-?? | Source Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | "I support compulsory [Palestinian Arab population] transfer. I do not see in it anything immoral." [Ben-Gurion made the above statement at a meeting of the Jewish Agency in 1938. "Transfer" was a euphemism Zionists used to refer to ethnic cleansing and the organized removal of the Palestinian population to neighboring Arab countries.] | 1938-06-?? | Source Source Source Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | [David Ben-Gurion made the following statement at a meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive (JAE) in June 1938, after Moshe Shapira, a JAE member, asked Ben-Gurion if he thought the "transfer" of the Palestinian population out of Palestine and the expansion of the area to be settled by Jewish immigrants must be done by force.] "This is only a stage in the realization of Zionism and it should prepare the ground for our expansion throughout the whole country through Jewish-Arab agreement...the state, however, must enforce order and security and it will do this not by moralizing and preaching 'sermons on the mount' but by machine-guns, which we will need." | 1938-06-?? | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | We must do everything to ensure they never do return. [Ben-Gurion was referring to the Palestinians who were expelled from their land or forced into exodus prior to the declaration of Israel as a state.] | 1948-07-18 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return. | 1948-07-18 | Source Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | [Ben-Gurion made the following statement to his colleagues against the backdrop of the Arab Revolt of 1936-1939.] "We must see the situation for what it is. On the security front, we are those attacked and who are on the defensive. But in the political field we are the attackers and the Arabs are those defending themselves. They are living in the country and own the land, the village. We live in the Diaspora and want only to immigrate [to Palestine] and gain possession of [lirkosh] the land from them." | 1938-07-07 | Source Source Source Source |
| David Ben-Gurion | Primary national founder of the State of Israel, Israel's first prime minister | "We must look carefully at the question of whether transfer [of Palestinians out of Palestine] is possible, necessary, moral and useful. We do not want to dispossess, [but the] transfer of populations [ethnic cleansing] occurred before now, in the [Jezreel] Valley, in the Sharon [that is, the coastal plain] and in other places. You are no doubt aware of the JNF's [Jewish National Fund's] activity in this respect. Now a transfer of a completely different scope will have to be carried out. In many parts of the country new settlement will not be possible without transferring the Arab fellahin [peasants]. It is important that this plan comes from the [British Peel] Commission and not from us [...]. "Transfer... is what will make possible a comprehensive settlement program. Thankfully, the Arab people have vast, empty areas. Jewish power [in Palestine], which grows steadily, will also increase our possibilities to carry out the transfer on a large scale. You must remember, that this system embodies an important humane and Zionist idea, to transfer parts of a people [Jewish] to their [Palestinian's] country and to settle empty lands. We believe that this action will also bring us closer to an agreement with the Arabs." [The Jewish National Fund (JNF) was created in 1901 to acquire land in Palestine for the stated purpose of "settling Jews on such land." Known for its afforestation efforts, JNF has been accused of foresting over the ruins of Palestinian villages in an attempt to "greenwash" non-Jewish dispossession.] | 1937-08-07 | Source Source |
| David Ben-Porat | Rabbi in IDF, from Yeshiva Elon Moreh | "[standing in a destroyed building in Gaza, holding up a sign saying:] Gush Katif- We are back!" | 2023-12-19 | Source |
| David Mizrahy Verthaim | Israeli editor of Walla Baranja, radio 103 presenter | "And after I spoke about unity, one principle that needs to be abandoned today is proportionality. There needs to be a disproportionate response. Israel should show what it's hiding in the basement. If all the captives are not immediately returned, turn the Strip into a slaughterhouse. If a single hair from their head falls - execute security prisoners. Violate every norm, on the way to victory. So they will see and fear. The Jordanians did this to ISIS. I don't recall the king being condemned. And who will tell us something? Russia, which slaughters Ukrainians? China? Or maybe Western Europe, which allowed Azerbaijan to ethnically cleanse 100,000 people overnight. World War II ended with the USA inflicting a holocaust on Hiroshima, and before giving the Japanese a chance to digest, they dropped another bomb on Nagasaki, while ensuring that every Japanese city would be destroyed until surrender. The Japanese were no less crazy than the Arabs. Ariel Sagal has not taken over my account. Those facing us are human animals who do not hesitate to violate minimal rules, including the murder of medical teams and babies. This cannot be overlooked." | 2023-10-07 | Source |
| Doctors for the Rights of IDF Soldiers | Signatories to a letter calling for Gaza hospital bombings | "We, the undersigned doctors who work in the healthcare system responsibly and professionally, hereby urge: "[...] For years the citizens of Israel have suffered murderous terror, while the head of the snake and head murderers enjoy complete shelter and protection, as they built terror headquarters within the hospitals, understanding that no harm would come to them. "[...] [A]ny place where [Hamas'] men hide and/or is used for terrorist activity is a legitimate target for annihilation, including hospitals. [...] "[...] The residents of Gaza, who saw fit to turn the hospitals into terrorist nests in an attempt to take advantage of Western morality, are the ones who brought their annihilation upon themselves - terrorism must be eliminated everywhere and in any way. "Attacking terrorist headquarters located inside of a hospital is the right of the IDF [Israeli army] and its duty. "It is unthinkable that the citizens of Israel are abandoned, and arch-murderers are protected only because they are hiding in hospitals. "After the IDF repeatedly warned the hospitals to stop the cynical use made of them for terrorism, and after all citizens were asked to evacuate the area in light of the presence of terrorists, there is an obligation to destroy the wasps' nests and the hospitals they use to shelter them, the sooner, the better." "We, the undersigned: Dr. Tal Nir [elected 'most dedicated doctor' under COVID in 2021, orthodox Jewish Chabad member] Dr. Audray Azran [Gynecologist, Haifa] Dr. Shlomi Ben-Nun [Pediatrician, retired 2022, Afula] Dr. Hannah Katan [Religious-Zionist gynecologist, founded the Family Center at the settlement of Elkana, serves as its president] Dr. Ori Attias [Pediatrician, Intensive Care Rambam Hospital, Jerusalem] Dr. Hannah Kremer [family doctor at the Elkana settlement clinic] Dr. Yeruham Priner [pediatrician, Beitar Illit settlement] Dr. Carmit Almog [specializes in Nephrology, high blood pressure, Rabin Medical Center, Tel Aviv area] Dr. Menuha Vilk [pediatrician, Jerusalem]" [It has been reported that the number of Israeli doctors who became signatories to the letter quoted from above grew from "dozens," initially, to approximately 1,000.] | 2023-11-04 | Source Source Source |
| Donald Trump | American politician, media personality, businessman, 45th president of the United States of America | "No President has done more for Israel than I have. Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals [Evangelical Christians] are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S. Those living in Israel, though, are a different story – Highest approval rating in the World, could easily be PM [Israel's prime minister]! U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel – Before it is too late!" | 2022-10-16 | Source Source Source Source |
| Donald Trump | American politician, media personality, businessman, 45th president of the United States of America | [Donald Trump made the following statement in an interview with Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump aide.] Gorka: "[...] Why do Democrats [in the United States] hate Bibi Netanyahu [Israel's prime minister]? Trump: "I actually think they hate Israel. And the Democrat Party hates Israel. [...] Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion, they hate everything about Israel, and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed." | 2024-03-18 | Source Source Source Source |
| Doron Katz-Asher | Israeli hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive with her 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters, and her mother (who was killed by the Israeli army) on 10/7/2023, released 11/24/2023 | "They [the Hamas militants] took us into a room inside a family house. On the first day, I was a little dizzy because I really lost a lot of blood and they stitched my wounds, like that, on the sofa, with the girls beside me. Needless to say, it was without anesthesia. They stitched it with a needle and thread. We were inside a room, fortunately it was a family. The daughters of the father, who knew Hebrew, he worked in Israel in the past, they guarded us 24/7, the daughters and the mother, each time someone else would sit on the edge of the couch. We weren't alone for a moment. And they brought in food from time to time, brought in papers and paints, to keep Raz and Aviv [my daughters] occupied. They understood that in order for the girls to pass the time there without making noise, they had to do something to help with that." | 2023-12-16 | Source Source |
| Doron Katz-Asher | Israeli hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive with her 2-year-old and 4-year-old daughters, and her mother (who was killed by the Israeli army) on 10/7/2023, released 11/24/2023 | Katz-Asher: "At some point they [the Hamas militants who invaded kibbutz Nir Oz] put us on a tractor that took us from the field straight into Gaza. There [on the tractor], we were wounded from the shooting." TV Reporter: "An IDF force shoots at them, trying to stop the tractor that drives to Gaza." Katz-Asher: "In the middle of the tractor ride there was shooting from which my beloved mother was murdered. And I was wounded in the back and little Aviv [my 4-year-old daughter] was wounded in the leg." | 2023-12-16 | Source Source |
| Douglas MacGregor | Ret. US Army Colonel, Former Pentagon Advisor | "... as we've seen quite recently, within the last 24 hours or so, some of our special ops forces and Israeli special ops forces went into Gaza to reconnoiter, to plan for where they might want to go to free hostages and make an impact, and they were shot to pieces and took heavy losses, as I understand it. I think that's where we're headed and I don't see that as a win for Israel in any way, shape, or form, and I certainly think it's very dangerous for us." | 2023-10-23 | Source Source Source |
| Dov Weissglas | Israeli Lawyer, Israeli government advisor | "[With regard to the plan to restrict types of food and total calories imported into the Gaza Strip by military blockade, in response to the democratic election of Hamas in 2006] The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger." | 2006-02-16 | Source Source Source Source |
| Dror Eydar | Former Israeli Ambassador to Italy | "The price they must pay for what they've done to us should not be limited to merely punishing, the killing of insurgents. We are not talking about a conflict imposed on us, that's illogical. We refer to them as 'spaces,' while they call them 'land,' from which the word 'human' is derived. In the Middle East, it means that a human without land is worth nothing and has no right to exist. Therefore, the price they must pay for it to impact future generations is that we must take their land. First, we must take the land, after we have taken their land, we'll think about what we'll do next. The second thing we need to push for, despite all voices and opinions, is new migration and helping them find a new life. Gaza is certainly now destroyed and not suitable for human habitation. And I expect the Western world, as they did by welcoming a million Syrian refugees, to open their doors and welcome the people of Gaza." | 2024-01-06 | Source Source Source |
| Dror Eydar | Former Israeli Ambassador to Italy | "I would like to say that we, in Israel, at least the population, are not interested in all this rational Palestinian talk. For us, there is one purpose: to destroy Gaza, to destroy this absolute evil. To destroy this. There is no chance that after the holocaust, Jewish people will live similar experiences as they [experienced] 80 years ago." | 2023-10-26 | Source |
| Dror Eydar | Former Israeli Ambassador to Italy | "After 7 October, every person in the world who threatens a Jew, or kills a Jew, has to die." | 2023-10-26 | Source |
| Drora Varblovsky | An original settler/resident of Kibbutz Nachsholim, Israel, established on Tantura, Palestine | Interviewer: "What was here in the beginning [when you came to Tantura in 1948]?" Drora: "Sand and more sand. And the Arab village of Tantura. We came to the Arab village. Each of us took a room in the Arab village. It was a very big village. That's where we settled. One house was turned into a dining hall. It was the [former] sheikh's house. In front, there was a terrace, with this smooth burgundy floor on cement. So beautiful. We always danced there by the sea. We were a few meters from the sea." | 2022 | Source |
| Dvora Idan | Israeli author, lecturer, parent counsellor; mother of Tsachi Idan, taken hostage to Gaza on 10/7/2023 | [At a weekly rally calling for a deal to return the hostages captured on 10/7/2023 to Israel, the mother of hostage Tsachi Idan directed her comments to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. She believed one obstacle to achieving the return of the hostages was the steep price of negotiations.] "You set the price when you abandoned [the defense of] the Gaza border. You set the price when you sent suitcases full of cash to Hamas and funded their buildup of military might ... If the hostages are abandoned again, it will be a trauma for us as a nation." | 2024-02-17 | Source Source |
| Eddie Rothstein | Columnist for Israeli Newspaper "Israel Hayom" | "[Yocheved Lifshitz's TV press conference where she spoke about her experience as a hostage captured by Hamas was a] propaganda win for Hamas. ... What a brave and enlightened woman, the kind we thought they no longer make in Israel, and what clumsy handling of the event. ... The truth is you don't need to be a PR expert to know you can't have a press conference like this live on TV." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source Source |
| Edy Cohen | Israeli journalist, Ph.D in Middle Eastern History, Former employee of Israeli Prime Minister's Office | "Do you hope that Al-Jazeera correspondent Wael Al-Dahdouh will receive martyrdom, enter Paradise, and enjoy rivers of wine and perfumes? @WaelDahdouh" [Wael's entire family was killed in Gaza by Israeli bombing on 10/24/2023, and Wael was injured by an Israeli sniper when wearing a PRESS vest on 12/15/2023] | 2023-12-19 | Source Source Source Source |
| Ehud Barak (Brog) | Former prime minister of Israel (1999-2001), former Israeli military officer who reached highest rank | [The following quotes are from an interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Global Affairs Editor John Lyons conducted with Ehud Barak, former prime minister of Israel and a former Israeli military officer who reached the highest rank (lieutenant general), for a "Four Corners" report entitled, "The Forever War."] Barak: "Look, I once was asked some 30 years ago what I have been doing if I were a Palestinian and 30 years ago I was new enough in politics to tell the truth that if I were born Palestinian probably would've joined one of the terror organisations. "Believe me, I fully understand. There are things that are painful for the other side. And if you look at them isolated from the rest of the picture, they sound terrible. Israel is living genuinely in a very tough neighbourhood. Once, I compared it to a villa in the jungle. Inside your villa you can enjoy classical musical, your jacuzzi. Once you step the first step you go out of your door, you have to be ready to pull the trigger within a split of a second, otherwise you would not survive. The real challenge when we look at it from a wider perspective is you cannot avoid human pain and damage along such conflict, but you can think honestly about how to solve it... rather to... dig deeper into the hole." | 2024-03-11 | Source |
| Ehud Barak (Brog) | Former prime minister of Israel (1999-2001), former Israeli military officer who reached highest rank | [The following quotes are from an interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Global Affairs Editor John Lyons conducted with Ehud Barak, former prime minister of Israel, for a "Four Corners" report entitled, "The Forever War."] Lyons: "Can the world trust Benjamin Netanyahu?" Barak: "I don't think that anyone can trust him. So basically he lies to everyone and no one trust him." Lyons: "Just over a year ago, he managed to cobble together the most right-wing coalition Israel's ever seen. Netanyahu awarded senior cabinet portfolios to two extremists: Bezalel Smotrich, now the Finance Minister, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, Minister of National Security. Both ministers live in illegal settlements. Ben-Gvir has criminal convictions for racist incitement and supporting a Zionist terrorist group. He has been condemned by the US and the EU for using 'racist rhetoric.' Smotrich denies the very existence of the Palestinian people. These two men are now accused of driving Netanyahu's Gaza policy, pushing an agenda that would force Palestinians off their lands. Netanyahu himself went to the UN in September and he showed that map from the river to the sea." [The Occupied Palestinian Territories were not delineated on the map; all of the region was portrayed as "Israel."] Barak: "Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, the two racist messianic guys that seems to be to very strong leverage on Bibi [nickname for Benjamin Netanyahu]. They want to turn it into a major religious war between Israel and the Islam." Lyons: "Are they dangerous?" Barak: "Sure, they're dangerous." | 2024-03-11 | Source |
| Ehud Barak (Brog) | Former prime minister of Israel (1999-2001), former Israeli military officer who reached highest rank | [The following quotes are from an interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Global Affairs Editor John Lyons conducted with Ehud Barak, former prime minister of Israel, for a "Four Corners" report entitled, "The Forever War."] Barak: [Referring to the issue of Israel – with Prime Minister Netanyahu's support – allegedly giving more than a billion dollars to Qatar to support Hamas.] "That served Netanyahu who wanted to avoid any discussion of two state solution." Lyons: "So are you saying Benjamin Netanyahu deliberately boosted Hamas to try to prevent a Palestinian state?" Barak: "Yeah, sure. He deliberately and systematically even told on record, whoever wants to avoid the threat of a two-state solution has to support my policy of paying protection money to the Hamas." Lyons: "Netanyahu maintains the Qatar money was to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe. Having helped build up Hamas, Netanyahu has vowed to destroy it." | 2024-03-11 | Source |
| Ehud Olmert | Former Prime Minister of Israel | If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished. The Jewish organisations, which were our power base in America, will be the first to come out against us because they will say they cannot support a state that does not support democracy and equal voting rights for all its residents. | 2007-11-29 | Source Source Source |
| Ehud Olmert | Former Prime Minister of Israel | [As Israel's deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert wanted Israel to unilaterally draw up a border with Palestine and vacate Gaza, while holding on to Israel's major Jewish settlement areas in the West Bank. In the following quote, Olmert states his goal for Israel.] "[The aim is] to maximise the number of Jews; to minimise the number of Palestinians; not to withdraw to the 1967 border and not to divide Jerusalem." | 2003 | Source Source Source |
| Ehud Olmert | Former Prime Minister of Israel | [As Israel's deputy prime minister, Ehud Olmert wanted Israel to unilaterally draw up a border with Palestine and vacate Gaza, while holding on to Israel's major Jewish settlement areas in the West Bank. In the following quote, Olmert states his goal for Israel.] "[The aim is] to maximise the number of Jews; to minimise the number of Palestinians; not to withdraw to the 1967 border and not to divide Jerusalem." | 2003 | Source |
| Ehud Olmert | Former Prime Minister of Israel | "Benjamin Netanyahu leads a government whose members support the progroms which was committed against the Palestinian township [of Huwara] in the territories of the West Bank. The ministers in the cabinet of Netanyahu support the suppression of Palestinians and the denial of fundamental human rights to these people. The Minister of National Security [Itamar Ben-Gvir] in this government is a person who was convicted in the Israeli court for terrorism against Palestinians. This is a government which is a shame to the basic values of the people of Israel and the Jewish people." | 2023-03-16 | Source Source |
| Ehud Olmert | Former Prime Minister of Israel | [After three separate missile attacks from the Israeli military killed 14 Palestinians in nine days, Israel's prime minister Ehud Olmert made a statement attempting to explain the reason for the deaths.] "I am deeply sorry for the residents of Gaza, but the lives, security and well-being of the residents of Sderot [the Israeli border town which has borne the brunt of Qassam attacks] is even more important. I reject the attacks on the IDF [Israeli military] and its commanders. No one is more dedicated or more cautious, and will continue to be so in the future." | 2006-06-22 | Source Source |
| Ekaterina (Katia) Beizer | Mother of Israeli military soldier, Nik Beizer, who was captured in Israel by Palestinian resistance forces 10/7/2023 and found dead in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023. | "My only question is my son's cause of death. I want to know how it happened and when it happened. We don't even know the dates. The state [Israel] sacrificed them not once, but twice: first when they were abducted from their military base, which is supposed to be safe, and I called everyone possible and nobody saved them. And second when they were in captivity, and the army didn't bring them back alive." [Beizer's son, Nik Beizer, was abducted with another Israeli soldier, Ron Sherman, from their military base near the Erez Crossing on 10/7/2023 and taken to Gaza. The Israeli Defense Forces retrieved their bodies from a Gaza tunnel on December 12/14/2023. A pathologist who examined the bodies could find no cause of death.] | 2024-01-21 | Source Source |
| Ekaterina (Katia) Beizer | Mother of Israeli military soldier, Nik Beizer, who was captured in Israel by Palestinian resistance forces 10/7/2023 and found dead in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023. | "The [Israeli military] intelligence told us that [their deaths] could have been the result of the bomb that killed Ghandour [a Hamas leader], from the gasses and the blast, but that they don't know. I demand that they continue the investigation. I told them I wouldn't let them stop. After all, we were constantly told, in meetings with military and government officials, that they suspected there were hostages [being held] near senior Hamas figures. So, if you know and suspect that there are hostages around, even if you don't know who exactly, how can it be that you bombed?" [The body of Israeli Defense Forces soldier Nik Beizer, Katia Beizer's son, was found by the IDF in a tunnel under Gaza on 12/14/2023. Initially, the Israeli military told the parents of Nik and the two Israeli men found with him that they were killed in Hamas captivity. However, after a pathologist informed the families no injuries had been discovered on the bodies and no cause of death had been identified, the suggestion that Hamas had killed the three men became questionable.] | 2024-01-21 | Source Source |
| Eli Askozido | Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority | "Good week, the deputy director of the Antiquities Authority was rushed to Gaza to check a warehouse full of antiques. Thank you to warrior Moshe Agami." "A small showcase [of stolen artefacts from Gaza] was placed in the Knesset." [Artefacts and museums are considered to be cultural heritage, according to UNESCO. The pillaging of cultural property violates the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, as well as the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. While pillaging is not an act of genocide, the International Criminal Court's Office of the Prosecutor noted, in its 2021 Policy on Cultural Heritage, a connection between pillaging or destroying cultural artefacts and genocide: "Where there is physical or biological destruction there are often simultaneous attacks on the cultural and religious property and symbols of the targeted group as well, attacks which may legitimately be considered as evidence of intent to physically destroy the group." "Further, attacks on cultural heritage per se can cause serious mental harm to members of a group," and causing serious mental harm to members of a protected group, when done with the intent to destroy that group, in whole or in part, is an act of genocide, according to the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.] | 2024-01-21 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Eli Ben-Dahan | Moroccan-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician | [In January 2017, Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan was preparing to propose a bill to Israel's Knesset (parliament) that would have granted soldiers a license to kill in any situation, with impunity. Ben-Dahan made the following statement to Srugim news website on 7 January 2017.] "The law sends a clear message to IDF soldiers: just as they protect us, we will protect you as well." This "balanced" law would allow Israeli soldiers to "carry out their duty to defend the country without fear of potential criminal prosecution. "We've seen too many soldiers and commanders suffer from a long legal process, only to be acquitted eventually. This is the case because there is no clearly stated legal or ethical assurance that we are protecting them while they carry out their duties. "As someone who served as a major in the IDF, I am sure this will help our soldiers and have no doubt MKs [i.e., Members of the Knesset] will support this law." | 2017-01-07 | Source Source Source |
| Eli Ben-Dahan | Moroccan-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician | A Jew always has a much higher soul than a gentile [i.e., non-Jew], even if he is a homosexual. | 2013-12-27 | Source Source |
| Eli Ben-Dahan | Moroccan-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician | To me, they are like animals, they aren't human...The Palestinians aren't educated towards peace, nor do they want it." [The preceding quote is from a 2013 radio interview, reported in The Times of Israel, 11 May 2015.] | 2013 | Source Source |
| Eli Cohen | Member of Israeli Security Cabinet | "A Palestinian state is a prize for terror and a danger to the State of Israel. It will encourage the murder of Jews and give a tailwind to Iran's evil axis. We will not let it happen." [Translated from Hebrew to English by ChatGPT.] | 2024-01-20 | Source Source Source |
| Eli Cohen | Member of Israeli Security Cabinet | At the end of this war, not only will Hamas no longer be in Gaza, the territory of Gaza will also decrease. | 2023-10-18 | Source Source Source |
| Eli Sadan | Rabbi, Founder of Bnei David pre-military academy | "These are not innocent civilians - these are civilians who give the basis of the crime." | 2023-10-15 | Source |
| Eli Vered Hazan | Israeli ambassador to Singapore (2023- ) | I'm a Jewish racist, and I'm not embarrassed to say I want a Jewish state with a Jewish majority. | 2015-05-23 | Source |
| Eli Yishai | Former Deputy Prime Minister | "The goal of the operation is to send Gaza back to the Middle Ages. Only then will Israel be calm for forty years." | 2013-01-11 | Source |
| Eli Yishai | Former Deputy Prime Minister | [Eli Yishai was Israel's interior minister when he made the following statement in 2012, about asylum seekers and migrant workers entering Israel from primarily African countries.] "Why should we provide them with jobs? I'm sick of the bleeding hearts, including politicians. Jobs would settle them here, they'll make babies, and that offer will only result in hundreds of thousands more coming over here." [Yishai stated his belief that all asylum seekers and migrant workers should be jailed until they were deported.] "I want everyone to be able to walk the streets without fear or trepidation ... The migrants are giving birth to hundreds of thousands, and the Zionist dream is dying." [Yishai also claimed most "migrants" were involved in criminal activity. Police data quoted by the Hotline for Migrant Workers, however, revealed the crime rate among foreigners in Israel to be 2.04% in 2010 and 4.99% among Israelis.] | 2012-05-20 | Source |
| Eli Yishai | Former Deputy Prime Minister | "Muslims that arrive here do not even believe that this country belongs to us, to the white man." | 2012-06-03 | Source |
| Eliahu Behruz Yosian | Israeli military officer - intelligence unit 8200, speaks on Israeli TV as an analyst, researcher for a right-wing Israeli NGO | "On the first night, we should have taken down 50,000 Gazans, as a blood revenge. Cabinet discussions later, humanitarian later, prisoners and missing persons later. The first check - blood revenge. This is what Ben Gurion knew." | 2023-10-22 | Source Source |
| Eliahu Behruz Yosian | Israeli military officer - intelligence unit 8200, speaks on Israeli TV as an analyst, researcher for a right-wing Israeli NGO | Yosian: "What does it mean to harm all the population? There are no innocents! That's exactly it. You're saying now 'population'! There is no population! There are two and a half million terrorist- therefore, warning before bombing is meaningless. Warning has to be for innocents only and since there's no innocent, so, there's no problem. When I said 'they are all terrorists-'" Interviewer: "What does it mean? Kill everybody?" Yosian: "This is the perception, that there is something defined in times of war called 'The hour of grace.'" | 2023-10-29 | Source |
| Eliahu Behruz Yosian | Israeli military officer - intelligence unit 8200, speaks on Israeli TV as an analyst, researcher for a right-wing Israeli NGO | "1. Annexing Area C is necessary, because if not, everything that happened to us in the Gaza envelope will happen to us in Kfar Saba, Herzliya, Ra'anana, and more. It's just a matter of time. 2. Annexing the northern Strip of Gaza is necessary, because if not, the residents of the Gaza envelope are again in existential danger. 3. We lost our reading of the security map since we called settlement 'settlement', since we called the pioneers 'hilltop youth'. It's important to note that the value of land is not only biblical but also grants us geopolitical depth and a grip on the territory which allows us to ensure our right to exist. We must return to the roots; the Maccabees, of blessed memory." | 2023-11-12 | Source Source |
| Eliezer Kashtiel | Head of Bnei David, Israeli Religious and Military Academy | "Due to the abolition of legal slavery, there are now deficiencies, since no one is responsible for the [human] property... With the help of God, it [slavery] will return... The gentiles will want to be our slaves. Being a slave to a Jew is the best. They're glad to be slaves, they want to be slaves. Instead of just walking the streets and being stupid and violent and harming each other, once they're slaves, their lives can begin to take shape." | 2019-04-30 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Eliezer Kashtiel | Head of Bnei David, Israeli Religious and Military Academy | "Yes, we're racists. We believe in racism... There are races in the world and peoples have genetic traits, and that requires us to try to help them. The Jews are a more successful race." | 2019-04-30 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Eliezer Kashtiel | Head of Bnei David, Israeli Religious and Military Academy | "All around us, we are surrounded by peoples with genetic problems. Ask a simple Arab 'where do you want to be?' He wants to be under the occupation. Why? Because they have genetic problems, they don't know how to run a country, they don't know how to do anything. Look at them." | 2019-04-30 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Eliyahu Levi | Israeli Alexandroni Brigade soldier present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "When we occupied a place, tractors razed the place. Razed it. Nothing remained of the village. They [Israeli military leaders] didn't want anyone to return or leave any trace of the place." [The preceding quote is from an interview with Eliyahu Levi about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Eliyahu Liebman | Head of the Kiryat Arba Council, son Elyakim was kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 | "This evening, we remember ... all the heroes who have fallen, been wounded, been kidnapped, so that we, God willing, will return quickly to settle Gush Katif and northern Shomron. The parashah [portion of the Torah] we read this Shabbat ends with: 'I will wipe out the memory of Amalek from the earth.' We, in this generation, are fighting Amalek." [In the Hebrew Bible, Amalek was an enemy nation of ancient Israel and God commanded the ancient Israelites to exterminate Amalekite men, women, children, and animals.] | 2024-01-28 | Source |
| Eliyahu Mali | Head of the Shirat Moshe Hesder Yeshiva in Yaffa, rabbi | "The basic principle we have is that when we live through the "holy war of the mitzvah," in this case Gaza, according to the choice of the judge [doctrine], you will not let every soul live. The meaning is very clear: If you don't kill them first, they will kill you. The terrorists today are the children of the past, who have remained in their lives [remained alive]. And, in reality, it's the women who create these terrorists. What this means is, that the definition of 'not every soul shall live,' is very clear in the scriptures: It is either you or them [...]. In the broader sense, in the scriptures, it's not only the man between 18, 16, 20, 30 who shoots at [you] with a weapon, but also their generation of the future. And also, those who create the generation of the future. Because there is no difference. There are no innocent people. It is the same with an elderly person [...]. It is the same thing. The Torah does not allow you to let every soul live [including children]. Today, he is a child. Today, he is a boy. Tomorrow, he is not. The fighters, the terrorists, who are eighteen today, were eight-year-olds in the previous war." [Eliyahu Mali was speaking to his yeshiva students, who would serve in the Israeli army after graduating from the yeshiva (a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature). This yeshiva receives funding from the Israeli government.] | 2024-03-08 | Source Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Eliyahu Revivo | Israeli Member of Knesset | "A short while ago, we, the members of the Knesset, were shown a film of the horrors committed by Hamas-ISIS terrorists during the Black Sabbath. The screening of the 'film', a disaster film about the horrors of a despicable and murderous terrorist organization. Even if the length of the film had lasted two whole days, it would have been impossible to digest what our brothers in the surrounding area went through on the Black Sabbath. I thought that after witnessing the sights, smells, and the insane amount of body bags I was exposed to during the first two weeks - since the outbreak of the war at the casualty identification base in Shura - and what I experienced during my visit to the Gaza village, I had been immunized and was strong enough to attend today's screening. Now I realize how wrong I was. Today I received answers to questions that gave me no rest. Now I was concentratedly exposed to the sight of people before and during the terrible massacre - all accompanied by authentic sound that penetrates and dismantles even a heart of stone. But I admit that the segment that perhaps shocked me the most in the screening is that conversation one of the cursed had with his parents from the mobile phone of one of the murdered. In that conversation, his insane voice is heard as he updates his parents on his achievements (10 up to that moment) and asks them to switch to a video call so they can see with their own eyes his 'achievements', while his father is happy and radiant and his mother cries from excitement about the spiritual satisfaction her offspring provides her... This testimony, which joins a multitude of shocking testimonies and demonstrations of joy by children, youth, adults, and elders - women as well as men, has led me to the understanding that every inhabitant of the Strip who does not fight against ISIS Gaza, is a son of death. I am convinced that it will be possible to evacuate those few sane individuals from the territory of the Strip. Dear citizens of Israel, achieving world support for the elimination of Hamas is not considered an achievement and there is no logic in creating an equation that differentiates between uniformed individuals and the rest of the inhabitants there, except as mentioned for the exemption of those who go against that oppressive regime! Therefore, I am full of hope and anticipation that the decision-makers will clarify to the world about updating the war targets. The destruction of Gaza and all its inhabitants. They set the norms for both us and them, and we will act not to disappoint them and will operate, God willing, with strength, determination, and cool-headedness until a clear victory. I will pursue my enemies and overtake them, and I will not return until they are consumed. Together we will win!" | 2023-11-01 | Source |
| Eliyahu Revivo | Israeli Member of Knesset | "The name Gaza should be erased from streets and institutions." | 2023-11-14 | Source |
| Elizabeth Tsurkov | Israeli-Russian Researcher, Mossad and CIA agent | "[I am] following closely the events in Gaza daily. ... [referring to Israel's] killing of men, women, and children, and the bombing of hospitals. This policy leads to hate between us and the Palestinian population in Gaza and does not lead to peace with Gaza. [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's] administration is stupid and is leading to catastrophe and the continuation of war.' | 2023-11-13 | Source |
| Elizabeth Tsurkov | Israeli-Russian Researcher, Mossad and CIA agent | "My name is Elizabeth Tsurkov. ... I'm an Israeli citizen. ... I worked for the Mossad and CIA. ... I worked in Syria in order to establish relations between Israel and the Syrian Democratic Forces. ... I worked in Iraq on the disunity issue to strengthen disputes by coordinating protests in Iraq. ... We worked on fueling tensions in order to facilitate inter-Shia clashes inside Iraq. ... Currently, I'm being held captive. It's been 7 months. ... I served the State of Israel. No efforts have been made to release me. | 2023-11-13 | Source Source Source Source |
| Eran Ortal | Israeli brigadier-general (Reserves) and military theorist | "The aim of a war in Lebanon (and perhaps the Golan) will be similar to that of the current war [i.e., in Gaza]: to defeat Lebanese Hezbollah by chasing it down in its own territory and removing the threat. This will be crucial to enable future Israeli freedom of operation in Lebanon and the prevention of future threats." "The 2023 Gaza War is a vital wake-up call for whoever might still be willing to consider a [military] strategy based on air power alone. The unprovoked, murderously criminal and barbaric attack by Hamas is a clear sign that terrorist entities do not build up capabilities only for the sake of deterrence. Iran's conduct in this war, and the conduct of its proxies Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthis, makes clear that another Israeli-Iranian war - one with Lebanon at its center - is imminent. In that war we must strive to defeat the enemy as a military organization, remove the threat it poses, and ensure Israel's future freedom of action. This will require an offensive ground army that is independent and adapted to the challenges." [It is noteworthy that the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies published this article by Eran Ortal in February 2024 and in September 2024, Israel committed what many – including former director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta – called acts of "terrorism" in Lebanon and on 2 October 2024, Israel launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon.] | 2024-02-?? | Source |
| Erez Eshel | Col. in IDF | Reporter: "I want to say one word to you, and you tell me what pops into your head. Revenge." Eshel: "Great value. There is a value to revenge over what was done to us. That for another hundred years [everyone] will understand that Jews are not to be messed with... This place will be fallow, they will not be able to live here [presumably referring to the Al-Atatra neighbourhood of Beit Lahiya in Gaza]." | 2023-11-04 | Source |
| Erez Tidhar | Volunteer for Eitam Rescue and Evacuation Unit, witness to Israel's 10/7 response to attacks on kibbutz Be'eri, Executive Director & Head of Israel National CERT at the Israel National Cyber Directorate | Tidhar: "To describe the situation, you are sitting in a kibbutz inside the State of Israel, where I tour on Saturdays with the kids on bikes. Every minute, a missile comes down on you. Every minute. And suddenly, you see a missile from a helicopter that fires into the kibbutz. You say to yourself, 'I don't get it... An IDF helicopter, firing into an Israeli kibbutz?' And then you see a tank driving through the streets of the kibbutz, flanking the cannon, and fires a shell into a house. These are things that you cannot comprehend. And then I suddenly see on the right side hundreds of people from the kibbutz. ... At some point, very quickly, we said, 'wait a minute... someone has to get these folks out of here because it doesn't make sense.'" Interviewer: "Because missiles are flying down, and shooting." Tidhar: "A war zone. At the end, they got out of that hell inside the kibbutz, and then what? They will get hit by a missile in the entrance to the kibbutz? Because of what? Waiting for who? It didn't make sense to us as parents to children. So we placed all the unit's vehicles and we started loading the people, as many as we could load, into the vehicles, and drive them somewhere out of the fighting zone." | 2023-12-14 | Source Source |
| Esther Hayut | Israeli Supreme Court president (2017-2023) | [In August 2019, Israel's Supreme Court banned two senior members of the Otzma Yehudit party (Bentzi Gopstein and Baruch Marzel) from running in Israel's September elections. President of the Supreme Court, Esther Hayut, cited several quotes made by Gopstein as she offered reasons for the court's ruling. To find examples of Bentzi Gopstein's quotes, search his full name on this website.] "[Many statements made by Bentzi Gopstein over the years have presented an] unequivocal [sense that he] systematically incites racism against the Arab public. Gopstein presents the entire Arab public as an enemy with which no contact should be made that could be interpreted as coexistence. [His remarks have] revealed a new low point in the racial discourse that we have not known before." [As for Baruch Marcel, while he had expressed remorse for his anti-Arab statements and was thus allowed to run in Israel's 2013 and 2015 elections, in their written statement, the Supreme Court explained why they would not give Marcel another chance.] "[...] in practice he persisted in conduct that incited racism." | 2019-08-25 | Source |
| Eyal Golan | Israeli singer | "Erase Gaza, don't leave a single person there." | 2023-10-15 | Source Source |
| Eyal Krim | Head of IDF Rabbinate, Brig. Gen. of IDF | "Because the damage to modesty that is likely to be caused to a girl and to the nation is decisive, the greats of the generation and the chief rabbinate have ruled that girls serving in the IDF is completely forbidden." | 2002-01-12 | Source Source Source Source |
| Eyal Krim | Head of IDF Rabbinate, Brig. Gen. of IDF | When asked if soldiers were permitted to rape women during war, Karim replied that, as part of maintaining fitness for the army and the soldiers' morale during fighting, it is permitted to "breach" the walls of modesty and "satisfy the evil inclination by lying with attractive Gentile women against their will, out of consideration for the difficulties faced by the soldiers and for overall success." | 2002-01-12 | Source Source Source Source |
| Eyal Peltak | Israeli attorney | "The range of threats faced by the soldiers today is diverse, and the fear of wrong action and the fear of criminal liability causes hesitation in making a decision, wasting precious time that could cause harm to our forces." [In January 2017, Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan was preparing to propose a bill to Israel's Knesset (parliament) that would have granted soldiers a license to kill in any situation, with impunity. According to the text, the bill would allow Israeli security forces to "enjoy immunity from actions they carried out or refrained from carrying out, and all before, after, and during an operational activity or terrorist attack that was not part of the day-to-day operational activities of the unit in which he/she works or serves. [...] A member of the security forces shall not bear criminal liability, shall not be interrogated under caution, and shall be immune to any legal action because of an act he carried out or refrained from committing before or during an operational event or in the performance of his duties as a member of the security forces." [Attorney Eyal Peltak, who helped write the legislation, said the bill was required to improve Israeli security.] | 2017-01-07 | Source |
| Ezra Yachin | Veteran of the Lehi paramilitary group, participated in the Deir Yassir massacre during the Nakba, 1948 | "Be triumphant and finish them off and don't leave anyone behind. Erase the memory of them. Erase them, their families, mothers and children. These animals can no longer live. ... Every Jew with a weapon should go out and kill them. If you have an Arab neighbour, don't wait, go to his home and shoot him. ... We want to invade, not like before, we want to enter and destroy what's in front of us, and destroy houses, then destroy the one after it. With all of our forces, complete destruction, enter and destroy. As you can see, we will witness things we've never dreamed of. Let them drop bombs on them and erase them." | 2023-10-11 | Source Source Source Source |
| Gabriel "Gabi" Siboni | Former Col. of IDF | "With an outbreak of hostilities, the IDF will need to act immediately, decisively, and with force that is disproportionate to the enemy's actions and the threat it poses. Such a response aims at inflicting damage and meting out punishment to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes. The strike must be carried out as quickly as possible, and must prioritize damaging assets over seeking out each and every launcher." | 2008-10-02 | Source |
| Gabriel "Gabi" Siboni | Former Col. of IDF | "Punishment must be aimed at decision makers and the power elite. In Syria, punishment should clearly be aimed at the Syrian military, the Syrian regime, and the Syrian state structure. In Lebanon, attacks should both aim at Hizbollah's military capabilities and should target economic interests and the centers of civilian power that support the organization. Moreover, the closer the relationship between Hizbollah and the Lebanese government, the more the elements of the Lebanese state infrastructure should be targeted. Such a response will create a lasting memory among Syrian and Lebanese decision makers, thereby increasing Israeli deterrence and reducing the likelihood of hostilities against Israel for a an extended period. At the same time, it will force Syria, Hizbollah, and Lebanon to commit to lengthy and resource-intensive reconstruction programs." | 2008-10-02 | Source |
| Gabriel "Gabi" Siboni | Former Col. of IDF | "This approach is applicable to the Gaza Strip as well. There, the IDF will be required to strike hard at Hamas and to refrain from the cat and mouse games of searching for Qassam rocket launchers. The IDF should not be expected to stop the rocket and missile fire against the Israeli home front through attacks on the launchers themselves, but by means of imposing a ceasefire on the enemy." | 2008-10-02 | Source |
| Gabriel "Gabi" Siboni | Former Col. of IDF | "By instilling proper expectations of the IDF response among the civilian population, Israel will be able to improve its readiness and the resilience of its citizens. Still, the IDF's primary goal must nonetheless be to attain a ceasefire under conditions that will increase Israel's long term deterrence, prevent a war of attrition, and leave the enemy floundering in expensive, long term processes of reconstruction." | 2008-10-02 | Source |
| Gadi Eisenkot | Israeli Minister without portfolio | Whoever speaks of [Hamas'] absolute defeat is not speaking the truth. [Gadi Eisenkot made this statement to Israeli Channel 12 hours after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reportedly vowed to continue Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip until the Israeli military had achieved "complete victory" over Hamas.] | 2024-01-19 | Source Source Source |
| Gadi Eisenkot | Israeli Minister without portfolio | "What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. We will yield disproportionate power against [them] and cause immense damage and destruction. From our perspective, these are military bases. This isn't a suggestion. This is a plan that has already been authorized... Harming the population is the only means for restraining Nasrallah." | 2008-10-03 | Source Source |
| Gadi Eisenkot | Israeli Minister without portfolio | "What happened in the Dahiya quarter in Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. We will apply disproportionate force on it (village) and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. "This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved." [In 2006, Israel flattened Dahiya in continuous air raids over 34 days. The plan inspired by Israel's disproportionate use of force in Beirut became known in its military as the "Dahiya doctrine."] | 2008-10-03 | Source Source |
| Gali Baharav-Miara | Israeli Attorney General | "Pay attention [and refrain from] statements that will be interpreted as violations of the laws of war. These statements assist those who hope to see harm done to us, because they are contrary to international law and interpreted as war crimes." | 2023-11-14 | Source |
| Galit Distel-Atbaryan | Israeli Member of Knesset, Former Minister of Information/Hasbara | "Hate the enemy. Hate the monsters. Any vestige of internal bickering is a maddeningly stupid waste of energy. Spend your energy on one thing; wiping Gaza off the face of the earth. Let the Gazan monsters fly to the southern fence and flee into Egyptian territory. Or have them die. And have them die horribly. Gaza must be wiped out. And fire and billows of smoke must be upon the heads of the Nazis in Judea and Samaria. Jewish wrath that will cause the ground to shake around the world. We require a revengeful and cruel IDF. Anything less than that is immoral. Simply immoral." | 2023-11-01 | Source |
| Ghassan Alian | IDF General, Head of COGAT | "Hamas became ISIS and the citizens of Gaza are celebrating instead of being horrified. Human beasts are dealt with accordingly. Israel has imposed a total blockade on Gaza: no electricity, no water, just damage. You wanted hell, you will get hell" | 2023-10-10 | Source Source |
| Gideon Levy | Israeli journalist and author | "Israel assassinated, if you want, over 20,000 civilians, I mean 20,000 people of Gaza, most of them civilians. 8,000 babies. This is not also on Israeli sovereign land. And still, that's the real crime." | 2023-12-17 | Source Source |
| Gideon Levy | Israeli journalist and author | "Anyone who builds one terrace in the occupied territories has no intention to go for the two-state solution. Period. And there was not one single Israeli government who stopped for one day building those criminal settlements. ... Those who established the settlements project declared it very clearly. 'We are going to build settlements in order to prevent the two-state solution.' The state of Israel always supported this project. Officially, unofficially, by money, by political support, by military support. Israel, entire Israel, not only the settlers, is part of the settlement project, and the settlement project has one goal: to prevent the two-state solution. That's the only goal of the settlement project. ... Now, when the two-state solution is impossible, then they come up, because they know that it will never happen. Now they come up! Even Netanyahu can say, 'two-state solution.' Why not? Even most of the Israelis will say it in polls. Why not? Because they know that this train left already the station and will never be back. Because nobody is going to evacuate 700,000 settlers. And without evacuation of 700,000 settlers, there is no two-state solution." | 2016-06-25 | Source Source |
| Gideon Sa'ar | Israeli Minister without portfolio | "Gaza must be smaller by the end of the war." | 2023-10-14 | Source |
| Gila Gamliel | Israeli Minister of Intelligence | "Instead of funneling money to rebuild Gaza or to the failed UNRWA, the international community can assist in the costs of resettlement, helping the people of Gaza build new lives in their new host countries." | 2023-11-19 | Source Source |
| Gilad Erdan | 18th Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations | "Israel's war against Hamas, both in Gaza and at the U.N., is a battle for Israel's future. It's either us, or them, and it must be us! Israel is here to stay forever!" | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Gilad Erdan | 18th Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations | "... and when the general assembly called for a ceasefire, I declared loud and clear that there will be no ceasefire, never." | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Gilad Erdan | 18th Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations | "As we all witnessed what happens at the U.N. doesn't stay at the U.N. because, friends, today we live in the internet era, where lies can travel around the world before the truth can even get its shoes on, and the U.N.'s fabrications can cause immense destruction, immense damage to Israel. We are in the midst of a battle not only to defend physically the future of Israel against Hamas terrorists, but also for hearts and minds around the world, and the U.N.'s demonization of Israel is a direct threat. A direct threat to the legitimacy we needed, the legitimacy of our just war against the forces of sheer evil. Israel['s] goals are clear: to bring home our hostages and obliterate Hamas's terror capabilities. That's what we need now to ensure security. And just today, Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, declared, as we heard before, that October 7th was just a rehearsal. If Hamas is not eliminated, the massacre will be repeated over and over again. Nothing can change a genocidal ideology. Nothing. | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Gilad Erdan | 18th Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations | "If this body [the U.N. General Assembly] wants a ceasefire, then it should first and foremost be doing everything possible... everything possible... to bring all of the hostages home. And colleagues, empty words are just lip service. Words are not enough." | 2023-12-16 | Source Source |
| Gilad Erdan | 18th Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations | "So I ask again, what is the meaning 'humanitarian' ceasefire? There's no such a thing. This is a- one big lie! A whitewashing of the truth! A humanitarian ceasefire means a terrorist-saving ceasefire. We're not stupid. This resolution only seeks an end to the war against Hamas nazis. Sorry for the words, you don't give a damn about Israel and our future. An end to the war means turning our backs on the hostages. It means ensuring Hamas's continued rule in Gaza. I don't get it. We're 18 years of oppression in Gaza- by the way against Palestinians digging terror tunnels into our soil- into our territory, and indiscriminate rocket fires, thousands and thousands on Israeli civilians. That wasn't enough for you? All a ceasefire secures is a future for the genocidal jihadists. It is only Hamas that this resolution is defending. Stop hiding your intentions behind your suits and diplomatic wording." | 2023-12-16 | Source Source |
| Gilad Erdan | 18th Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations | "Mr. President [of the U.N. General Assembly], Israel's operation in Gaza is not a response to October 7th, it's not! It is to ensure, only to ensure, that such atrocities never happen again, and the only way to do so is to obliterate Hamas's capabilities." | 2023-12-16 | Source Source |
| Gilad Erdan | 18th Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations | The deportation of asylum seekers from Eritrea and Sudan will "encourage infiltrators to leave the borders of the state of Israel in an honourable and safe way, and serve as an effective tool for fulfilling our obligations towards Israeli citizens and restoring the fabric of life to the residents of south Tel Aviv" [where many of the asylum seekers had settled]. [In 2015, Gilad Erdan spearheaded a cash for refugees plan, through which Israel would deport Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers - the majority of whom were being held in a detention facility in the Negev Desert - to Rwanda and Uganda in exchange for cash ($3,500) and a one-way airplane ticket. Asylum-seekers were required to sign a statement confirming their "departure" was "voluntary." For its role as host to Israel's unwanted asylum seekers, Rwanda was promised millions of dollars in grants and sales from Israel. However, by late March 2015, Israel decided it would no longer require departures to be voluntary. Asylum seekers would be given 30 days to leave the country and those who remained would face a hearing to determine their indefinite detention. The quote above from Israel's Interior Minister at the time, Gilad Erdan, offers details of the plan and Israel's perspective on it.] | 2015-03-31 | Source Source |
| Gilad Erdan | 18th Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations | [In 2015, Gilad Erdan spearheaded a cash for refugees plan, through which Israel would deport Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers - the majority of whom were being held in a detention facility in the Negev Desert - to Rwanda and Uganda in exchange for a cash and a one-way airplane ticket. For its role as host to Israel's unwanted asylum seekers, Rwanda was promised millions of dollars in grants and sales from Israel. The following quote from Israel's Interior Minister at the time, Gilad Erdan, offers details of the plan and Israel's perspective on it.] "We give them [refugees facing deportation] a package that includes a flight and $3,500 - no small sum in these [African] countries. They will be given visas and will be allowed to work. [Through this 'voluntary departure' scheme, we will encourage asylum seekers] to leave Israel in a safe and respectable way." | 2015-03-04 | Source |
| Gilad Kariv | Israeli attorney and politician, member of Knesset (Israeli parliament) | Anyone who thinks that it is possible to conduct a policy of de facto annexation, legalize land grabbing, ignore the violence of extremists, administer separate legal systems and refuse any political initiative and at the same time maintain Israel's status as a democratic and acceptable state is selling a dangerous illusion and is blinding the public. | 2024-07-19 | Source Source |
| Gilad Keinan | Head of Israeli Air Force Air Operations Group | "The Air Force is prepared for the continued of the developments in the campaign, and works together with all the bodies in the IDF, under a clear goal- to destroy everything that has ever been touched by the hand of Hamas." | 2023-10-28 | Source Source |
| Gilad Sharon | Israeli columnist, author, son of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon | "There is no justification for the State of Gaza being able to shoot at our towns with impunity. We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn't stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren't surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too." [Gilad Sharon wrote this almost one week into what Israel named "Operation Pillar of Defense," which was an eight-day battle in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip.] | 2012-11-18 | Source Source Source Source |
| Gilad Sharon | Israeli columnist, author, son of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon | "A strong opening isn't enough, you also have to know how to finish – and finish decisively. If it isn't clear whether the ball crossed the goal-line or not, the goal isn't decisive. The ball needs to hit the net, visible to all. What does a decisive victory sound like? A Tarzan-like cry that lets the entire jungle know in no uncertain terms just who won, and just who was defeated." 'If the government isn't prepared to go all the way on this, it will mean reoccupying the entire Gaza Strip. Not a few neighborhoods in the suburbs, as with [the Istaeli military's Operation] Cast Lead, but the entire Strip, like in [Operation] Defensive Shield, so that rockets can no longer be fired. There is no middle path here – either the Gazans and their infrastructure are made to pay the price, or we reoccupy the entire Gaza Strip. Otherwise there will be no decisive victory. And we're running out of time – we must achieve victory quickly. The Netanyahu government is on a short international leash. Soon the pressure will start – and a million civilians can't live under fire for long. This needs to end quickly – with a bang, not a whimper." [Gilad Sharon wrote this almost one week into what Israel named "Operation Pillar of Defense," which was an eight-day battle in the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip.] | 2012-11-18 | Source Source |
| Gillian ("Jill") and Pete Brisley | Parents/grandparents of three Israelis killed 10/7/2023 in Kibbutz Be'eri | [Lillian Sharabi, 48, and her daughters - Noiya, 16, and Yahel, 13 – were killed in Kibbutz Be'eri 10/7/2023. Unsubstantiated claims made by alleged eyewitnesses and the media (particularly a New York Times exposé – "Screams Without Words" – and an Israeli special forces paramedic who was one of the sources for the exposé) portrayed the teenaged girls dying separated from their mother and as victims of sexual violence that day. Gillian Brisley denied that her family members had been sexually violated. She told Israel's Channel 12 News that her daughter and granddaughters were found together, between the living room and dining room. (Channel 12 article was translated to English by ChatGPT.)] "It's a terrible thing to say, but they were 'only' shot. A soldier said he saw our daughter embracing her two daughters - while they were being shot [Pete Brisley said]. October 7th was the saddest day of my life.'" [A New York Times (NYT) 25 March 2024 update to its 28 December 2023 exposé stated the NYT had viewed a recently released video filmed at Kibbutz Be'eri on 7 October 2023, which undermined the testimony of the NYT source – the Israeli military paramedic. The two teenaged girls in the video – the Sharabi sisters – were fully clothed, the NYT update stated.] | 2024-02-29 | Source Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | [Giora Eiland, advisor to Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, made the following statements on the Israeli military's radio station GLZ in October 2023.] Giora Eiland: "Israel, as I understand, closed the water supply to Gaza. But there are many wells in Gaza, which contain water which they treat locally, since originally they contain salt. If the energy shortage in Gaza makes it so that they stop pumping out water, that's good. Otherwise we have to attack these water treatment plants in order to create a situation of thirst and hunger in Gaza, and I would say, forewarn of an unprecedented economical and humanitarian crisis." Interviewer: "Giora, I want to check that I understand correctly. You are saying-get the residents of Gaza into thirst, into hunger. These are the terms you are using?" Eiland: "You understood correctly. If you want to topple the Hamas regime, you won't achieve that merely through aerial attacks. And a ground invasion, it has its benefits, [but] it also comes with great risks, and it's unclear that the state of Israel needs to take these right now." [The Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem estimated that by November 14, 2023 – five weeks into the genocide in Gaza - 37 of 581 key water and sanitation facilities in Gaza had been destroyed and 226 had suspected damage. Israel also restricted Gazans' ability to collect water by daily bombardments, which also endangered staff operating Gaza's water plants, limited the movement of water tankers within the region, and made farming impossible (contributing to the starvation that became evident months later).] [On 23 July 2024 Oxfam reported that since 7 October 2023, there had been a 94% reduction in water available to people in Gaza who were attempting to survive with just six percent of the water they had access to before 7 October 2023, which was already too little compared to World Health Organization standards. On 3 June 2024, the United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) reported that 400 of Gaza's 592 water and sanitation infrastructure sites - 67% - had been damaged or destroyed by military action, "leaving them non-functional and out of service." The Oxfam report also provided substantial information on how Israel systematically weaponized water by cutting off supply lines from Israel to Gaza, destroying critical water production infrastructure, destroying water utility warehouses and blocking repair, destroying water laboratories, destroying sanitation infrastructure and services, destroying Oxfam and partners' water infrastructure, and destroying infrastructure inside health care facilities.] | 2023-10-?? | Source Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "First, announcing today to the residents of Gaza that if they value their lives they have to leave for Egypt or gather on the beach in 12 hours. Any building no matter what will be considered a military target." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "This is not revenge. It's either us or them." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Israel has no choice but to render Gaza into a place that is temporarily, or permanently, unfit for living." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Like the United States in 1941, we are the US after Pearl Harbor. It is us or them, and the conclusion is clear" | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Thirdly, we should not be satisfied with stopping the passage of electricity, fuel, and water to Gaza, but rather incrementally hit targets that provide these necessities, and block with firepower any attempt by vehicles to travel from Rafah to the north, if needed. Creating a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a required means to achieving the goal. We don't have to worry about international pressure." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | Eiland: "Israel closed the water supply to Gaza, but there are many wells in Gaza, which contain water which they treat locally, because originally they contain salt. If the energy shortage in Gaza makes it so that they stop pumping out water, that's good. Otherwise we have to attack these water treatment plants in order to create a situation of thirst and hunger in Gaza, and I would say, signal [sic] an unprecedented economical and humanitarian crisis." Interviewer: "Giora, I want to check that I understand correctly. You are saying- get the residents of Gaza into thirst, into hunger. These are the terms you are using?" Eiland: "You understood correctly... Exactly 90 years ago, 1933, Hitler was democratically elected in Germany, with huge support from the German population, and therefore when he started a war of extermination against the whole world, the world justly fought against the country of Germany, including through indiscriminate bombing of the population. When Japan started a war in Pearl Harbour, which is by the way pretty similar to what happened to us in terms of the shock, the US took off the gloves, and at a certain stage was not afraid to use the ultimate weapon, and it was the entire Japanese people, not the leadership, who paid the price... This is a reality for us or them. Hamas is not a terror organisation, it is the representative of a State, the population of which supported and [still] supports Hamas, which is its authentic representative, and therefore this population is now suffering, and should suffer, a price that will make it change its mentality." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "This pressure is positive, and it will allow us to respond: so what are you proposing? If Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Egypt and Saudi Arabia want to prevent a humanitarian disaster- have them volunteer to find a solution for Gaza, but one which does not include Hamas." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Second, they must evacuate the UNRWA schools and al-Shifa hospital, which will then immediately be attacked by the Air Force, since the bunkers under them are Hamas command centres." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "... create such a huge pressure on Gaza, that Gaza will become an area where people cannot live. People cannot live, until Hamas is destroyed, which means that Israel not only stops to supply energy, diesel, water, food ... as we did in the last twenty years ... but we should prevent any possible assistance by others, and to create in Gaza such a terrible, unbearable situation, that can last weeks and months." | 2023-10-12 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Israel needs to create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, compelling tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in Egypt or the Gulf ... Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist." | 2023-10-12 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Israel needs to create a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, compelling tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in Egypt or the Gulf... The entire population of Gaza will either move to Egypt or move to the Gulf." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Every vehicle in Gaza is considered a military vehicle transporting combatants. Therefore, there is no vehicular traffic, and it does not matter whether it is transporting water or other critical supplies." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "The UN secretary-general has initiated humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Israeli condition for any aid should be a visit by the Red Cross to Israeli hostages and especially the civilians among them. Until this happens, no aid of any kind will be permitted to enter into Gaza." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Intermediators with both diplomatic and military experience will be required to explain in detail these concepts to the rest of the world. It will not be possible to remove Hamas without exerting pressure and if the Americans do not receive a clear and detailed explanation from Israeli officials and understand that Israel has no choice. It is comparable to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which led to the launch of an atomic bomb in Japan." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "We have two options. One is a ground invasion, which I'm not sure is the right choice. The other is to impose a siege on Gaza, or at least on the north of Gaza, until even the terrorists who have [stocked] food and water and fuel and electricity that will last days and weeks and months- they'll run out in two years time." | 2023-10-15 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "We can't, simply can't, give in with anything related to the entry of fuel into Gaza. Yes, the Palestinians will present [to the world] babies who died in incubators as a result of a power outage due to the lack of fuel, but still, a necessary condition for creating distress for Hamas is a lack of fuel in the entire Strip. As we have already said- [it's] an existential war, and we are facing a situation of either us or them." | 2023-10-25 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Hamas isn't just a terror organization, it has created in Gaza a terror state- supported by a civil administration that services it, just like in Nazi Germany. Anyone who wishes to 'destroy the Hamas regime' must dismantle the whole system, including intentional hits against mayors, civil administrators, and the entire civilian system. Furthermore, Israel must decide what is more important for it: being liked by the West, or terrorising [its] enemies in the Middle East. The survivability of the State of Israel necessitates that we pick, at first, the latter. Hezbollah will only be deterred if it sees not only destruction in Gaza City, but a humanitarian disaster and absolute governmental chaos... Our principal challenge is to persuade our friends that only that outcome- the complete destruction of the whole system in Gaza and desperate distress- will also serve them in their effort to cope with Iran and its proxies in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen." | 2023-10-30 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "I believe that the only effective way to achieve that strategic goal is to impose a dramatic, continuous, and strict siege over Gaza. This is what Israel has begun to do- we cut the supply of energy, water and diesel to the Strip ... People might ask whether we want the people of Gaza to starve. We do not. Therefore, the people of Gaza will have to leave- either temporarily or permanently- via the border with Egypt. When the people have evacuated, and the only ones left in Gaza are Hamas, and when food water has run out- and we can also bomb the water facilities in Gaza so there will be no water- then at some point Hamas will either be completely destroyed or surrender or agree to evacuate Gaza just as Arafat was forced to leave Beirut after an Israeli siege ... Israel should not allow any economic assistance. The people should be told that they have two choices; to stay and to starve, or to leave. If Egypt and other countries prefer that these people will perish in Gaza, this is their choice ... Within 2 hours Israel could destroy all the water facilities in Gaza. We will not do it today because there are 2 million people there. But we will do it a minute after they leave when the only ones remaining are Hamas. We can be patient, similar to sieges all over history when they last weeks, months and years until the other side possess no ability to function ... I'm not punishing the people of Gaza. Hamas behaved like ISIS but they grew in Gaza with the full support of the people of Gaza; 70-80% of people supported them even if they knew their ideology. People have to be accountable for decisions that they make (such as in Germany)." | 2023-10-07 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "When you are at war with another country you don't feed them, you don't provide them electricity or gas or water or anything else... A country can be attacked in a much broader way, to bring the country to the brink of dysfunction. This is the necessary outcome of events [in Gaza]." | 2023-10-07 | Source Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | Interviewer: "Should we implement a policy of Ba'al H'bait Histagea? [i.e., going crazy]" Eiland: "I prefer not to go crazy, I prefer to be calculated. I wouldn't attack civilian targets per-se just because they are there, like hospitals and so on. But any military target, even if it is under a mosque or under a hospital or adjacent to a school, I wouldn't spare it in that case." | 2023-10-07 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Israel should completely shut down everything that happens economically in Gaza. Goods and gas, fuel and electricity and water and food. Not only to win the battle, but also because we have so many hostages there. If we ever want to see the hostages alive, the only way is to create a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza. ... When international institutions [cry out] about a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and bodies are piling up in the hospital and they cannot treat them, we will reply, 'We have no problem solving the real problems of Gaza, but give us back our prisoners first.'" | 2023-10-08 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "The crucial way [sic] to bring down the Hamas regime and achieve a chance, however small, to see our hostages returned- is if there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. I'm not ashamed to say that. Israel controls the fuel, soler [Not sure what this is? food?], electricity, water, and crossings to the Gaza strip. Of course it should not allow the passage of anything to Gaza. But it also has to cut off the connection between Gaza and Egypt. The second issue is the most sensitive point in Gaza: the water. The water in Gaza comes from wells with salt water that is not fit for consumption. They have water treatment plants, Israel should hit those plants. When the entire world says we have gone insane and this is a humanitarian disaster- we will say, it's not an end, it's a means." | 2023-10-09 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "There is one way to prevent the Third Lebanon War and win it if it does break out (and thereby prevent the Fourth Lebanon War): to make it clear to Lebanon's allies and through them to the Lebanese government and people that the next war will be between Israel and Lebanon and not between Israel and Hizbollah. Such a war will lead to the elimination of the Lebanese military, the destruction of the national infrastructure, and intense suffering among the population. There will be no recurrence of the situation where Beirut residents (not including the Dahiya quarter) go to the beach and cafes while Haifa residents sit in bomb shelters." | 2008-11-01 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Serious damage to the Republic of Lebanon, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people are consequences that can influence Hizbollah's behavior more than anything else. The impact on Hizbollah and its willingness to end the war following Israeli actions of the kind described here would result from both internal and external effects. The internal effect stems from Hizbollah's political status and ambitions, as it portrays itself" | 2008-11-01 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Israel doesn't have an interest in Gaza being rehabilitated. If you are asking me, whether a state of prolonged chaos in Gaza, Somalia-style is something Israel can live with- yes, it can" | 2023-11-17 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "But we must not, absolutely must not adopt the American narrative that 'permits' us to fight only against Hamas fighters instead of doing the righ thing- to fight against the entire opposing system because it is precisely its civil collapse that will bring the end of the war closer. When senior Israeli figures say in the media 'It's us or them' we should clarify the question of who is 'them'. 'They' are not only Hamas fighters with weapons, but also all the 'civilian' officials, including hospital administrators and school administrators, and also the entire Gaza population who enthusiastically supported Hamas and cheered on its atrocities on October 7th." | 2023-11-19 | Source Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "The way to win the war faster and at a lower cost for us requires a system collapse on the other side and not the mere killing of more Hamas fighters. The international community warns us of a humanitarian disaster in Gaza and of severe epidemics. We must not shy away from it, as difficult as that may be. After all, severe epidemics in the south of the Gaza Strip will bring victory closer and reduce casualties among IDF soldiers. And no, this is not about cruelty for cruelty's sake, since we don't support the suffering of the other side as a goal but as a means." | 2023-11-19 | Source Source Source Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Israel is not fighting a terrorist organization but against the State of Gaza. The State of Gaza is indeed under Hamas leadership, and this organization managed to mobilize all the resources of its state, the support of the majority of its citizens, and the absolute loyalty of its civil administration, around Sinwar's leadership, while fully supporting his ideology. In this sense, Gaza is very similar to Nazi Germany..." | 2023-11-19 | Source Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Israel must therefore not provide the other side with any capability that prolongs its life. Moreover, we say that Sinwar is so evil that he does not care if all the residents of Gaza die. Such a presentation is not accurate, since who are the 'poor' women of Gaza? They are all the mothers, sisters or wives of Hamas murderers. On the one hand, they are part of the infrastructure that suppors the organization, and on the other hand, if they experience a humanitarian disaster, then it can be assumed that some of the Hamas fighter and the more junior commanders will begin to understand that the war is futile that it is better to prevent irreversible harm to their families." | 2023-11-19 | Source Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "[We must make it clear to the Americans:] It is impossible to be careful not to harm civilians, forget about it, it can't be done! These kinds of things can't be done more carefully, it is not like an operation, it is not a targeted assassination.... The most important thing [with regards to our messaging to the Americans] is: the Americans think that if they can restrain Israel, bring some humanitarian aid, establish some sort of calm, even at the cost of our operational success, that will buy them some sort of prestige in the Middle East. The opposite is the case: in the Middle East only force is respected, and if Israel causes, I'm saying this privately [not as a member of Defence Minister Gallant's advisory forum], I'm not an official so I am permitted to say this, to a horrible, horrible! humanitarian situation in Gaza-only when that's the situation and when it is well understood that this is the outcome, Nasrallah will understand it and so will others, then the Americans will gain more respect. That's something they don't understand" | 2023-11-05 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "Gaza to a very large extent is actually a state, which is a Nazi state in which they have been able to recruit the entire civilian population to support a struggle against Israel. Every second house in Gaza has a shaft with stairs going down to the tunnels- from private homes. All the hospital managers, school superintendents, mayors- are all employees of Hamas. It is a large effort by all Gazans against Israel, and they rally around their leadership, they are not opposed to it. Therefore Israel in this case cannot, I would say, spare these civilians in Gaza." | 2023-11-06 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "... if there is an intention for a military action at Shifa [Hospital], which I think is inescapable, I hope that the head of the CIA got an explanation of why this is necessary, and why the US must ultimately back even an operation like this, even if there are thousands of bodies of civilians in the streets afterward." | 2023-11-06 | Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "From a professional point of view, I must give credit to their resilience. I cannot see any signs of collapse of the military abilities of Hamas nor in their political strength to continue to lead Gaza." | 2023-12-27 | Source Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "[The Gaza Strip in 2004, before the beginning of the blockade of 2006 onwards, is] a huge concentration camp." | 2004-03-31 | Source Source |
| Giora Eiland | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Advisor to Defense Minister Gallant | "In order to guarantee our interests versus the other side's demands, we must avoid the artificial, wrong and dangerous distinction between the Hamas people, who are 'the bad guys,' and Gaza's residents, which are allegedly 'the good guys.' We are dealing with an enemy state, not with a terror organization which is seemingly operating from within an innocent civilian population." | 2014-08-05 | Source |
| Giora Redler | Israeli rabbi and teacher at Bnei David, Israeli Religious and Military Academy | "The Holocaust for real is not about the killing of Jews- that's not the Holocaust. All of these excuses claiming that it was based on ideology or that it was systematic, this is ridiculous. Because it was based on ideology, to a certain extent, makes it more moral than if people murdered people for no reason. Humanism, all the secular culture about us believing in the human, that's the Holocaust. The Holocaust, for real, is being pluralist, believing in 'I believe in the human'. That's what's called a Holocaust. The Lord (blessed be his name) is already shouting for many years that the [Jewish] exile is over, but people don't listen to him, and that is their disease, a disease which needs to be cured by the Holocaust." | 2019-04-30 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Giora Redler | Israeli rabbi and teacher at Bnei David, Israeli Religious and Military Academy | "The Nazi logic was right unto themselves. Hitler says that a certain group in society is the seed of all calamity for all humanity, that because of it all of mankind will go to oblivion, that they harm humanity, and therefore must be exterminated." | 2019-04-30 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Giora Redler | Israeli rabbi and teacher at Bnei David, Israeli Religious and Military Academy | "[Hitler] is the most righteous person. Of course he is right in every word he utters. In his ideology he is right. There is a male world which fights, which deals with honor and the brotherhood of soldiers. And there is the soft, ethical feminine world [which speaks of] 'turning the other cheek'. 'And we [Nazis] believe that the Jews carry on this heritage, trying, in our words, to spoil the whole of humanity, and that's why they are the real enemy.' Now, he [Hitler] is 100% correct, aside from the fact that he was on the wrong side." | 2019-04-30 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Golan Vach | Lt. Col. of IDF | [All standing in front of a burned and destroyed kibbutz home in kibbutz Kfar Aza] Interviewer 1: "... this place where you fired the- where you found the couple-" Vach: "Where you're strand- where you stand exactly, were lying two couples, two men, two women, handcuffed. Inside this house were another 15 burned people. Among them, 8 babies. In this corner [gestures towards the rubble behind him]. They [presumably Hamas] were concentrated them [the hostages] and they killed them and they burned them." Interviewer 1: "Did you see-" Vach: "I evacuated them." Interviewer 2: "But why is the destruction then, I'm sorry, why is the destruction [unintelligible, Vach interrupts and begins speaking again] looks like a, more like a-" Vach: "This destruction was a cause of our tanks, um, attack." Interviewer 2: "Fired on them." Vach: "Yeah. Yeah, because they were blocked in these houses and we needed to, uh, to conquer back the whole settlement and it couldn't be happen without tanks." Interviewer 2: "Okay." Interviewer 3: "So how many were k- how many were here and then how many survived? How many did you-" Vach: "No one survived from this house. From other buildings, we f- we rescued many! But from this house, 19 people died, among them, 8 children." | 2023-10-14 | Source Source |
| Golan Vach | Lt. Col. of IDF | Interviewer 2: "Mr. Golan, I'm sorry to come back to the same issue but, about the beheaded babies, there, like, there is huge controversy. The first i24 reporter announced that there were beheaded babies in the kibbutz Area? Aza?" Interviewer 3 and Vach: "Kfar Aza." Interviewer 2: "Kfar Aza. And then it's asked to the army, and the army said 'We didn't find any evidence on this,' and now you said you saw one beheaded baby held by a mother, and also Biden's announced that he saw the pictures, then White House issued another statement- [like referencing the press release where they walk back Biden's beheaded babies claim]." Vach: "I, I, I can tell you only of the things that I saw in my own eyes." Interviewer 2: "Did you [unintelligible, interrupted]-" Vach: "Here, here, here, I evacuated, myself, the mother and the baby. Is it good enough?" Interviewer 2: "Yeah." Vach: "That's it." Interviewer 2: "Will there be pictures about this? I know it's very graphic subject, but-" Vach: "Yeah, but you know the effects were, um, fragmented to so many small minor corners just here in the kibbutz, almost a hundred people died. A hundred people means here and there and here and there and you have dozens of teams that collected so many people, and we kept finding, day after day, missing people. So the stories about beheaded babies, it's rude. And I can tell you only one of them that I saw in my own eyes. That I holded in my own hands." | 2023-10-14 | Source |
| Hadas Dagan | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri, survived Israeli tank shelling | "It's clear that in this event lies a very heavy moral dilemma. I don't want anyone to take this case with the very hard moral dilemma, and point their finger at the army. It's quite clear to me that I was hit, and Adi, from the shrapnel of the... shell of the tank, because it was at the very same moment." | 2023-12-10 | Source |
| Hadas Dagan | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri, survived Israeli tank shelling | "At that point, it was clear to me that our role is to be a human wall between our forces that arrive and them [the Hamas captors]. ... Adi [Dagan, my husband] and I press ourselves against each other, I am behind him, hugging him. ... I heard the children screaming: 'Help, please help.' ... I'll never forget the children's screams. How they scream for help. And barrages, again, barrages, barrages, barrages. ... Again barrages, barrages, barrages, and Adi tries to raise his head, and I say, 'take it down,' I push his head down. We don't talk. It's impossible to talk. And suddenly, Adi tells me: 'Hadas, Ze'ev is no longer with us.' We lie on our side, and I look over the shoulder and I tell him: 'Pessi is also not with us.' ... Suddenly, a horrific boom, and I can't move my legs, and my arms drop, I cannot move them. I'm not hugging Adi anymore, and I tell him: 'Dushi, I think I'm hurt.' And at that point, I'm telling him once more that I love him. It was clear to me that there was a tank here. It was absolutely clear to me. Don't ask me how, I don't know. And then came the second boom. I felt that I was hurt. I looked and I felt that a lot blood was flowing on me, and I turn my head to see what exactly happened to me, and then I see this size of a hole in Adi's main artery. And I take my thumb and try to block the blood flow, what else could I do? For a moment he moved, and then he didn't move anymore, but I lie like that, until I realize that I'm already... I'm inside a pool of blood, and there is no point in trying to block the blood flow anymore, and I simply hug him again with my face, my hair, all inside a huge pool of blood, and I remember hearing one more shot from inside the house, and I don't hear anything anymore. And I wait for my bullet to come." | 2023-12-10 | Source Source |
| Hagai Levi | Israeli television producer, filmmaker | [According to a social media post by Israeli television producer Hagai Levi, Israeli hostages abducted to Gaza on 10/7/2023, and since released, continue to warn that the Israeli military (IDF) presents the greatest threat to hostages left behind in Gaza.] "[The] very thought that the one who is supposed to save you is the one who might kill you is a traumatizing element." [Translated from Hebrew by ChatGPT.] | 2023-12-04 | Source Source Source Source |
| Hagai Levi | Israeli television producer, filmmaker | [According to a social media post by Israeli television producer Hagai Levi, Israeli hostages abducted to Gaza on 10/7/2023, and since released, continue to warn that the Israeli military (IDF) presents the greatest threat to hostages left behind in Gaza.] "From the reports of the returning abductees, it is repeated that the most horrifying captivity trauma they experienced was probably the IDF bombings. When they tell about them, they literally tremble in front of me. The terms are of hell, of the brink of death, of an earthquake, of noise from another planet (which also caused permanent hearing damage). The fear of being murdered by the captors was zero compared to the fear of dying in the [IDF] bombing. The biggest threat currently hovering over the heads of abductees is a military operation to rescue them. The families of the abductees and everyone around them should shout and scream do everything so that such an operation does not take place. Its chances of mass slaughter are about a hundred times its success." | 2023-12-04 | Source Source Source Source |
| Haganah | Main Zionist paramilitary organization operating for Jewish residents in Mandatory Palestine | [The following description of a portion of Plan Dalet - under the section, "Assignment of Duties" and sub-section, "Consolidation of Defense Systems and Barricades" - was written by the Haganah.] "4. Mounting operations against enemy population centers located inside or near our defensive system in order to prevent them from being used as bases by an active armed force. These operations can be divided into the following categories: - Destruction of villages (setting fire to, blowing up, and planting mines in the debris), especially those population centers which are difficult to control continuously. - Mounting combing and control operations according to the following guidelines: encirclement of the village and conducting a search inside it. In the event of resistance, the armed force must be wiped out and the population must be expelled outside the borders of the state." | 1948-03-10 | Source Source |
| Hagar | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank driver, tank commanded by "Michal" on 10/7 | Interviewer: "Seeing the terrorists go down, one by one?" Hila: "Great fun." Hagar: "Honestly, it's not something we're used to, but we had to rise to the occasion, and we did." Interviewer: "Weren't you afraid? They were trying to kill you." Hagar: "There was no fear. You think about the people sitting at home, the people that need us, and understand that there is no room for fear." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Hagar | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank driver, tank commanded by "Michal" on 10/7 | "Hila and I were on the APV, Tal was on comms, to get a status report, and help the brigade commander [Raviv Mahmia] communicate. Hila and I drove on road 232, I'm driving, Hila is on the APV, operating the machine gun, telling me she's spotting terrorists, [telling me] to open her safety so she can fire. We saw them falling." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Haim (Chaim) Arlosoroff | Director of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency for Israel (1931-33) | [The following quote is from a confidential letter Chaim Arlosoroff sent to Chaim Weizmann, in which he outlined his views on Zionist strategy, specifically, "Plan D" (also known as Plan Dalet). At the time, Chaim Weizmann was president of the World Zionist Conference (1921-32, 1935-46) and Chaim Arlosoroff was director of the political department of the Jewish Agency for Israel. After outlining the first four stages of Plan D, Arlosoroff commented on the next stage.] "The real test of Zionist policy is whether the next stage in this sequence is attainable on the basis of its current strategy. Under present circumstances Zionism cannot be realized without a transition period during which the Jewish minority would exercise organized revolutionary rule... during which the state apparatus, the administration, and the military establishment would be in the hands of the minority. [I am aware that this] might even resemble dangerously certain political states of mind which we have always rejected, [but I will] never become reconciled to the failure of Zionism before an attempt is made whose seriousness corresponds to the seriousness of the struggle." | 1932-06-30 | Source |
| Haim Katz | Israeli Minister of Tourism | "Today, after 18 years [since disengagement from Gaza], we have the opportunity to rebuild and expand the land of Israel. This is our final opportunity." | 2024-01-28 | Source |
| Haim Levin | Israeli Alexandroni Brigade soldier present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "We occupied Tantura [a Palestinian village]. We caught a lot of Arabs. We rounded them up. It's a story...[laughing]. Great. There were some 15, 20. We guarded them. Then came this man with an Australian hat, with a handgun. He yelled in Arabic, 'Get up! Get up!' They got up. He went near them and looked. He took a step back, drew his gun – bang, bang, bang, bang. He killed them all. I was shocked. In cold blood? Yes. I didn't ask him. I asked people who knew: 'Why did he do it?' "'You have no idea how many Jews these people killed. You have no idea.' And that was it." Interviewer: "Were you mad at him?" Levin: "No, not at all. I just asked why, that's all. No more than that. I didn't care." [The preceding quote is from Haim Levin's interview for the documentary, "Tantura," about the 1948 massacre in the Palestinian village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Haim Levin | Israeli Alexandroni Brigade soldier present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | [Haim Levin, a soldier present at the Tantura massacre, is quoted from an interview about the burial of the Palestinians killed, in May 1948, by Israeli soldiers in the village of Tantura.] Levin: "A cart with two mules took all their corpses and brought them to the cemetery." Interviewer: "Do you remember them being buried there?" Levin: "No, of course not. I didn't go." Interviewer: "They dug?" Levin: "No, no. Who cared about that?" | 2022 | Source |
| Haim-Moshe Shapira | Russian-born key Israeli politician, signatory of Israel's declaration of independence | [Near the end of the Arab-Israeli War in late 1948, the Israeli government began to discuss reports of massacres by Israeli forces that had taken place. According to Haaretz's investigative report, the archival records of meetings reveal that Israel's leaders knew atrocities were being committed during the invasions of Arab villages. While minutes of these cabinet meetings have been available for years, the discussions devoted to "the army's behaviour in the Galilee and the Negev" were censored up until a few years ago. Israeli Minister of Immigration and Health Haim-Moshe Shapira seemed incensed by the reports of massacres and other atrocities.] "To go that far [i.e., to commit atrocities] is forbidden even in times of war. These matters have come up more than once in cabinet meetings, and the defense minister investigated and demanded, and orders were given. I believe that in order to create the impression that we take this matter very seriously, we must choose a committee of ministers who will travel to those places and see for themselves what happened. People who commit these acts must be punished. The matter was not a secret. My proposal is to choose a committee of three ministers who will address the gravity of the matter." | 1948-11-07 | Source Source Source Source |
| Hallel Biton Rosen | Israeli military and defense news correspondent | "The only thing we should care about is how do we protect the lives of our children and grandchildren. And the only thing that could guarantee that is to invade Gaza and to expel its citizens, and to build new Jewish settlements over there. This is the only thing that will stop them and prevents them from saying that they won on 7 October, against the people of Israel. And the only thing that prevents them from saying that is if they lost their land." | 2023-11-10 | Source Source |
| Hallel Biton Rosen | Israeli military and defense news correspondent | "An idea for the Israeli legislator: the October 7 law. All the Nazi Hamas terrorists who carried out the massacre should stand trial without representation, and would be executed within 24 hours on 7.10.24." | 2023-11-10 | Source Source |
| Hanan Amiur | Editor-in-Chief of Presspectiva (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis a.k.a. CAMERA's Israel Department) | "When talking about the military battlefield, we must also stand in the battlefield of consciousness. The enemy is not pained by destroyed buildings and its dead civilians or soldiers. The enemy is only pained by losing land. Therefore, Israel needs to pass an official government resolution and announce to the world a policy change: Israel will not initiate war. But if attacked and forced to fight, Israel will fight with the aim of conquering territory from the enemy, transferring its population to an area that was not conquered, officially annexing the conquered territory immediately, destroying it to the foundation, and rebuilding it as Israeli land. Let the enemy know and let everyone know: from now on, Israel will use the wars forced upon it as an opportunity to expand." | 2023-10-19 | Source Source |
| Hanan Ben-Ari | Israeli singer-songwriter and composer | "Kfar Aza [possibly meaning 'Village of Gaza', or more likely referring to kibbutz Kfar Aza which was attacked?], we will avenge [kibbutz] Be'eri's revenge, let's dismantle them, the people of Israel live, the people of Israel live, there is no better than battalion no. 2, returning to Gush Katif, playing beach volleyball, establishing Nova beach on the coast of Gaza, the people of Israel live, the people of Israel live, avenge one of my two eyes of Palestine, avenge one of my two eyes of Palestine, curse their name! That I may be this once avenged of Palestine for my two eyes. That I may be this once avenged of Palestine for my two eyes. Remember me, I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God. Remember me, remember me." | 2023-11-12 | Source Source |
| Hannah Arendt | Jewish German-American historian and philosopher, one of the most influential political theorists of 20th century | "The Jews are convinced, and have announced many times, that the world or history or higher morality - owes them a righting of the wrongs of two thousand years and, more specifically, a compensation for the catastrophe of European Jewry which, in their opinion, was not simply a crime of Nazi Germany but of the whole civilized world. The Arabs, on the other hand, reply that two wrongs do not make a right and that 'no code of morals can justify the persecution of one people in an attempt to relieve the persecution of the other.'" | 1950 | Source Source Source |
| Hannah Katan | Israeli Religious-Zionist gynecologist | "I will do everything I can to protect IDF [i.e., Israeli military] soldiers and ensure their safe return home. It is the IDF's duty to bomb the terrorists hiding in the hospitals in Gaza." [Hannah Katan's seven children were all enlisted in the Israeli military when she made the statement quoted above. The quote was translated from Hebrew to English by ChatGPT.] | 2023-11-04 | Source |
| Hanoch Milwidsky | Israeli politician elected to the Knesset in 2022 | "You will die, your children will die, your grandchildren will die - there won't be a Palestinian state, there won't be!" [During a debate in Israel's Knesset (parliament) about the Knesset's rejection of a proposal to recognize a Palestinian state, Hanoch Milwidsky (a Jewish Israeli), shouted the statement quoted above at Knesset member Ayman Odeh (a Palestinian Israeli).] | 2024-02-21 | Source Source Source Source |
| Hanoch Milwidsky | Israeli politician elected to the Knesset in 2022 | "I don't know if you know, but there is an incident right now in Sde Teiman [i.e., an Israeli concentration camp] where the military police came to arrest soldiers who were guarding the Nukhba terrorists [i.e., sususpected Hamas members]. In Sde Teiman, the Nukhba terrorists' detention center, the military police came there to arrest some of the soldiers there, probably because of some allegations regarding the treatment of the Nukhba terrorists, and there's an incident of soldiers refusing to leave. The insanity that our country is having around this story is crazy, and we need to stop it. I think we need to give a personal example here, and I say now, and I call on other coalition members to do the same I'm getting up and I'm leaving here, and I'm not going to vote on anything anymore until this story and this insanity, that there is someone in the prosecutor's office who thinks that it is possible to come and arrest soldiers for things they are doing to the Nukhba terrorists, is not over. And I am really asking, and I think my coalition friends will do well if they do the same as I do. We cannot continue as usual..." [In a debate in Israeli parliament (the "Knesset") on 29 July 2024, lawmakers argued that it is legitimate to rape Palestinians. The dialogue quoted above was captured in a video from the Israeli Knesset, translated into English on the video captions. Likud Member of Knesset Hanoch Milwidsky announced a "voting strike" in response to the attempts to arrest the soldiers accused of sexual torture of a Palestinian held hostage in the Sde Teiman concentration camp.] | 2024-07-29 | Source Source |
| Hanoch Milwidsky | Israeli politician elected to the Knesset in 2022 | [The following is a brief exchange in Israeli parliament (i.e., the Knesset) on 29 July 2024 at a meeting of lawmakers during which Milwidsky, a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu's Likud party, had a heated exchange with colleagues who questioned the behaviour of Israeli reservists who were suspected of the sexual torture. The victim was a Palestinian hostage being held at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp.] Knesset member to Milwidsky: "[Is it legitimate] "to insert a stick into a person's rectum?" Milwidsky (shouting angrily): "Yes! If he is a Nukhba [Hamas militant], everything is legitimate to do! Everything!" | 2024-07-29 | Source |
| Hava Keller | Israeli anti-Zionist activist, Veteran of the Haganah militia | "And we came- [The Israelis in 1948 said,] 'Wonderful! You came just in time. Tomorrow we are throwing out the Arabs from Beersheba. You are going to help.' [I responded,] 'Of course, I'm going to help.' The next day, I got a gun. We prepared several buses. I think there were 10 or 12 buses. And we called all the Arabs from Beersheba to come to the buses. I was standing like everybody on guard so nobody will try to run away and all of them will go into the cars and go to Gaza. They are in Gaza until today." | 2017 | Source Source Source |
| Hava Keller | Israeli anti-Zionist activist, Veteran of the Haganah militia | "In the beginning, we were very happy about it, but after a short time, we started being not very happy. Where are they? The Palestinians? Are they coming back? Are not they coming back? What will happen now?" | 2017 | Source Source Source |
| Hava Keller | Israeli anti-Zionist activist, Veteran of the Haganah militia | "And the most horrible thing about it was, when the war started and the Arabs were thrown out of their villages, not one kibbutz said that they don't want to take their land. Not one kibbutz. Everybody was very happy to steal their land." | 2017 | Source Source Source |
| Herzi Halevi | IDF Chief of Staff | "The fighting spirit of the IDF blows at Gaza in all its might- and we won't stop here. Gaza will not look the same... Whoever stays there will understand very well that such a thing cannot be done to the State of Israel." | 2023-10-12 | Source |
| Herzi Halevi | IDF Chief of Staff | "If Hezbollah makes a mistake and attacks- annihilation, annihilation, annihilation. We did not abandon our values, we operate based on values, but we match them to the cruelty and insanity that the enemy has introduced into this battle." | 2023-10-17 | Source |
| Hila | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank gunner, tank commanded by "Michal" on 10/7 | Hila: "None of us were trained to operate this APV. This weapon system is... you need to have special training, none of us had that. In about ten minutes, we've become experts in the system. Operating it, shooting, fixing issues with it. And..." Tal Sarah [Hila's tank crewmate]: "You figure it out as you go." Hila: "Yes." Tal Sarah: "How to handle a situation." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Hila | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank gunner, tank commanded by "Michal" on 10/7 | "This turns the tides. Risking your life is not something you prepare to, until it arrives. With all the drills and training, it's a feeling you can't simulate. You go in, seeing the burnt down communities, your Insta [Instagram] feed is blowing up, and you realize the magnitude of the event. You realize you're not fighting humans. These were not human beings, and your goal is to protect civilians. Their goal was to murder civilians." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Hillary Clinton | United States Democratic Party nominee in the 2016 U.S. presidential election | "America can't ever be neutral when it comes to Israel's security or survival. We can't be neutral when rockets rain down on residential neighborhoods, when civilians are stabbed in the street, when suicide bombers target the innocent. Some things aren't negotiable. And anyone who doesn't understand that has no business being our president[...]. If I'm elected the leaders of Iran will have no doubt that if we see any indication that they are violating their commitment not to seek, develop or acquire nuclear weapons, the United States will act to stop it, and that we will do so with force if necessary." | 2016-03-21 | Source Source Source Source |
| Hillary Clinton | United States Democratic Party nominee in the 2016 U.S. presidential election | "There is one more choice that we face together, and in some ways, it may be the most important of all. Will we, as Americans and as Israelis, stay true to the shared democratic values that have always been at the heart of our relationship? We are both nations built by immigrants and exiles seeking to live and worship in freedom, nations built on principles of equality, tolerance and pluralism. At our best, both Israel and America are seen as a light unto the nations because of those values. This is the real foundation of our alliance, and I think it's why so many Americans feel such a deep emotional connection with Israel. I know that I do. And it's why we cannot be neutral about Israel and Israel's future, because in Israel's story, we see our own, and the story of all people who struggle for freedom and self-determination. There's so many examples. You know, we look at the pride parade in Tel Aviv, one of the biggest and most prominent in the world. And we marvel that such a bastion of liberty exists in a region so plagued by intolerance." | 2016-03-21 | Source Source Source |
| Hillary Clinton | United States Democratic Party nominee in the 2016 U.S. presidential election | "Indeed, at a time of unprecedented chaos and conflict in the region, America needs an Israel strong enough to deter and defend against its enemies, strong enough to work with us to tackle shared challenges, and strong enough to take bold steps in the pursuit of peace. That's why I believe we must take our alliance to the next level. I hope a new 10-year defense memorandum of understanding is concluded as soon as possible to meet Israel's security needs far into the future. That will also send a clear message to Israel's enemies that the United States and Israel stand together united. It's also why, as president, I will make a firm commitment to ensure Israel maintains its qualitative military edge. The United States should provide Israel with the most sophisticated defense technology so it can deter and stop any threats. That includes bolstering Israeli missile defenses with new systems like the Arrow Three and David's Sling. And we should work together to develop better tunnel detection, technology to prevent armed smuggling, kidnapping and terrorist attacks." | 2016-03-21 | Source Source Source |
| Hillary Clinton | United States Democratic Party nominee in the 2016 U.S. presidential election | "Many of the young people here today are on the front lines of the battle to oppose the alarming boycott, divestment and sanctions movement known as BDS. Particularly at a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise across the world, especially in Europe, we must repudiate all efforts to malign, isolate and undermine Israel and the Jewish people. I've been sounding the alarm for a while now [...] we have to be united in fighting back against BDS. Many of its proponents have demonized Israeli scientists and intellectuals, even students. To all the college students who may have encountered this on campus, I hope you stay strong. Keep speaking out. Don't let anyone silence you, bully you, or try to shut down debate, especially in places of learning like colleges and universities." | 2016-03-21 | Source Source |
| Hillel Cohen | Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem | "In the morning after the battle, the women and children were gathered by the village entrance, south of the cemetery, and from there they were dispatched to Fureidis [i.e. one of the few Arab villages on Israel's coast left intact after the 1948 war]. In Fureidis, they don't have enough food, they can't sustain themselves, and after 2-3 weeks, a decision is made to deport them eastward. The issue of the Arab population in the areas occupied by the Jewish forces becomes acute: What do we do with these people? When it comes to Tantura, there's another issue: they have the information and memory of what occurred in the village. There's a secret that we don't want between Tel Aviv and Haifa, in the center of the country. One thousand people who know it, in the next generation, that's hundreds of thousands. It's best these people not be here. "This article is from Maariv newspaper on June 20, 1948. [Cohen reads from the 1948 article he has in front of him.] 'There were old people so weak they were on the verge of death. A boy with two paralyzed legs, another boy whose hands were severed, the sick who death had already marked. One woman carried her child in one arm and with the other hand, she held her elderly mother. The latter couldn't keep up the pace. She yelled and begged her daughter to slow down, but her daughter didn't agree. Finally, the old lady collapsed onto the road and couldn't move. The daughter pulled out her hair, tore her dress off in anger and fear, lest she not make it on time. And worse than this was the association to Jewish mothers and grandmothers who lagged this way on the roads under the crop of murderers.' "A Jew almost couldn't escape this comparison, certainly not in 1948 when European roads were still full of Jewish refugees. But the journalist is appalled by the comparison, so he goes on to say, 'There is obviously no room for such a comparison. This fate – they brought it upon themselves.' "He makes the comparison and then writes, 'There is no room for this comparison.' Why did he put it on if there was no room for it? Because he understood that on some level, there was room for comparison. "When the decision is made to evacuate the refugees of Tantura, from Fureidis, the decision includes carrying it out like some P.R. event. And to do it like a P.R. event, you invite Israeli journalists, you invite foreign journalists, you invite film crews, which is pretty rare in those days. In fact, it was a well-produced event, meant to be shown to the whole world. This is the Mukhtar of Fureidis [Cohen holds a black and white photo of a man]. Red Cross officials took a child in their arms and the photographers took a picture [Cohen holds a photo of a woman dressed in a white uniform], and with this humane act, we'll meet again in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer newsreel." [The "Tantura" documentary shows the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) newsreel footage with its headline, "PALESTINE [-] PATHOS AND VIOLENCE IN HOLY LAND UNDER TRUCE [-] MOVIETONE NEWS." A newsreel narrator announces: "Buses run by the Red Cross convey Arab refugees, budging on a journey across no man's land. They are mostly women and children. This is an example of how a transfer of population goes on in Palestine."] "The picture that emerges is that the Palestinian refugee story is in fact not so terrible. There's a sense of order, a certain logic. That is to say, 'We have no score to settle with Tantura and they have no score to settle with us. See how nicely we're treating them.' The MGM film crew were also in Tantura a day or two before. The footage shot there didn't make it to the newsreel's final cut. But we got our hands on the original footage. In this footage we see a staging of the battle of Tantura. We don't see the original residents. We don't see the soldiers being shot at. What we see is an abandoned village and a reenactment of the battle of Tantura, intended to portray it as devoid of cruelty, irregular incidents, et. cetera. But the truth has its own power. When we look at the raw footage, we see a village that its residents had left. We see destruction. We see barrels that were shot at. We see remnants of looting. It's very easy not to deal with stories of this kind, but the power of truth cannot be hidden and when it's hot, it surfaces, and more people ask questions." [The preceding quote is from an interview with Israeli scholar Hillel Cohen about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Hin and Ajam | Israeli hostages, mother and daughter, taken captive 10/7/2023, later released | Ajam: "When we entered Gaza, I told the driver, 'Just together,' that we [our family] must be kept together. He said, 'Of course. Of course.' And indeed, we stayed together, which surprised me. At first I had an image in my head that I would be shackled in prison, that Gal and Tal [11 year old and 9 year old brothers of Ajam] would be living in Gaza, that we would move to live there, and that our whole life would end." | 2023-12-25 | Source Source Source Source |
| Hin and Ajam | Israeli hostages, mother and daughter, taken captive 10/7/2023, later released | Hin: "They were talking with us about Gilad Shalit [Israeli soldier captured in 2006 and held for 5 years] and smiling as if they were mocking, I have to say that I had this fear that we would stay there for several years. They were talking about that, and they were saying that the state of Israel doesn't care about us. They said: 'Look, it took five years until they returned Shalit. You are not important to the state: what matters to the state is war.'" | 2023-12-25 | Source Source Source Source |
| Hin and Ajam | Israeli hostages, mother and daughter, taken captive 10/7/2023, later released | Interviewer: "Was it necessary to get permission to go to the bathroom?" Ajam: "We just said 'toilet,' and then we went to the bathroom" | 2023-12-25 | Source Source Source Source |
| Hin and Ajam | Israeli hostages, mother and daughter, taken captive 10/7/2023, later released | Hin: "Sometimes, we would walk inside the house to get our bodies and bones moving. They would say to me, 'If you want to go to the salon, just let us know.'" Interviewer: "And did someone walk with you?" Hin: "Yes. Sometimes, they would sit and monitor us. We were never alone at any moment. They would sleep very close to us. I was afraid that the army would come at any moment to try to rescue us. I was fearful of that because the guards were always nearby." | 2023-12-25 | Source Source Source Source |
| Hin and Ajam | Israeli hostages, mother and daughter, taken captive 10/7/2023, later released | Interviewer: "Ajam, did you exercise?" Ajam: "Yes, a little." Interviewer: "What did the militants say when you exercised?" Ajam: "They said, 'bravo,' and that it was very important that I did this." Interviewer: "And did they exercise too?" Ajam: "No." Interviewer: "But there was arm wrestling?" Ajam: "Yes." Hin: "You and I played, and then I won. Because Ajam was exercising all the time, they said, 'If Hin beat her, then we would play too.' Then, a young man from them did arm wrestling with me but he brought a towel." Interviewer: "Why the towel?" Hin: "Because it's forbidden for them to touch us." Aja: "For them, women are sacred. Women are like queens." Hin: "They talked to me about how to look after Ajam. We told them that sometimes, we have friendships, that my daughter Ajam might have a friend, or that she might have several friends before she gets married. And I also encourage her to do that so that she can get to know and learn before she gets married, and we would argue with them about that." Ajam: "Yes, they told me once, 'We would marry you off in Gaza. You will marry here. We will find you a man in Gaza.'" Hin: "They gave her a beautiful name there, a very beautiful Arabic name." Ajam: "'Salsabeel,' it means 'water,' and it is mentioned in the Qur'an. It means 'sweet water.' I said to him, 'What a coincidence! My name in Israel is Ajam, and it means lake.'" | 2023-12-25 | Source Source Source Source |
| Hin and Ajam | Israeli hostages, mother and daughter, taken captive 10/7/2023, later released | Hin: "They [my two young sons] would draw and write [in captivity]. The militants taught them games, sometimes through a deck of cards." | 2023-12-25 | Source Source Source Source |
| Humanitarian Aid Blockader A | Jewish-Israeli nationalist blockading transport of humanitarian aid at Gaza border | [Person quoted here was being interviewed by journalist Jeremy Loffredo at a Jewish-Israeli nationalist direct action blockade (at the Kerem Shalom border) to prevent aid from reaching Gaza.] Aid Blockader A: "The policeman, the head commander, came to us [i.e. blockaders] and said, 'Okay, you guys came and blocked [the border]. We don't want to fight.' And he said to us, 'I'll just lock the gate. You guys don't need to stand in the sun.' We got lollipops. We got watermelon, from the police. Interviewer: "The police gave you lollipops and watermelon?" Aid Blockader A: "Yeah, watermelons, and it was great. It was great with them." [This quote about receiving lollipops and watermelon is significant because Israel's border areas are closed military zones and any civilians who infiltrate these areas are supposed to be immediately apprehended and arrested. According to journalist Jeremy Loffredo, who embedded himself for one week with Jewish-Israeli nationalists blockading Israel's border (and produced the video that is the source of this quote), when the Jewish-Israeli civilians he was with arrived in the border's militarized zone, the military stood down and directed the civilians to the border gate. Then, the military used the presence of civilians at the border – civilians the military invited and led there – to justify closing the gates, for hours or days, through which humanitarian aid was supposed to cross.] | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Humanitarian Aid Blockader A | Jewish-Israeli nationalist blockading transport of humanitarian aid at Gaza border | [Person quoted here was being Interviewed by journalist Jeremy Loffredo at a Jewish-Israeli nationalist direct action blockade to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Many transport trucks carrying aid were lined up along the side of the road, near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, waiting to enter Gaza. (In the second source, quote begins at approximately 2:05 in the video clip.)] Aid Blockader A: "And as the Bible says, this place is for us. It's promised for us. So, they [i.e. Gazans] can starve to death to pay on the things they have done to us on the 7th of October." | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Humanitarian Aid Blockader A | Jewish-Israeli nationalist blockading transport of humanitarian aid at Gaza border | [In the following quote, person was being Interviewed by journalist Jeremy Loffredo at a Jewish-Israeli nationalist direct action blockade to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Many transport trucks carrying aid were lined up along the side of the road, near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, waiting to enter Gaza.] Aid Blocker A: "The best way [to end the war] is to transfer them [Gazans] to Europe. Europe already accepted, in the past ten years, already accepted more than 100 million refugees. I don't think that another million and a half refugees will make any difference to the Europeans. [...]" Interviewer: "Would you live in Gaza, once all is said and done?" Aid Blocker A (with a smile): "Totally. Totally. If my wife would agree for that. Totally, I would go live over there." | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Humanitarian Aid Blockader B | Jewish-Israeli nationalist blockading transport of humanitarian aid at Gaza border | [Person quoted here was being Interviewed by journalist Jeremy Loffredo at a Jewish-Israeli nationalist direct action blockade to prevent aid from reaching Gaza. Many transport trucks carrying humanitarian aid were lined up along the side of the road at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, waiting to enter Gaza. (In the second source, quote begins at approximately 32 seconds into the video clip.)] Interviewer: "So, no food, no nothing [for the people of Gaza]." Aid Blockader B: "No, they don't deserve it. What [do] I care? Kill them. I don't care." Interviewer: "Do you trust Palestinians?" Aid Blockader B: "No. I know all about them. I don't trust them, and I want them out of here. Interviewer: "What do you think should happen to Gaza?" Aid Blockader B: "I want It to be civilized with Jews from Israel." | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Humanitarian Aid Blockader C | Off-duty Israeli military soldier and nationalist blockading transport of humanitarian aid to Gaza | [Person quoted here was being Interviewed by journalist Jeremy Loffredo at a Jewish-Israeli nationalist direct action blockade to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Many transport trucks carrying aid were lined up along the side of the road near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, waiting to enter Gaza. (In the second source, quote begins about 57 seconds into the video clip.)] Aid Blockader C: "My [Israeli military] unit was in charge of explosions. We blew up houses of terrorists, mosques, U.N. offices. I remember we got in some U.N. office that was in charge of helping families in Gaza that was affected by the war, and we destroyed it." | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Humanitarian Aid Blocker D | Jewish-Israeli nationalist blockading transport of humanitarian aid at Gaza border | [Person quoted here was being Interviewed by journalist Jeremy Loffredo at a Jewish-Israeli nationalist direct action blockade to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Many transport trucks carrying aid were lined up along the side of the road, near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, waiting to enter Gaza. (In the second source, quote begins at approximately 1:38 in the video clip.)] Aid Blockader D: "We give pastries for the people [i.e. blockaders], for the soldiers, for the cops, for everybody. This is what we give to our people. This is real humanitarian aid, okay? They [the Israeli government], they need to block the aid to Gaza. They need to block the gas to Gaza. Everything to block. And this is what we do every week – two, three, four times a week." | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Humanitarian Aid Blocker E | Jewish-Israeli nationalist blockading transport of humanitarian aid at Gaza border | [The following quote is from a person interviewed by journalist Jeremy Loffredo at a Jewish-Israeli nationalist direct action blockade to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Many transport trucks carrying aid were lined up along the side of the road, near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, waiting to enter Gaza. (In the second source, quote begins at approximately 2:20 in the video clip.)] "I think we need...I don't know. We need to be united and kill all of them [Gazans]. We all need to go back into Gaza and control all of it. Make it part of our country." | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Humanitarian Aid Blocker F | Jewish-Israeli nationalist blockading transport of humanitarian aid at Gaza border | [In the following quote, person was being Interviewed by journalist Jeremy Loffredo at a Jewish-Israeli nationalist direct action blockade to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Many transport trucks carrying aid were lined up along the side of the road, near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, waiting to enter Gaza. (In the second source, quote begins at approximately 2:42 in the video clip.)] "Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu] is a puppet of Biden. Because we 'cleaned' all Gaza, except for Rafah. So why aren't we going in there? Because Biden asked us not to. That's the only reason. There's no reason not to." | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Humanitarian Aid Blocker G | Jewish-Israeli nationalist blockading transport of humanitarian aid at Gaza border | [In the following quote, the person was being Interviewed by journalist Jeremy Loffredo at a Jewish-Israeli nationalist direct action blockade to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Many transport trucks carrying aid were lined up along the side of the road, near the Kerem Shalom border crossing, waiting to enter Gaza.] "Of course, we have to listen to our 'Sugar Daddy.' We have to listen to the biggest superpower in the world because they are standing on our side – the 'democratic Western side' – but the Israel public doesn't want it. And we're here to make sure until 4:00, 4:30, when they [i.e. the border crossing guards] close, make sure no single truck will feed our enemies [i.e. Gazans facing famine] while they molest, while they rape, and while they kill the hostages they took four or five months ago. "From 2002 until recently, we've been through a kind of intifada [in contemporary Arabic usage, the word refers to an uprising against oppression]. A journey of murder in which they use knives to kill Israelis. In many cases, they use guns. They use pistols. They use cocktail Molotov. They killed a lot of Jews. But we have airplanes, you see. We have airplanes. [Man turns around to show journalist the back of his Star of David F-16 shirt.] We can erase them [i.e. Palestinians] in one second. Once we use what we have. Once we know how to use our assets. When we are not afraid to use what we have. "We destroyed Gaza. We annihilated a huge part of Gaza. We can do it also to Palestinians in Judea and Samaria, and the West Bank. We have weapons we can use in the right circumstances, with the right leaders. We have g*d-d*mned sexy F-16 airplanes, so we will annihilate all of our enemies until the last of them – when we decide to do so, when we get over this kind of conception and kind of state of mind that we are subject to the community of the world and nations of the world, and [the idea that] we are somehow limited. But it's only temporarily. We will unleash our strengths very much soon." | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Ilan Pappé | Israeli Historian and Political Scientist | "I remember the sergeant major telling us that we should kill Arabs young or they'll grow up to kill us. And that attitude is widespread. That's why tank drivers, F16 pilots or artillery commanders will kill civilians without hesitation. They've been taught to dehumanise them all their lives." [When Ilan Pappé was 19 years old, he was a member of the Israeli military in the Golan Heights and faced the Syrians in the Yom Kippur war of 1973.] | 2009-01-19 | Source Source |
| Ilan Pappé | Israeli Historian and Political Scientist | "You don't have to subscribe to the idea that to be a Jew, you need to colonize Palestine or dispossess the Palestinians. And therefore you can have a legitimate argument against Zionist ideology. As a Jew, even in my case as an Israeli Jew, I'm not a self-hating Jew, I'm not a self-hating anti-Semite, and none of you are anti-Semites if you think that Zionism has a very strong colonialist ideology in it, which is not fitting and inappropriate for the 21st century and challenging it, is very much like challenging apartheid in South Africa and people were not called anti-Christian because they challenged apartheid and we are not anti-Islamic if we don't accept al-Qaeda's ideology. So, we need to know the facts and then people can have a proper discussion with us. But I'm afraid that people are throwing the anti-Semitic accusation in order to stifle the necessary debate about the future of Israel and Palestine." | 2023-11-23 | Source |
| Ilan Pappé | Israeli Historian and Political Scientist | "[Zionism] also hoped to secularize the Jewish people, to invent the 'new Jew' in antithesis to the religious Orthodox Jews of Europe... The Orthodox Jew was ridiculed by the Zionists, and was viewed as someone who could only be redeemed through hard work in Palestine... The role of the Bible within Jewish life offered one further clear difference between Judaism and Zionism... the Bible provided 'the myth for our right over the land.' It was in the Bible that they read stories about Hebrew farmers, shepherds, kings, and wars, which they appropriated as describing the ancient golden era of their nation's birth. Returning to the land meant coming back to become farmers, shepherds and kings. Thus, they found themselves faced with a challenging paradox, for they wanted both to secularize Jewish life and to use the Bible as a publication for colonizing Palestine. In other words, though they did not believe in God, He had nonetheless promised them Palestine." | 2017 | Source Source |
| Ilan Pappé | Israeli Historian and Political Scientist | Pappé: "There must be two mass graves in Tantura, according to the oral history. But not only oral history. You go to people from Fureidis [one of the few Arab villages on Israel's coast left intact after the 1948 war] they tell you, 'Of course there are two mass graves. We know where they are.'" Interviewer: "Where are they?" Pappé: "Under the parking lot [at Tantura beach]." [The preceding quote is from an interview with Israeli historian Ilan Pappé about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Isaac "Bougie" Herzog | President of Israel | "It's an entire nation out there that is responsible. It's not true, this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it's absolutely not true. They could've risen up, they could have fought against that evil regime." | 2023-10-12 | Source Source |
| Isaac "Bougie" Herzog | President of Israel | Reporter: [Does this make Gazan civilians "legitimate targets"] Herzog: "No, I didn't say that... When you have a missile in your goddamn kitchen and you want to shoot it at me, am I allowed to defend myself?" | 2023-10-12 | Source |
| Isaac "Bougie" Herzog | President of Israel | "There are many, many innocent Palestinians who don't agree to this- but unfortunately in their homes, there are missiles shooting at us, at my children." | 2023-10-12 | Source |
| Isaac "Bougie" Herzog | President of Israel | "Israel will do whatever it can to bring them back home as soon as possible, safely." | 2023-10-12 | Source |
| Isaac "Bougie" Herzog | President of Israel | "We are working, operating militarily in terms according to rules of international law, period. Unequivocally. But we are at war, we are defending our homes, we are protecting our homes, that's the truth and when a nation protects it's home it fights and we will fight until we break their back bone." | 2023-10-12 | Source Source |
| Isaac "Bougie" Herzog | President of Israel | "... we will uproot evil so that there will be good for the entire region and the world." | 2023-10-15 | Source |
| Isaac "Bougie" Herzog | President of Israel | "What I want to urge is against just saying two-state solution. Why? Because there's an emotional chapter here that must be dealt with. My nation is bereaving. My nation is in trauma. The cup of poison that Israelis have seen, seen as being filled. In order to get back to the idea of dividing the land or negotiating peace and talking to the Palestinians, etc., one has to deal first and foremost with the emotional trauma that we're going through and the need and demand for a full sense of security for our people." | 2023-12-14 | Source Source Source |
| Isaac "Bougie" Herzog | President of Israel | "This war is a war that is not only between Israel and Hamas. It's a war that is intended, really, truly, to save Western civilization. To save the values of Western civilization. We are attacked by [a] Jihadist network, an empire of evil. [...] this empire wants to conquer the entire Middle East, and if it weren't for us, Europe would be next, and the United States follows." | 2023-12-05 | Source Source Source Source |
| Ishay Fridman | Israeli Journalist, Now 14 News | "After hearing the Gazan son call his parents and tell them how he murdered ten Jews with his own hands and his parents congratulate and praise him and wish to participate in the massacre of Jews themselves, we must deal with this issue of 'non-involved.' Western morality binds democratic countries to fight terrorist organizations mainly because of the harm to the non-involved. This 'morality' means that wars against horrendous terrorist organizations go on forever and often without resolution. Defending democracies trying to fight these organizations are forced to risk their best soldiers and citizens to deal with the monstrosity of those organizations. Many of those soldiers and civilians will die in long wars against organizations that hide behind 'non-involved.' Evil has the upper hand. The same parents of the terrorist who murdered ten Jews and are proud of his actions, they are not 'uninvolved.' They are involved up to the neck. Their son is a Nazi war criminal. And they have vital information about a war criminal. They can turn him in or provide information about him and his fellow Nazis at any moment. In fact, most of the Palestinians in Gaza have vital information either about the perpetrators of the atrocities on October 7, which were thousands in number, or about the kidnapped Israelis or about the kidnappers themselves. Many of them know who kidnapped, who committed the war crimes and where these scoundrels are hiding. An absolute majority of Gazans in Gaza know about Palestinians who are members of the Nazi organizations of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. There are tens of thousands of militants who are members of these organizations and each of them is a war criminal operating in an organization that commits war crimes and crimes against humanity. The citizens of Gaza have vital information about the war criminals in their midst and possibly also about the tunnels, bases and positions of Hamas and Jihad. To say that they are 'uninvolved' is a false statement that has no connection with reality. Anyone who has information about the war criminals in Gaza is involved. He is not uninvolved. The West and the State of Israel should give these involved citizens two options: give the information about the war criminals in your midst and you will be fully protected. Be partners in subduing evil. And whoever does not provide information will be considered involved. He will endanger himself and his family and will end his life as a refugee if not worse than that. A world that does not know how to subdue Nazi terrorist organizations is an immorwal world that perpetuates evil in reality and mortally harms people who are truly uninvolved. People whose only desire is to live in a good and decent world without human monsters like Hamas and their helpers." | 2023-11-11 | Source |
| Israel Katz | Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Minister of Energy | "For years we supplied Gaza with electricity, water and fuel. Instead of saying thank you, they sent thousands of human animals to slaughter, murder, rape and kidnap babies, women and the elderly- that's why we decided to stop the flow of water, electricity and fuel and now their local power station has collapsed and there is no electricity in Gaza. We will continue to tighten the siege until the Hamas threat to Israel and the world is removed. What was will not be." | 2023-10-11 | Source |
| Israel Katz | Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Minister of Energy | "Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home. Humanitarian for humanitarian. And no one will preach us morals." | 2023-10-12 | Source |
| Israel Katz | Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Minister of Energy | "[Responding to a tweet from U.S. Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez accusing Israel of collective punishment and violation of international law] Indeed, Madam Congresswoman. We have to draw a line. We will not tolerate murdering children and burning families. The line has been crossed. We will fight the terrorist organization Hamas and destroy it. All the civilian population in gaza is ordered to leave immediately. We will win. They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Israel Katz | Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Minister of Energy | "I supported the agreement between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Biden to supply water to the southern Gaza region because it was also in Israel's interest. I strongly oppose the opening of the blockade and the introduction of goods into Gaza on humanitarian grounds. Our commitment is to the families of the murdered and the kidnapped hostages - not to the Hamas murderers and those who aided them." | 2023-10-15 | Source Source |
| Israel Katz | Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Minister of Energy | "I ordered to immediately cut off the water supply from Israel to Gaza. Electricity and fuel were cut off yesterday. What was will not be." | 2023-10-09 | Source |
| Israel Katz | Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Minister of Energy | "Today was a tough day in Gaza. Our brave soldiers are fighting fiercely against the evil of Hamas. The battle is hard. The losses are heavy. Let no one in Gaza be mistaken - for every fallen soldier, we will continue also on their behalf. Until the elimination of Hamas. Until the return of the captives. The nation of Israel lives and is strong." | 2023-12-23 | Source Source |
| Israel Zangwill | British author at the forefront of cultural Zionism during the 19th century, close associate of Theodor Herzl | "We must be prepared to expel from the land by the sword, just as our forefathers did to the tribes that occupied it." | 1904 | Source Source |
| Israeli Court Judges | Judges who ruled in Shmuel Lahis' appeal | [According to a report from Haaretz (the same source that provided the quote to follow), in October 1948 the Israeli military launched two large-scale operations. Operation Yoav, in the south, opened a road to the Negev. Operation Hiram, in the north, overran dozens of Arab villages within 30 hours and caused tens of thousands of residents to flee, face expulsions, or become victims of murder. Most of the people the Israeli military targeted did not participate in any fighting. Israel's Carmeli Brigade, 22nd battalion, under Shmuel Lahis' command, invaded the village of Hulu (in Lebanon). Most of the civilians fled, but approximately 60 remained and surrendered without resistance. The Israeli military perpetrated two massacres in Hula on two days, murdering 18 civilians on 31 October 1948 and, on 1 November 1948, Shmuel Lahis murdered an additional 15 civilians. Lahis was accused and convicted of murder for his actions on 1 November 1948. He later appealed the conviction. Haaretz published an excerpt from the judges' ruling on Lakis' appeal, discovered in the Law Archive of Tel Aviv University.] "[Lahis ordered the removal] of those 15 Arabs from the house they were in and led them to an isolated house which was some distance from the village's Muslim cemetery. When they got there, the appellant [Lahis] ordered the Arabs to be taken into one of the rooms and there he commanded them to stand in a line with their faces to the wall... The appellant then shot the Arabs with the Sten [gun] he held and emptied two clips on them. After the people fell, the appellant checked the bodies and observed whether there was life in them. Some of them still showed signs of life and the appellant then fired additional shots into them." | 1948 | Source |
| Israeli Defense Forces | The Army of the Defense for Israel | [When the British announced their intention to leave Palestine by 15 May 1948, and said their mandate would end on the same day, Zionists felt a sense of urgency to complete the "cleansing" of Palestinians from Palestine before the British left. They decided "Plan D" ("Plan Dalet") was necessary. In 1955, the Israeli military wrote a book titled 'Qravot 5708' (Battles of 1948). (Tel Aviv: Marakhot, 1955). In the book, the Israeli military states the objective of Plan Dalet, quoted below.] [The purpose of Plan Dalet was to] "control of the area given to us by the UN in addition to areas occupied by us which were outside these borders and the setting up of forces to counter the possible invasion of Arab armies after May 15 [1948]." | 1955 | Source |
| Israeli Defense Forces | The Army of the Defense for Israel | "Following reports from commanders of suspected harm to detainees [at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp], an investigation was opened by the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division against the suspect and others on suspicion of aggravated abuse of detainees under their responsibility, during their transfer to the detention facility at Sde Teiman. "The Military Court has extended the suspect's detention from time to time for investigative purposes. Today, the suspect's detention was extended again for additional investigative actions, until Thursday, after it was found that he linked himself to the incident as well as to several other incidents, and therefore grounds for detention justifying his detention exist." [In July 2024, ynetnews.com reported that a month earlier, commanders at Israel's Sde Teiman "detention facility" noticed suspicious injuries on the bodies of hostages abducted in Gaza, after they were returned to Sde Teiman. Once alerted, Israel's Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID), opened an investigation. Two of the three soldiers arrested in the investigation were released after two weeks, while the third soldier had been in custody for more than a month. This soldier ultimately admitted to some of the violent incidents he was suspected of committing. Investigators discovered videos the soldier had filmed, in which he could be seen beating handcuffed detainees, on a bus, with his hands and his weapon.] | 2024-07-29 | Source |
| Israeli Intelligence Service – Arab Section | Pre-cursor to the Mossad | "In reviewing the factors that affected migration, we list the factors that had a definitive effect on population migration. Other factors, localized and smaller scale, are listed in the special reviews of migration movement in each district. The factors, in order of importance, are: 1. Direct Jewish hostile actions against Arab communities. 2. Impact of our hostile actions against communities neighboring where migrants lived (here - particularly - the fall of large neighboring communities). 3. Actions taken by the Dissidents [Irgun, Lehi]. [Zionist paramilitary organizations.] 4. Orders and directives issued by Arab institutions and gangs. 5. Jewish Whispering operations [psychological warfare] intended to drive Arabs to flee. 6. Evacuation ultimatums. 7. Fear of Jewish retaliation upon a major Arab attack on Jews. 8. The appearance of gangs and foreign fighters near the village. 9. Fear of an Arab invasion and its consequences (mostly near the borders). 10. Arab villages isolated within purely Jewish areas. 11. Various local factors and general fear of what was to come." [English translation by Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research. Original record's source: Hashomer Hatzair (Yad Yaari) Archive, file 95-35.27(3).] | 1948-06-30 | Source Source Source |
| Israeli Law | Laws enacted by the state of Israel | [In 2018, Israel's Knesset (parliament) passed the "Basic Law: Israel – The Nation State of the Jewish People." Some of the articles of the law that are relevant to issues of apartheid, racism, occupation, expansionism, and Zionism are quoted below.] "1. (b) The State of Israel is the nation state of the Jewish People in which it realizes its natural, cultural, religious and historical right to self-determination. "1. (c) The realization of the right to national self-determination in the State of Israel is exclusive to the Jewish People. "[...] 3. The complete and united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. "[...] 5. The State shall be open to Jewish immigration, and the in gathering of the exiles. "6. (a) The State shall strive to secure the welfare of members of the Jewish People and of its citizens, who are in straits and in captivity, due to their Jewishness or due to their citizenship. "[...] 7. The State views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value, and shall act to encourage and promote its consolidation." [It is worthy of note, that the United Nations recognizes East Jerusalem, the entire West Bank, and the Gaza Strip as the territory for an independent Palestinian state, thus rejecting Israel's claim to East Jerusalem and rendering Israel's occupation of these territories illegal. See United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967), 298 (1971), and 478 (1980) for examples of the UN's position on East Jerusalem, as well as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion, 43 IL M 1009 (2004), paragraph 78 and the ICJ's "Summary of the Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 (Document Number 186-20240719-SUM-01-00-EN) in the case, "186 – Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem." | 2018 | Source Source |
| Israeli Ministry of Intelligence | (oversees Mossad and Shabak) | "Option C: The evacuation of the civilian population from Gaza to Sinai... will yield positive, long-term strategic outcomes for Israel, and is an executable option... In the first stage, tent cities will be established in the area of Sinai, the next stage includes the establishment of a humanitarian zone to assist the civilian population of Gaza and the construction of cities in a resettled area in northern Sinai... A sterile zone of several kilometers should be created within Egypt, and the return of the population to activities/residences near the border with Israel should not be allowed. In addition, a security perimeter should be established in our territory near the border with Egypt... Israel must act to promote a broad diplomatic initiative aimed at countries that will support assisting the displaced population and agree to absorb them as refugees." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Israeli mobs in Jerusalem | Marched through Palestinian territory to celebrate Jerusalem Day | "Death to Arabs!" "May your village burn!" [Israeli mobs shouted these words at Palestinians in East Jerusalem (which is in occupied Palestinian territory) as they marched through that part of the city on "Jerusalem Day" in 2024. "Jerusalem Day" is an Israeli national holiday on which Israelis commemorate what they claim was the "reunification" of East Jerusalem (including the Old City) with West Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War but is more widely recognized (including under international law) as the illegal military occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967. Part of "Jerusalem Day" celebrations include a "Flag March" during which Israelis waving the Israeli flag parade through the Old City's Muslim quarter in East Jerusalem.] | 2024-06-05 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Israeli mobs in Jerusalem | Marched through Palestinian territory to celebrate Jerusalem Day | "Repentance + war + expulsion + settlement = victory." [The Times of Israel reported that on "Jerusalem Day" in 2024, it saw young Israeli men parading through East Jerusalem and plastering doors (of Palestinians or Palestinian-owned businesses) with stickers. One sticker was printed with the message quoted above. It also reported witnessing several acts of vandalism during the "Jerusalem Day" event.] ["Expulsion" (forced displacement) of a population could amount to a crime against humanity, a war crime, or both under international humanitarian law. Israel's building of settlements in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem violates international humanitarian laws, including Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and The Hague Regulations of 1907. Additionally, the desire to remove Palestinians from their lands (either by killing them through war or displacing them) in order to take over those lands for Israeli settlement could be viewed as a motive for genocide.] ["Jerusalem Day" is an Israeli national holiday on which Israelis commemorate what they claim was the "reunification" of East Jerusalem (including the Old City) with West Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War but is more widely recognized (including under international law) as the illegal military occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967. Part of "Jerusalem Day" celebrations include a "Flag March" during which Israelis waving the Israeli flag parade through the Old City's Muslim quarter in East Jerusalem.] | 2024-06-05 | Source |
| Israeli Officer in Shai | Wrote report discussing why the newly created State of Israel was emptied of so many Arabs | "In reviewing the factors that affected migration, we list the factors that had a definitive effect on population migration. Other factors, localized and smaller scale, are listed in the special reviews of migration movement in each district. The factors, in order of importance, are: 1. Direct Jewish hostile actions against Arab communities. 2. Impact of our hostile actions against communities neighboring where migrants lived (here – particularly – the fall of large neighboring communities). 3. Actions taken by the Dissidents [Irgun, Lehi]. 4. Orders and directives issued by Arab institutions and gangs. 5. Jewish Whispering operations [psychological warfare] intended to drive Arabs to flee. 6. Evacuation ultimatums. 7. Fear of Jewish retaliation upon a major Arab attack on Jews. 8. The appearance of gangs and foreign fighters near the village. 9. Fear of an Arab invasion and its consequences (mostly near the borders). 10. Arab villages isolated within purely Jewish areas. Various local factors and general fear of what was to come" [The preceding quote written by an Israeli officer in Shai (the precursor to Shin Bet Security Service) is from "Israeli officer report, 1948: 'The Emigration of the Arabs of Palestine'" and was translated from Hebrew to English by the Akevot Institute for Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Research.] | 1948-06-?? | Source Source |
| Issachar "Yiska" Shadmi | Colonel in Israeli Border Police who oversaw a sector that included Kfar Qasem | [The following quotes are from the transcript of a trial that took place in Israel in 1957. The defendants were Israeli border policemen who shot and killed almost 50 Israeli Arabs in the town of Kafr Qasem (including elderly, children, and a pregnant woman) after the civilians unknowingly violated a curfew. On 29 October 1956, the Israeli Border Police Commander decided to change the curfew time, without notifying the many villagers who were out working in the fields. In the trial, it was noted that Israel had devised a plan to deport the Arabs of the Little Triangle area (which included Kafr Qasem) in central Israel to Jordan. This plan was code-named Hafarperet (Mole).] Shadmi: "Anyone versed in the matter knows that Israeli Arabs may pose a very troublesome problem, perhaps an obstacle, to any operation that might take place in the Little Triangle." [The Little Triangle was a collection of Israeli Arab towns and villages along the Green Line located in the eastern Sharon plain.] Lawyer: "Do we heartily encourage them to leave our borders?" Shadmi: "I don't think that's a secret." [When Shadmi was asked if a curfew or shooting curfew violators might persuade Kafr Qasem's residents to flee across Israel's border, he made the following statement.] "It may encourage that thought...that the killing of a few people as an intimidation measure can encourage movement eastward, as long as we hint to them [i.e. the Arabs] about the movement eastward." [The transcript from this trial remained classified for 66 years, but photos from the scene of the massacre were not declassified when the transcript was.] | 1957 | Source |
| Itai Svirsky | Israeli citizen kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 and reportedly killed by an IDF strike while in captivity | [The following testimony is from a video of Svirsky, released by Hamas, while in captivity.] "I am Itai Svirsky. [...] Twice I have been deserted. First, when we were not protected in B'iri [Kibbutz Be'eri]. Second, when they did not bring us home. [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu, please stop the war. Bring us home. We are in difficult conditions. There is no food or water. I am in constant danger everywhere." | 2024-01-14 | Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "The solution of encouraging the residents of Gaza to emigrate is one that we must advance. It's the right, just, moral, and humane solution. I call on the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and the new Foreign Minister [Israel Katz] who I congratulate [on his appointment]. Now is the time to coordinate an emigration project. A project to encourage residents of Gaza to emigrate to the countries of the world. Let's be clear: we have partners around the world whose help we can use. There are people around the world, with whom we can advance this idea. Encouraging their emigration will allow us to bring home the residents of the communities near the Gaza border and the residents of the Gush Katif settlements." | 2024-01-01 | Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | [Quoted from an interview conducted with Ben Gvir, Israel's Minister of National Security, on Israel's Channel 12 News.] Interviewer: "What do you suggest we do? Ben Gvir: "First of all, I suggest we don't leave the city centres in Gaza. That's the first thing. The second thing, I suggest, and I say this in the most explicit way -- " Interviewer (interrupts): "You want to stay there, with the army?" Ben Gvir: "Yes, occupy Gaza and stay there." Interviewer: "And be responsible for the residents of Gaza?" Ben Gvir: "No. What can, and should be, done is the 'voluntary migration' plan. A plan of encouragement that will allow them to leave." Interviewer: "You are very much in favour of the IDF being in Gaza. And you are willing to expel them [Gazans]. Is that practical?" Ben Gvir: "Udi, of course. If we decide this, we can do it." | 2024-01-17 | Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | I indeed deny a Palestinian state. Forever! | 2024-01-20 | Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | [Quoted from an interview on Israel's Ynet News.] Ben-Gvir: "Let's talk about the 'Day After' [the end of Israel's 2023-2024 aggression in Gaza], because in my opinion if we do not control and stay there [in Gaza], it will continue." Interviewer A: "What do you mean by 'control?' We don't want slogans this time. What does 'control' mean? Does this mean occupation?" Ben Gvir [interrupts]: "Everything is ours." Interviewer A [continues]: "Does this mean Jewish settlement?" Ben Gvir: "Everything is ours. Gaza and the Gaza Strip." Interviewer B: "Will you take responsibility for two million people?" Ben Gvir: "I think the solution for those civilians is to encourage their emigration, and I think if we will make a decisive victory, it is definitely possible to create – even with the Scottish government, which I saw really want them in Scotland. Also, with other countries. We've even heard Nikki Haley [candidate in the 2024 U.S.A. Republican Party presidential primaries] talking about it. It is possible to encourage, to do some kind of big operation to move them [Gazans]. That's the only way we can return to Gaza –" Interviewer C [interrupts]: "Wait, wait, wait, Mr. Ben Gvir. You know all this issue of transfers, right? How [do] they call it? Some call it 'transfer,' and you – and how did Amihai Eliyahu call it? 'Housing upgrade.' Housing upgrade, the whole matter of these transfers. Let's just say you transferred 50,000 [Gazans], you transferred 100,000, you transferred 200,000. There are two million people there, yes? You won't transfer them all. No country is willing to accept two million people. It doesn't make sense. So, this solution is not really a solution." Ben Gvir: "Not true! We will start with a pilot of 100 to 200 thousand. After this pilot I believe – no, I really believe – I believe they can have it better in other countries." | 2024-01-20 | Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "If there is no war, there is no government. I've said it all along. There is a war going on, we know it, but if, God forbit, it is decided to stop the war, I will nor be part of the government." | 2024-01-22 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "If we don't want another October 7, we need to go back home and control [Gaza]. We need to find a legal way to voluntarily emigrate [Palestinians] and impose death sentences on terrorists," | 2024-01-28 | Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | We must encourage voluntary migration. Let them [Palestinians] leave. Part of correcting the mistake of the sin of the preconception that brought us to 7 October is to return home to Gush Katif [southern Gaza] and to northern Samaria [in the West Bank]. We have to return home, because that is the Torah, that is morality, that is historic justice, that is logic and that is the right thing. | 2024-01-28 | Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | [Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israeli minister of national security, made the following statement to a group of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Occupied East Jerusalem in October 2022. Ben-Gvir was carrying a gun and had drawn it and brandished it at the Palestinian residents he was shouting at.] "If you throw stones, I'll mow you down. We're [i.e. Israeli Jews are] the landlords here, remember that. I am your landlord." | 2022-10-12 | Source Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | [In October 2022, Itamar Ben-Gvir announced to the Ynet news outlet that before joining a coalition government, he would demand changes to open-fire rules for the police and army believed the rules were too strict. Ben-Gvir indicated that he wanted police and military forces to be ordered to use gunfire in response to any attack - including paint being thrown at heavily armored vehicles.] "Troops should get out, stop and shoot, and not use rubber bullets or sponge-tipped bullets. Live fire, that [will be] the law" [Ben-Gvir did not say if the shooting policy would also apply to attacks by extremist Jewish youth who attack army vehicles in the West Bank.] | 2022-10-12 | Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | [Itamar Ben-Gvir made the following statement to an Israeli police officer in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Occupied East Jerusalem during clashes between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians, who were hurling rocks at each other.] "If they [i.e. Palestinians] throw stones, shoot them." | 2022-10-13 | Source Source Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "As long as Hamas does not release the hostages in its hands - the only thing that needs to enter Gaza are hundreds of tons of explosives from the Air Force, not an ounce of humanitarian aid." | 2023-10-17 | Source Source Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "Let it be clear, when they say that Hamas has to be eliminated, it also means those who sing, those who support, and those who give away candy, all of these are terrorists. And they also need to be eliminated!" | 2023-11-11 | Source Source Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "I have great appreciation for President Biden, but I think we have to say to the world loudly and clearly that we will have to have an occupation, or more accurately a liberation. I'm seeing something very simple: every time our enemies lost territory, they lost the war. That's how it has been in '48 and '67, the two wars we've won, ... when we took territory from them, that was their Nakba, that was their Naksa.... We need to be in full control, if we have full control, that will deter our enemies, convey a message of victory and most of all allow the residents [of Israeli towns near Gaza] to return home. I'm not afraid of renewing the settlements in Gush Katif [inside the Gaza Strip].... When you are there on the ground you have intelligence, you have control, you are the landlord" | 2023-11-12 | Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "Today, along with the Commissioner of the Israel Prison Service, I visited the wings where the Nazi arch-criminals' prisoners are held. In accordance with our instructions, the terrorists receive the maximum harsh conditions: eight terrorists shackled in a dark cell, iron beds, toilets as a hole in the floor, and the anthem 'Hatikvah' playing constantly in the background. I hope that my request to hold a cabinet discussion about the death penalty law for terrorists that we have already passed in a preliminary reading will be answered, that the law will be promoted, and we will be able to apply it to these despicable murderers." | 2023-11-14 | Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "I want death to terrorists, I want the possibility to behead head after head, head after head of the Nukhba." | 2023-11-20 | Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "Hamas was not deterred on the 7th of October, and still, after 73 days of fighting, it is not defeated. When you want to decide, you don't transfer money to any official, no matter if it's an official from the Authority or from some other body, even if it's a UNRWA official. When you want to decide, you don't make pauses and don't allow our enemies to set appalling conditions for the release of the captives. Every day we are allowed to publish about another one of our heroes who was killed in Gaza, instead of publishing that thousands of terrorists were killed in Gaza. There is no free hand to implement the death penalty law for terrorists, which would have allowed us to make a simple equation: every day that the captives do not return - execute another terrorist [presumably meaning a Palestinian prisoner]. We must stop speaking in the language of deals but [instead] in the language of decisions." | 2023-12-18 | Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | [Ben-Gvir's following statement was made during a cabinet debate with Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi on the Israeli army's "open fire" rules.] "We cannot have [Palestinian] women and children getting close to the [Israeli] border... anyone who gets near must get a bullet [in the head]. You know how our enemies operate... they will try us. They will send women and children as undercover terrorists. If we continue like this, we will reach another October 7." | 2024-02-11 | Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "Not apologizing and not hesitating. Anyone who approaches the [Israeli border] fence and endangers the citizens of the State of Israel and our heroic soldiers must be shot. That's how it's done in every normal country! We must not return to the 6.10 [6 October 2023] concept!" [The above comment was posted to Twitter/X to justify a violent statement Ben-Gvir made in a cabinet meeting, which was leaked to the media. Translation by ChatGPT.] | 2024-02-22 | Source Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "Total support must be given to our heroic fighters operating in Gaza, who acted excellently against a Gazan mob that tried to harm them. Today it was proven that the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza is not only madness while our abductees are being held in the [Gaza] Strip under substandard conditions, but also endangers the IDF soldiers. This is another clear reason why we must stop transferring this aid, which is in fact aid to harm the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] soldiers and [is like] oxygen to Hamas." [Translated from Hebrew by Google. In the event to which Ben-Gvir referred, dubbed the "Flour Massacre," approximately 1,000 Palestinians were reportedly killed or wounded after Israeli forces opened fire, and Israel was widely condemned by aid groups, the UN, and several countries for its actions.] | 2024-02-29 | Source Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "We need to hit them [i.e. Palestinian Muslims] in the most important place for them. [...] We need to come and say, 'the Temple Mount is ours and Jerusalem is ours.' If we see ourselves as the owners of the area, our enemies will respect us." [Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's National Security Minister, made the above statement on the day before "Jerusalem Day" in 2024. "Jerusalem Day" is an Israeli national holiday on which Israelis commemorate what they claim was the "reunification" of East Jerusalem (including the Old City) with West Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War. In 2024, there was a high presence of Israeli police in Jerusalem on "Jerusalem Day" because of expected tensions between Palestinians and Israelis when Israeli celebrations would take them on a march through the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. According to the Times of Israel, police emphasized that the march would not pass through the Temple Mount site, a place where hostility and or violence often flare up in the Old City. (The third holiest site in Islam, the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, stands on the Temple Mount.) Contradicting police, Ben-Gvir called on "Jerusalem Day" participants to tour the Temple Mount during the visiting hours for non-Muslims. He told Israeli Army Radio that the Israelis would march through Jerusalem's Damascus Gate and up to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, no matter what Palestinian Muslims thought or how angry it made them.] [It is worth noting that rather than respect Israel's bold attitude towards East Jerusalem, the United Nations recognizes East Jerusalem, the entire West Bank, and the Gaza Strip as the territory for an independent Palestinian state, thus rejecting Israel's claim to East Jerusalem and rendering Israel's occupation of these territories illegal. See United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 (1967), 298 (1971), and 478 (1980), for examples of the UN's position on East Jerusalem, as well as the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion, 43 IL M 1009 (2004), paragraph 78.] | 2024-06-04 | Source Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "I am telling Hamas, that Jerusalem, Damascus Gate (in the Old City) and Al-Aqsa Mosque belong to us [i.e. Israe;]. We won't give up until the victory. We won't stop. We have to win." [The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is the third-holiest site in Islam. In 2024, Israel's National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, made the preceding statement while he took part in the "Flag March" on "Jerusalem Day" and described it in military terms. Jerusalem Day is an Israeli national holiday on which Israelis commemorate what they claim was the "reunification" of East Jerusalem (including the Old City) with West Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War but is more widely recognized (including under international law) as the illegal military occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967. Part of Jerusalem Day celebrations include a Flag March during which Israelis waving the Israeli flag parade through the Old City's Muslim quarter in East Jerusalem.] | 2024-06-05 | Source Source Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | [...] 'Proportionality' and 'inclusion' are obscene words when it comes to state security. The concept can and must be changed. Just like the reform I carried out in the prisons, despite the opposition of part of the security system. This is precisely why I insist on being around the table in determining Israel's policy. | 2024-07-19 | Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "Since I assumed the position of Minister of National Security, one of the highest goals I have set for myself is to worsen the conditions of the terrorists in the prisons, and to reduce their rights to the minimum required by law. This is what I committed to my voters and the people of Israel back in the elections, when I announced that I would claim the position. "Everything published about the abominable conditions of these vile murderers in prison was true. "[...] In the last year, before the war broke out, I waged a war of attrition to carry out the long-awaited reform of their conditions, and to fulfill the mandate I received from the public."The central organization that fought my attempts to lead this important reform, and even managed to prevent it, is the Shin Bet, under the command of Ronan Bar. It stood on its hind legs, and convinced the prime minister time and again that worsening the conditions of the terrorists would lead to an escalation, an explosion, the burning of the Middle East. What not. "On the seventh of October we discovered the bitter truth: our enemies do not need any excuse to massacre us, and lead to 'escalation'. They have one reason why they do this: our existence as Jews. "At the same time, after the outbreak of the war, I was able to finally carry out the long-awaited reform. The conditions of the terrorists in the prison were reduced to a minimum: we stopped the financial deposits, canceled the canteens for the terrorists, removed the electrical devices from the cells, stopped the terrorists' promenade, dramatically reduced the terrorists' stay in the showers, canceled the speaker's status, stopped the indulgent food menu that was converted into a minimal menu, and in short - We completely stopped the summer camp conditions. Terrorists who are currently released from prison testify that they will never want to return to Israeli prison. The prisons of the State of Israel are no longer a sad joke. "As part of the war, the army made many arrests of terrorists and wanted terrorists in Yosh, along with many terrorists who were brought from Gaza. A large part of the detainees were housed in a military camp, Sde Yemen, where they were held by the army. The IDF and the Shin Bet rushed to fold, and to announce that the conditions of incarceration at the site would be examined, and that the number of prisoners held at the site would be reduced. In practice, a situation has arisen in which due to the harsh living conditions of the prisoners (we are talking about despicable terrorists, yes?), there are now 1,500 vacant prison places in the Yemeni field. "[...] I never thought of releasing terrorists from prison because they are crowded. "And this is the core of the dispute between me and Shin Bet chief Ronan Bar: Ronan Bar claims that the conditions of the terrorists in prison, including overcrowding, look bad in the world, and may lead to escalation. [...] Are they crowded? Next time they will think twice before they go out to slaughter, rape and loot. "These are the exact facts: the Shevash has already begun an accelerated construction project of new prisons, and since October 2,500 new prisons [presumably, prison cells] have been added. Another project began last April, and it includes the construction of 936 additional prisons that is currently underway, when in addition to the emergency construction during the war, the Shev S. will complete by the end of the year a construction project of about 1,200 prison places throughout the country. All this, alongside the fact that since the beginning of the war, the Israel Defense Forces has captured a record number of over 5,000 terrorists arrested by the security forces. "It is very possible that even after the addition of the new prisons is completed, the many terrorists will still be overcrowded in prison. I have already proposed a much simpler solution, of enacting the death penalty for terrorists, which would solve the overcrowding issue - legislation to which the Shin Bet is also vehemently opposed. But until this law is passed by name, nothing will happen if the terrorist Nuhaba [see note 1], who on October 7 burned a baby [see note 2], is stuck in the prison cell in which he was imprisoned." "Share." [Quote translated from Hebrew to English by Google Translate; last sentence in previous paragraph translated by Quillbot.] [1. Ben-Gvir may be referring to Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HaN), a U.S. designated terrorist organization in Iraq.] [2. Seven months before Itamar Ben-Gvir posted this statement to his X social media account, the Times of Israel, Haaretz, and other news outlets reported, on December 4, 2023, that Walla news site had published data (compiled from sources including Israel's National Insurance Institute, kibbutz leaders, and police) by age and gender for 756 civilians, murdered on October 7th, 2024, for which information was available. None of the victims was a burned baby and of the two babies reportedly killed in Israel that day, 10-month-old Mila Cohen was shot in crossfire and an infant whose Bedouin mother was shot in the abdomen while on her way to a hospital to give birth died a few hours after delivery. | 2024-07-02 | Source Source |
| Itamar Ben-Gvir | Israeli Minister of National Security | "My right, my wife's, my children's, to roam the roads of Judea and Samaria are more important than the right of movement of the Arabs [Palestinians]." [Ben-Gvir then directed comments to Mohammad Magadli, an Arab Israeli journalist in the studio at the time he spoke.] "Sorry Mohammad, but this is the reality, that's the truth. My right for life comes before their right to movement." [Ben-Gvir and his family live in a Jewish settlement in Hebron, in the West Bank. When he refers to the area west of the Jordan River as "Judea and Samaria," he uses the biblical names for what has been, since the 20th century, identified as the "West Bank," part of the "Occupied Palestinian Territories."] | 2023-08-25 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Itzhak Brik | Ret. Gen. of IDF | "All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it's all from the U.S. The minute they turn off the tap, you can't keep fighting. You have no capability. ... Everyone understands that we can't fight this war without the United States. Period." | 2023-11-27 | Source Source Source |
| Itzik Zarka | Israeli Likud party activist, member of the Likud party inner court | "[To protestors of judicial overhaul in Israel] Ashkenazim, whores, may you burn in hell. ... I am proud of the six million that were burned, I wish that another six million will be burned. ... Leftists are traitors, you are the cancer of the country. ... The black flags [symbols of the protest] are your shrouds. Your legs should be broken with batons, you should be kneecapped. That way you will not go to any demonstration at all." | 2023-06-15 | Source Source Source |
| JD Vance | American politician, Republican Party's nominee for vice-president in the 2024 presidential election | "Now, you asked about a preemptive strike, Margaret, and I want to answer the question. Look, it is up to Israel what they think they need to do to keep their country safe. And we should support our allies wherever they are when they're fighting the bad guys. I think that's the right approach to take with the Israel question." [The preceding quote is from the United States Vice Presidential Debate, hosted by CBS News on 1 October 2024. Margaret Brennan, who co-moderated the debate, asked JD Vance, "[I]f you are the final voice in the situation room, would you support or oppose a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran?"] | 2024-10-01 | Source |
| JewBelong | Jewish and Zionist nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization registered in New Jersey, U.S.A. | "[In an Instagram post] Trust me. If Israel wanted to commit genocide in Gaza, it could." | 2023-12-27 | Source Source Source |
| Jewish Rabbi Group | Rabbis who condoned bombing of Gaza hospitals | "It is necessary to clarify, that also when the enemy hides behind a 'human shield', as with the information about the terrorist headquarters at the Shifa hospital in Gaza – there is no halachic [Jewish religious law] or moral prohibition, nor a legal one, for bombing the enemy after sufficient warning. And if under such action innocent blood will be spilled, the guilt will be solely on the heads of the cruel [Hamas] murderers and their supporters". [Numerous Israeli Jewish rabbis, including several prominent ones, in a letter to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Israeli defense officials, seemed to attempt to assure Israel's political leadership that bombing civilians being used as human shields (and having been given advanced warning of an upcoming bombing) was permissible by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The quote above is a portion of that letter that addresses Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza. The letter was initially signed by 43 rabbis.] | 2023-10-30 | Source |
| Jim McGovern | American politician | [In February 2023, Jim McGovern was one member of a congressional delegation of 15 Democrats who visited occupied Hebron in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Speaking to a gathering in a Boston Temple months later, about what he witnessed, McGovern never used the word "apartheid," but he came close as he described the different roads for Palestinians and Jews.] "When you drive on the West Bank and you see a highway for Israelis and then a highway for Palestinians. And we can get to a place really quickly because we're on the Israeli side, but on the Palestinian side, there are many checkpoints - it's humiliating. Anyone of us if we were subjected to multiple checkpoints would be humiliated. It's a question of dignity. It's a question of human rights." [McGovern pointed to U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides when trying to understand why the American public was not adequately informed about what it was like to live as an Israeli or Palestinian in the region.] "Tom Nides, our ambassador, was a nice guy in a previous life. But I feel like what is missing in our diplomacy is oftentimes a recognition of the human condition, about what is really happening on the ground...If we stand for anything, as the United States, we should aspire to stand four square for human rights. That ought to be what we are all about. I feel that too often, with regard to Israeli politics, we push that to the back." | 2023-06-11 | Source |
| Jimmy Carter | 39th President of the United States, Former Governor of Georgia | "And the word 'apartheid' is exactly accurate. You know, this is an area that's occupied by two powers. They are now completely separated. Palestinians can't even ride on the same roads that the Israelis have created or built in Palestinian territory. The Israelis never see a Palestinian, except the Israeli soldiers. The Palestinians never see an Israeli, except at a distance, except the Israeli soldiers. So within Palestinian territory, they are absolutely and totally separated, much worse than they were in South Africa, by the way. And the other thing is, the other definition of 'apartheid' is, one side dominates the other. And the Israelis completely dominate the life of the Palestinian people." | 2007-09-10 | Source Source Source |
| Jimmy Carter | 39th President of the United States, Former Governor of Georgia | Interviewer: "Why don't Americans know what you have seen?" Carter: "Americans don't want to know, and many Israelis don't want to know, what is going on inside Palestine. It's a terrible human rights persecution that far transcends what any outsider would imagine. And there are powerful political forces in America that prevent any objective analysis of the problem in the holy land. I think it's accurate to say that not a single member of Congress with whom I'm familiar would possibly speak out and call for Israel to withdraw to their legal boundaries or to publicize the plight of the Palestinians or even to call publicly and repeatedly for good faith peace talks. There hasn't been a day of peace talks now in more than seven years. So this is a taboo subject. And I would say that if any member of Congress did speak out, as I've just described, they would probably not be back in the Congress the next term." | 2007-09-10 | Source Source Source |
| Jimmy Carter | 39th President of the United States, Former Governor of Georgia | [The following quote is from a 2007 interview former United States President Carter did with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!] "[...] And the word "apartheid" is exactly accurate. You know, this is an area that's occupied by two powers. They are now completely separated. Palestinians can't even ride on the same roads that the Israelis have created or built in Palestinian territory. The Israelis never see a Palestinian, except the Israeli soldiers. The Palestinians never see an Israeli, except at a distance, except the Israeli soldiers. So within Palestinian territory, they are absolutely and totally separated, much worse than they were in South Africa, by the way. And the other thing is, the other definition of 'apartheid' is, one side dominates the other. And the Israelis completely dominate the life of the Palestinian people." | 2007-09-10 | Source |
| Jimmy Carter | 39th President of the United States, Former Governor of Georgia | [The following quote is from a 2007 interview former United States President Carter did with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!] Amy Goodman: "Why don't Americans know what you have seen [i.e., in Palestine]?" Jimmy Carter: "Americans don't want to know and many Israelis don't want to know what is going on inside Palestine. It's a terrible human rights persecution that far transcends what any outsider would imagine. And there are powerful political forces in America that prevent any objective analysis of the problem in the holy land. I think it's accurate to say that not a single member of Congress with whom I'm familiar would possibly speak out and call for Israel to withdraw to their legal boundaries or to publicize the plight of the Palestinians or even to call publicly and repeatedly for good faith peace talks. There hasn't been a day of peace talks now in more than seven years. So this is a taboo subject. And I would say that if any member of Congress did speak out, as I've just described, they would probably not be back in the Congress the next term." | 2007-09-10 | Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | Reporter: "Are the airstrikes in Yemen working?" Biden: "Well, when you say 'working,' are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they gonna continue? Yes." | 2024-01-18 | Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | [A reporter asked US President Joe Biden if the US-led airstrikes against Yemeni's Houthi group were working. He replied:] "When you say 'working,' are they stopping the Houthis? No. Are they gonna continue? Yes." | 2024-01-18 | Source Source Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "The security of Israel and the United States is inextricably tied, and we will never, ever, ever, abandon Israel out of our own self-interest." | 2014-10-11 | Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "I'm confident that Israel is going to act under the major- the rules of war. There, there's a standards [sic] that democratic institutions and countries will go-go by [sic] and so I'm confident that there's gonna be an ability for the innocents in Gaza to be able to have access to medicine and food and water." | 2023-10-15 | Source Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "But- but we have to be careful. They [Israel] have to be careful. The whole world's public opinion can shift overnight. We can't let that happen." | 2023-12-11 | Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist, and I'm a Zionist. And, by the way, you don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist." | 2023-12-11 | Source Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "[We] have an opportunity to begin to unite the [Middle East] region - unite the region [...]. But in the meantime, we're not going to do a damn thing other than protect Israel in the process. Not a single thing. "But, folks, there's a lot to do - a lot to do. We're going to have to be - as strong supporters of Israel, we're going to have to be honest about what we're doing and what the goal is. The goal is Israel's security. And if Israel - Israel's sec- - if there were no - many of you heard me say over the years: Were there not an Israel, we'd have to invent one - we'd have to invent one. "I believe, without Israel as a freestanding state, not a Jew in the world is safe - not a Jew in the world is safe. It's up to what happens at the moment." | 2023-12-12 | Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "[Right now, Israel] has most of the world supporting it. But they're starting to lose that support by the indiscriminate bombing that takes place." | 2023-12-12 | Source Source Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "I did not ask [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] for ceasefire." | 2023-12-24 | Source Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "... I said, 'Send a message to Bibi: I love him. I love him.'" | 2014-12-07 | Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "... the second part is, people should understand by now, this should be crystal clear: that Israel is the single greatest strength America has in the Middle East. I always say to my friends, when they say those things to you, I say imagine our circumstance in the world were there no Israel. How many battleships would there be? How many troops would be stationed? ... You know, I used to say, early on, when I was a kid, I'd say, when I was a young senator, I'd say, 'If I were a Jew, I'd be a Zionist.' I am a Zionist. You don't have to be a Jew to be a Zionist." | 2007-03-28 | Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "There is only one nation, only one nation in the world, that has unequivocally, without hesitation, and consistently confronted the efforts to delegitimize Israel [and that nation is the United States]. At every point in our administration, at every juncture, we stood up on the legitimacy, on behalf of the legitimacy, of the State of Israel." | 2013-03-04 | Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "Progress occurs in the Middle East when everyone knows there's simply no space between the United States and Israel. There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel's security." | 2010-03-09 | Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "[Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu] has the right to defend Israel and pursue Hamas. But he must, he must, he must pay more attention to the innocent lives being lost and the consequences of the actions taken. He's hurting – in my view – he's hurting Israel more than helping Israel by making the rest of the war as contrary [to what] Israel stands for. Now, I think it's a big mistake, so I want to see a ceasefire. And I'm starting with a major, major exchange of prisoners, for a six-week period. We're going into Ramadan and [there] should be nothing happening. And we should build off that ceasefire [...]. I'm never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical, so there's no red line that I'm going to cut off all weapons, so they don't have the Iron Dome to protect them. But there's red lines that if he [Netanyahu] crosses – you can't have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after [Hamas]. There's other ways to deal, to get to, to deal with, with the trauma caused by Hamas." | 2024-03-09 | Source Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "I also emphasized what I've said throughout this conflict. The United States fully supports Israel's right to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks from Hamas and other Gaza-based terrorist groups that have taken the lives of innocent civilians in Israel." | 2021-05-21 | Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | [During a debate with former U.S. president Donald Trump on 27 June 2024, U.S. president Joe Biden made the following statement regarding his support of Israel during its so-called "Operation Swords of Iron" – the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip which began on 7 October 2023.] "The only thing I've denied Israel was 2,000-pound bombs – they don't work in very well-populated areas; they kill a lot of innocent people. We're providing Israel with all the weapons they need and when they need them." [U.S. officials not authorized to speak publicly stated to the media in late June 2024 that before Biden paused shipments of the MK-84 2,000-pound bombs in May 2024, the United States had transferred at least 14,000 of those bombs since 7 October 2023, the Jerusalem Times reported on 28 June 2024.] | 2024-06-27 | Source Source Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "I'm the guy that organized the world against Iran when they had a full-blown kind of ballistic – ballistic missile attack on Israel. No one was hurt. No – one Israeli was accidentally killed. And it stopped. We saved Israel. "We are the biggest producer of support for Israel than anyone in the world." [During a debate with former U.S. president Donald Trump on 27 June 2024, U.S. president Joe Biden made the preceding statement, regarding his personal support, and the support from the U.S., of Israel during its so-called "Operation Swords of Iron" – the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip which began on 7 October 2023.] | 2024-06-27 | Source |
| Joe Biden | 46th President of the United States, Former Vice President, Former Senator of Delaware | "If we look at the Middle East, I think it's about time we stop (those of us who support, as most of us do, Israel, in this body) for apologizing for our support for Israel. There's no apology to be made! None! It is the best 3 billion dollar investment we make. Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel to protect her interests in the region. The United States would have to go out and invent an Israel. I am with my colleagues who are on the floor in the foreign relations committee and we worry at length about NATO. And we worry about the eastern flank of NATO, Greece and Turkey, and how important it is. They pale by comparison [Biden pauses to ask for one more minute of time, then resumes] in terms of the benefit that accrues to the United States of America. Ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues in the Senate, I suggest to you that if Saudi Arabia's interest lies as much in the existence of an Israel as it does in the existence of any other single country, for Israel could not afford, nor could we, for Saudi Arabia to be toppled, nor could that occur in a way that would be able to be prevented as a consequence of selling sophisticated weapons. So let's shed the myth. Saudis are not bad guys. They are fine people, but they do not need these weapons. It will hurt them, hurt us, it's against U.S. interests." | 1986-06-05 | Source Source Source |
| Joe Redden | U.S. military veteran, social media user under aliases (@theoldermillennial.1 on TikTok, @teameffyoujoe on Twitter/X and Instagram) | "If we could have a way to eliminate the next generation of Gazan kids, we could actually have a good Gaza. But the problem is we can't because enough of you [Gazans] will be left to think that you have a place in this world. The reality is that Israel should have bulldozed you into the sea a long time ago. The only reason that Gaza exists today is because of Israeli mercy. Because if you would have [expletive] replaced Israel with the U.S., we would have stomped you out like a [expletive] roach." | 2024 | Source |
| John Kirby | U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications | [In a press briefing on 19 January 2024, United States National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby made the following comments.] "I want to say again that we don't have any indications that there's deliberate - deliberate efforts to commit war crimes by the Israeli Defense Forces." "Do we still oppose a general ceasefire? Yes. For the same reason that we have in the past: We don't believe a ceasefire is going to be to the benefit of anybody but Hamas [...]." | 2024-01-19 | Source Source Source |
| John Kirby | U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications | "[Regarding South Africa's 84-page lawsuit filing in the ICJ against Israel, accusing them of genocide] We find this submission meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever." | 2023-01-03 | Source Source |
| John Kirby | U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications | "Slaughtering innocent Ukrainians, that's part of [the Russian] strategy inside Ukraine. That is not what we're seeing from Israel." | 2023-10-30 | Source |
| John Kirby | U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications | "Israel is not deliberately trying to kill civilians." | 2023-10-30 | Source |
| John Kirby | U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications | "We want to make sure they do it in a cautious, careful, deliberate way, but it is not a war aim of Israel to kill innocent civilians the way it is a war aim of Vladimir Putin to do that in Ukraine." | 2023-10-30 | Source |
| John Kirby | U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications | "The Israelis are not making the slaughter, torture, and rape of civilians in Gaza a war aim. It's not baked into their plans. They're not deliberately trying to kill civilians. Now, again, I've said it before, I'll say it a hundred times again: The right number of civilian casualties is zero. We don't want to see a single innocent person hurt or killed as a result of this conflict. And as I said in my opening statement, and Secretary Austin said today, we continue to urge the Israelis to be as careful, deliberate, surgical, and cautious as possible when it comes to minimizing civilian casualties. We don't want to see them, as Secretary Austin has said, find themselves maybe with a tactical victory but a strategic defeat because of the way they have gone about prosecuting their operations. As I've also said, with respect to this church issue [where two unarmed Palestinian Christian women, Nahida Khalil Anton and her daughter Samar, were killed by an Israeli sniper as they walked to the Sister's Convent inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza], we are deeply concerned about it; we have raised specific concerns about it with our Israeli counterparts, and we'll continue to do so. But we haven't seen any evidence that the Israelis are making it an aim of war and a tactical, operational necessity to go out and slaughter innocent people. Now, it is happening that people are being killed, people are being wounded. We recognize that. But it's a far cry from saying it's a part of the war aims as it was for Putin, as it was for Hamas. And that was my main point." | 2023-12-18 | Source Source Source Source |
| John Kirby | U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications | [On 25 March 2024, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the "Israel-Gaza war" for the month of Ramadan, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages being held by Hamas and other groups, and "the urgent need to expand the flow" of aid into Gaza. Fourteen of fifteen states voted in favour of the resolution. The United States abstained. This was the first time since October 2023 that the U.S. did not use its permanent member veto power to cause a favorable outcome for Israel on a Security Council resolution vote. Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu, and other Israeli leaders, reacted negatively to the U.S. abstention on the Security Council vote. When questioned in a White House press briefing about Israel's reaction, John Kirby offered the following statement.] "A couple of points that need to be stated and, in fact, restated. Number one, it's a non-binding resolution. So, there's no impact at all on Israel and Israel's ability to continue to go after Hamas. Number two, as I said in my opening statement, it does not represent a change at all in our [U.S.] policy. It's very consistent with everything that we've been saying we want to get done here. And we get to decide what our policy is. The prime minister's [Netanyahu's] office seems to be indicating through public statements that we somehow changed here. We haven't. And we get to decide what - what our policy is. [...] So, again, no change in our policy." [Kirby's claim that the UN Security Council resolution was "non-binding" was met with considerable criticism internationally, as the Security Council is the only UN organ with the power to pass binding resolutions, and it is generally accepted that all Security Council resolutions are legally binding.] | 2024-03-25 | Source |
| John Stockwell | Former CIA Operations Director | Stockwell: "Well, one of the four principal functions of the CIA is to gather intelligence and, ideally, forward it to the president, the users of information, the policymakers, as they say. There are other functions however, some of them more legitimate than others. One is to run secret wars; the covert action that's written and talked about so much. Like what's happening in Nicaragua today from Honduras. Another thing is to disseminate propaganda to influence people's minds and this is a major function of the CIA, and unfortunately, of course, it overlaps into the gathering of information. You have contact with a journalist, you will give him true stories, you'll get information from him, you'll also give him false stories." Interviewer: "Did you buy his confidence with true stories?" Stockwell: "You buy his confidence and set him up. We've seen this happen recently with Jack Anderson, for example, who has his intelligence sources, and he has also admitted that he's been set up by them. Every fifth story just simply being false. You also work on their human vulnerabilities to recruit them, in a classic sense, to make them your agent, so that you can control what they do so you don't have to set them up sort of, you know, by putting one over on them. So you can say, 'Here, plant this one next Tuesday.'" Interviewer: "Can you do this with responsible reporters?" Stockwell: "Yes the Church Committee brought it out in 1975, and then Woodward and Bernstein put an article in Rolling Stone a couple of years later. 400 journalists cooperating with the CIA including some of the biggest names in the business to consciously introduce the stories into the press." Interviewer: "Well give me a concrete example of how you used the press this way, how a false story is planted and how you got it published." Stockwell: "Well, for example, in my war, the Angola war, that I helped to manage, one third of my staff was propaganda. Ironically it's called covert action inside the CIA. Outside, that means the violent part. I had propagandists all over the world, principally in London, Kinshasa, and Zambia. We were- we would take stories which we would write and put them in the Zambia Times and then pull them out and send them to journalists on our payroll in Europe but his cover story, you see, would be that he had gotten them from his stringer in Lusaka who had gotten them from the Zambia times. We had the complicity of the government of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda, if you will, to put these false stories into his newspapers, but after that point, the journalists, Reuters and AFP, the management was not witting of it. Now, our contact man in Europe was, and we pumped just dozens of stories about Cuban atrocities, Cuban rapists, in one case, we had the Cuban rapists caught and tried by the Ovimbundu maidens who had been their victims and then we ran photographs that made almost every newspaper in the country of the Cubans being executed by the Ovimbundu women who supposedly had been their victims." Interviewer: "These were fake photos?" Stockwell: "Oh absolutely. We didn't know of one single atrocity committed by the Cubans. It was pure, raw, false propaganda to create an illusion of communists, you know, eating babies for breakfast, and that sort of- totally false propaganda." | 1983-02-06 | Source Source |
| John Stockwell | Former CIA Operations Director | "It's easier than then you would think [to plant false stories in news media as the CIA], yes. Yes. If it's on the line of, for example, if it's on the line of Grenada being radical today, we've had articles in The Washington Post, The Star before it closed, Time Magazine, that could only have been written by, originally by the CIA. Soviet submarine base, terrorist training. There's a little island where the major source of income is selling spice to the West, Western tourism, and a large United States Medical School. Tiny little island, 15 miles by 10 miles across, with 70,000 people with US medical students and their cutaways and sandals, and the noses in books wandering all over the island, and yet, major press organs- Time magazine- running stories about their being so radical." | 1983-02-06 | Source Source |
| John Stockwell | Former CIA Operations Director | "You're talking about not an underworld, you're talking about ranking privileged members of the police brotherhood of the world. CIA officers are not in danger. Tourists don't hit them. In every country where they can, they establish liaison with the local police. And inside the veils of, you know, their secrecy and protection, they're not fearful and they're not playing cover games. They're having lunch with the police chief." | 1983-02-06 | Source Source |
| John Stockwell | Former CIA Operations Director | "... The CIA recruited me right at the end of the Kennedy era. He'd just been shot. 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.' And all of the propaganda that had been put out on the American people against communism, the height of the domino theory, and my my own naiveté, thinking I was educated when in fact I was not. And I thought going into the CIA, that I was doing the best thing I possibly could with my life, and the noblest ideals of our society. Thinking I was bettering mankind by making the world free for democracy. It just took me 13 years and three secret wars to realize how absolutely false that was- and the Church Committee's revelation, simultaneously to the Vietnam, and then the Angolan thing- it just took me that long to see the thing from a totally different light. And my basic ideals have certainly never changed, in terms of basic humanism, basic sympathy for the people of the world. A service to this country that goes back so far I don't even have to deal with detractors, I feel who say I'm a traitor or whatnot. That's silly. With, you know, with the things that I've done with my life. But I think we are drifting from the values that we we teach ourselves in school, of democracy, of freedoms. I think we're selling out to a very small police organization who is absorbing American principals about as fast as the judicial and legislative processes can absorb them- freedoms of speech and press- and at the same time or continuing policies of killing in every corner of the world. Right now in Nicaragua and El Salvador. I think I deplore that morally, but I also think it's extremely dangerous because it could flash so easily into a world confrontation, and with the Soviet- to the Holocaust, to the nuclear war." | 1983-02-06 | Source Source |
| Josep Borrell | Vice-President of the European Commission, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy | "Look, the places to the lay the blame are quite evenly distributed. They are quite evenly distributed, because I have a statement here that says: 'Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state, anyone who wants to ensure that a Palestinian state never exists must support bolstering Hamas. And transfer money to Hamas. That's what we're doing. That's part of our strategy. Financing Hamas to ensure that a Palestinian state never exists.' Do you know who said that? Mr Netanyahu, in the Knesset, in March 2019." [This quote comes at the end of a speech Borrell delivered, in which he noted that much of the international community believes a two-state solution is the only solution to end the violence in Israel and Palestine. But, he pointed out, Benjamin Netanyahu is opposed to the existence of a Palestinian state, which suggests Netanyahu is opposed to a political solution.] | 2023-12-12 | Source Source |
| Joseph (Yosef) Weitz | Director of the Jewish National Fund's Lands and Afforestation Department, known as "Architect of Transfer" for his role in expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine | [Joseph Weitz wrote the following in his diary.] "There is no way besides transferring the Arabs from here [Palestine] to the neighboring countries, and to transfer all of them, save perhaps for [the Arabs of] Bethlehem, Nazareth and Old Jerusalem. Not one village must be left, not one [Bedouin] tribe. And only after this transfer will the country be able to absorb millions of our brothers and the Jewish problem will cease to exist. There is no other solution." | 1940 | Source Source |
| Joseph Klausner | Lithuanian-born Israeli historian and professor of Hebrew literature | [Joseph Klausner's book Ha'adam Hakadmon (Prehistoric Man), on the foundations of anthropology, was published in Warsaw in 1900 by Tushiya Press. Theories about the "savage" (and "quasi-savage") were significant themes in the book. In a chapter entitled, "The Antiquity of the Semites and the Inception of the Aryan Races," Klausner made the following assertion.] "The human races from which great nations with a broad and progressive culture emerged that has influenced all of ancient and modern history to this day, and of which many very talented nations are still vibrant and progressing - these great races number only two: the Semites and the Indo-Europeans or Aryans." | 1900 | Source |
| Joseph Klausner | Lithuanian-born Israeli historian and professor of Hebrew literature | [Joseph Klausner's book Ha'adam Hakadmon (Prehistoric Man), on the foundations of anthropology, was published in Warsaw in 1900 by Tushiya Press. Theories about the "savage" (and "quasi-savage") were significant themes in the book. In an article entitled "Suspicion," published in 1907 in the journal Hashiloah under the pseudonym Ish Ivri (Hebrew Man), Klausner relegated Arabs to the "quasi-savage" category and warned about the harmful influence of Arab culture.] "I would not at all want for the Jews to imitate the Arabs and the Bedouin, by which I mean be influenced by primitive culture... We, the Jews, who for 2,000 years and more have been dwelling in the midst of cultured nations cannot – nor should not – descend once again to the cultural level of the quasi-savage nations." | 1907 | Source |
| Josephine Guilbeau | 17-year U.S. Army veteran, former intelligence officer | "We [i.e., Israeli and U.S. militaries] have technology that we can see exactly who is in these locations and buildings. So [Israeli soldiers] are targeting and bombing homes knowing who and how many children were actually inside. "My name is Josephine Guilbeau. I am a 17-year army veteran. I recently got out of the military last year. Having that background as an intelligence officer and understanding what defence actually is I can see clearly that this is not self-defence. The civilian casualties are catastrophic. They are targeting homes filled with children. "The elite that sit in Capitol Hill, sit there and lie over and over. I just want to highlight one of the biggest awakenings that I think I've had in the last few weeks coming here [i.e., Washington, D.C.] and lobbying with the senators and the congressmen [for a ceasefire], is just how corrupt our government is, and that anyone that is in the military is simply just one chess piece that they use at their leisure for their own internal gain, to protect their own internal assets and money." | 2024-02-26 | Source |
| Josh Paul | Former Director at U.S. Department of State, resigned on 10/17/2023 in protest of U.S. policy to arm Israel after 10/7/2023 | "I think what happened on October 7th was an absolute atrocity, was a thousand atrocities. I think at the same time, we condemn those atrocities, we have to condemn the atrocities that happen every day to Palestinians in the West Bank. You [the interviewer] mentioned sexual violence. I was part of the human rights vetting process for arms going to Israel and a charity called 'Defense of Children International Palestine' [DCIP] drew our attention at the State Department to the sexual assaults, actually the rape of a 13-year-old boy that occurred in an Israeli prison in Mascobiyya in Jerusalem. We examined these allegations. We believe they were credible. We put them to the government of Israel. And do you know what happened the next day? The IDF went into the DCIP offices and removed all their computers and declared them a terrorist entity. I think it is vital that atrocities not happen to anyone. Not sexual atroci- not sexual violations, not any kind of gross violation of human rights. We are looking at a situation where there's so much dehumanification [sic], where people are not seen for the value that they have. And I think that's true whether you're talking about those who were attacked on their kibbutz or those who are attacked in their homes in Gaza or in the West Bank. What we really need is to center the human beings who are at the core and who are suffering so much in this conflict. | 2023-12-04 | Source Source Source Source |
| Kamala Harris | Vice-President of the United States of America (2021-), Democratic Party candidate for president (2024) | "I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself, including from Iran and Iran-backed militias, such as Hamas and Hezbollah." [Kamala Harris made this statement after visiting with Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C., U.S.A., in July 2024, as Israel's invasion of, and genocide in, Gaza (under the guise of eliminating Hamas as a means of "self defense") was in its tenth month and its invasion of Lebanon (under the guise of eliminating Hezbollah as a means of "self defense) was two months away.] | 2024-07-25 | Source Source |
| Karni | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank platoon commander, commanded 3 tanks (her own, "Michal"'s, and "Ophir"'s) on 10/7 | Karni: "I'm going on the offensive. Machine gun fire, making sure everyone is dead. If we thought the 50 terrorists were the end, it was only the beginning. We started hearing about Holit [kibbutz near south Gaza]. We hear that there's a hostage situation, terrorists in the community. I can't stop thinking about the breach, I leave one tank to guard it, telling her to shoot everyone coming in. You have my go-ahead, if you have positive ID, anything that comes from the north [through the breach in the security wall], fire at will. I head off with the brigade commander along with a SWAT team towards Holit. My driver spots two terrorists on the road, and reports it. I tell her to run them over. She simply runs over the terrorists and moves on, preventing another infiltration." Interviewer: "You were running over terrorists?" Karni: "Yes." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Karni | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank platoon commander, commanded 3 tanks (her own, "Michal"'s, and "Ophir"'s) on 10/7 | "They were fighting until 8:00 PM, until we were sure it's clear, that Holit was purged, and you can extract the civilians." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Karni | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank platoon commander, commanded 3 tanks (her own, "Michal"'s, and "Ophir"'s) on 10/7 | "When you're in the moment, you don't think that you're saving people, saving homes, you think of the terrorist and how to kill him before he arrives to the communities." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Karni | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank platoon commander, commanded 3 tanks (her own, "Michal"'s, and "Ophir"'s) on 10/7 | Interviewer: "How many hours did you fight?" Karni: "17 hours." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Karni | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank platoon commander, commanded 3 tanks (her own, "Michal"'s, and "Ophir"'s) on 10/7 | "We arrive at the entrance to the community and the gate is closed shut. A soldier comes to me, a bit panicked, saying 'terrorists! Come in, now!' We break into the community, crash the gate, and follow his directions. The soldier points and tells me, 'Shoot there, the terrorists are there.' I ask him, 'Are there civilians there?' He says 'I don't know, just shoot.' I decide not to shoot [sic], this is an Israeli community. I fire with my machine gun at a house." [The Merkava tank is fitted with one .50 cal (12.7mm) machine gun which is remote-operated from inside the tank, as well as two 7.62mm machine guns. Both can penetrate the walls of a house, especially the .50 cal fire. If there were people inside the building, such fire can kill and wound captors and hostages alike.] | 2023-11-25 | Source Source Source |
| Katie Bo Lillas | CNN reporter covering intelligence and U.S. national security | "Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza in its war with Hamas since October 7 have been unguided, otherwise known as 'dumb bombs,' according to a new US intelligence assessment. "The assessment, compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and described to CNN by three sources who have seen it, says that about 40-45% of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used have been unguided. The rest have been precision-guided munitions, the assessment says. "Unguided munitions are typically less precise and can pose a greater threat to civilians, especially in such a densely populated area like Gaza. The rate at which Israel is using the dumb bombs may be contributing to the soaring civilian death toll." | 2023-12-13 | Source |
| Katrin "Keti" Shitrit | Israeli Member of Knesset | "The word revenge has been used a lot. I don't think it's revenge - it's justice. If you ask me on a personal level - I would flatten Gaza, I have no sentiments. Because there is no separating the murderers of the women and children from the citizens of Gaza." | 2023-11-01 | Source |
| Keshet 12 (Channel 12) | Israeli free-to-air television channel owned by Keshet Media Group | [July 2024 footage from closed circuit television cameras in Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp was aired by Israel's Keshet 12 (Channel 12). The footage captured a rape carried out by Israeli reservist soldiers whose job it was to guard Palestinian hostages. Keshet 12 included a report with the aired video. The quote below is from the report that appeared as captions on the footage Keshet 12 aired.] "Palestinian detainees forced to the ground handcuffed and blindfolded, and there is a group of reservist soldiers from Unit 100, which is used to guard the Sde Teman base. "Here they've taken a detainee to a corner of the place, as they are obviously aware of the surveillance cameras, that's why they are trying to cover their actions with [riot] shields. The video documents a crime related to a group of reservist soldiers, sexual assault and rape [which] led to transferring the detainee to the hospital, bleeding after hours. In the medical report, his condition was described as complicated. "In Channel 12, we have revealed today that polygraph tests made to two of the suspects when asked if they had committed the action [on the detainee] and the second question if that they were covering the identity of the soldier who did commit the action, they answered, 'No.' But the polygraph investigator said that both were lying. Also, as for one of the suspected soldiers that the suspected soldier tried to disturb the polygraph results on purpose. Even though polygraph results aren't taken into consideration in court, but they help with making decisions in the investigated case." | 2024-07-?? | Source Source |
| Kobi Mandelblit | Brig. Gen. of Israeli Chief Censor | "Operation 'Swords of Iron' - Israeli Chief Censor Directive to the Media. 1. In light of the current security situation and the intensive media coverage, we wish to encourage you to submit to the Censorship all materials dealing with the activities of the Israeli Defense Forces (I.D.F) and the Israeli security forces prior to their broadcast. 2. Below is a breakdown of the topics that are not allowed for broadcasting and should be submitted by the Israeli Censor prior to their publication: (1) Hostages - Personal details; any posts that they held; medical situation; Israeli negotiation positions and any details concerning the negotiation for their release. (2) Operational Details - Order of battle of the security forces and their location assembly areas, troop movements, operational plans and covert operation. It is forbidden to report vulnerabilities in the Israeli defense abilities, including the deployment, location and capabilities of the Iron dome system and other air and missile defense systems. It is also forbidden to broadcast images and\or videos that can identify the forces, their composition and scope. (3) Intelligence - Any intelligence concerning the intentions and capabilities of the enemy. (4) Weapon Systems - details of weapon systems in I.D.F use; I.D.F equipment that fell into the hands of the enemy (even if your report is based on enemy news). (5) Rocket attacks - it is forbidden to report rocket strikes that struck strategic infrastructure targets such as power plants, gas and water infrastructure, transportation depots, military and defense bases, factories and other sensitive areas. (6) Cyber-attacks - it is forbidden to report attacks against security, federal and national institution. Furthermore, it is forbidden to report Israeli cyber-attacks against the enemy. (7) Visit by senior officials - During the course of their visit in the combat zone, it is forbidden to report the presence of senior officials such as the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, the Chief of Staff, Ministers, Members of Knesset and other senior officials. (8) Security Cabinet - Any reports concerning details and information from the Cabinet meeting must be submitted to Israeli Censor prior to their broadcast. Please update your staff of the content of this letter, with an emphasis on the news desk and field reporters. Your sincerely, Kobi Mandelblit, Brigadier General Chief Censor." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Kobi Peretz | Israeli singer, performs concerts for IDF soldiers | "May their village burn, may Gaza be erased." | 2023-11-17 | Source Source Source |
| Lee Brownstein | American film producer, director, photographer, writer, editor | [Lee Brownstein (@leebrownstein) made the following statement in a comment to a post by @ahmedeldin on the social media platform Instagram.] "@mahoma_54_ayesha_6 from the river to the sea, israel will turn palashtick into a parking lot... you'll see. You cave people love to whine when you get hit back. What you call for is what you are manifesting for yourselves. Your own end. Bye" | 2024-01-22 | Source |
| Leo Motzkin (Mozkin) | Ukranian Zionist leader | Our thought is that the colonisation of Palestine has to go in two directions: Jewish settlement in Eretz Israel [i.e. the 'Land of Israel'] and the resettlement of the Arabs of Eretz Israel in areas outside the country. | 1917 | Source |
| Levi Simon | IDF soldier and British-born tour guide | [In a selfie video, wearing a combat helmet and soldier fatigues and vest. During the entirety of the video, a poll is visible on the screen titled "WHAT DYA THINK". The poll options are: "Kinky terrorism", "Wtf", "Halal", "Haram"] "So I'm going through these terrorist houses looking for guns, explosives, haven't found many [or perhaps "haven't found money"? Difficult to discern]. At every single house. inside of Gaza, this is what I see. Every single- unbelieveable. Two or three drawers stuffed with the most, uh... exotic lingerie that you can imagine. [Simon beings rummaging through the drawer, throwing lingerie out] Just pile loads of it. Every single house. Stuffed to the brim. Look at that. Unbelievable. You know what, I don't even wanna imagine what this stuff is, man. [Some sort of Hebrew exclamation]. These naughty, naughty Gazans." | 2024-01-04 | Source Source Source |
| Liat Beinin Atzili | Israeli-American kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 | [Liat Beinin Atzili was kidnapped from Nir Oz on 10/7/2023 and held hostage in Gaza by two young Hamas members until 11/29/2023, when she was released. The following quotes are from an interview with Haaretz journalist Shany Littman. More quotes about Atzili's experience as a hostage and views on Israel and Palestine can be found on this website by searching "Liat Beinin Atzili."] About the two men, armed and in uniform, who broke into Atzili's unlocked safe room the morning of 10/7/2023, Shany Littman asks: "Were they scary?" Liat Atzili: "Not particularly. They had weapons but they didn't threaten me. They told me, 'You don't have to be afraid, we won't hurt you, come with us.' They gave me time to get dressed and organized, but I wasn't capable of doing that because I was in shock. [...] I looked for my glasses, and they also helped me look, we didn't find them." "They didn't touch me, they spoke to me in English and said all the time, 'Don't worry, we won't hurt you.' Then they took me to a car next to the dining hall. There was someone else there from the kibbutz, who is still in captivity. [In the Gaza Strip, Atzili was taken to the home of the family of one of the abductors.] "His mother welcomed me. I couldn't stop crying. She had me sit down on the sofa, hugged me and said, 'It will be alright, it will be alright.'"I kept crying all the time. They seemed really worried about me and wanted me to eat and drink. They said, 'We will protect you, you're safe here, nothing will happen to you.' They let me shower, change clothes. They washed my clothes." Littman: "Weren't they afraid you would try to escape? Atzili: "No, and rightly so. Where would I go? The house was completely open, I could wander about freely inside. They asked me if I needed anything and whether I wanted to be alone in the room. They didn't guard me at all. They understood that I wasn't going anywhere, because what would I do alone in Khan Yunis? [...] With me in the house were the abductor's parents, his brothers and his sister with her children. When you are in a house with little kids, it's calming." [On 8 October 2023, Atzili was moved to a different location where she and another hostage from Nir Oz stayed for the rest of their captivity. They had two guards at the new location.] "We remained with them for the whole period. They were about 30 years old. They weren't armed or in uniform. We stayed in that apartment for about 10 days and were then moved to another one. And that was it. We'd started our period of captivity." [Atzili said trust developed between the two guards and hostages during the captivity.] "It was all very confusing. Obviously I was scared, certainly at the beginning. But they kept telling us that Hamas wanted a deal, that it was about to happen, and that their job was to safeguard us. That it was in their interest for us to be in good condition. After a few days, it was pretty clear that they weren't going to hurt us. I was really afraid they would transfer us to other people. Occasionally they raised that possibility and I would say, 'But you're staying with us, right?'" [The two hostages were held in Khan Yunis, before food had become extremely scarce there.] Atzili: "They [i.e., the captors] were shocked that I'm a vegetarian. 'So, what do you eat?' they asked. I told them I really like pizza. So one of them got on his bicycle and brought a pizza from Crispy Pizza in Khan Yunis. After that we asked for fruit and vegetables, and they brought them. Eggs ran out quite quickly and it was impossible to get more. There were days when there wasn't much food. [...] But we didn't suffer from hunger. They tried see to it that we had enough food." | 2024-07-27 | Source |
| Liat Beinin Atzili | Israeli-American kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 | [Liat Beinin Atzili was kidnapped from her home in Nir Oz on 10/7/2023 and held hostage in Gaza by two young Hamas members until 11/29/2023, when she was released. The following quotes are from an interview with Haaretz journalist Shany Littman in which Atzili spoke about being "lucky" that her experience with her captors in Gaza was a fairly good one compared to what it could have been like for a hostage. More quotes about Atzili's experience as a hostage, and her views about Israel and Palestine, can be found on this website by searching "Liat Beinin Atzili."] [Eventually, Atzili and a hostage from the same kibbutz, began to hold long conversations with their guards.] Atzili: "I understood that what would help me survive was as much communication as possible with them. They wanted us to see them as people, and we wanted them to see us as people. So very quickly conversations started about family, about our lives, and it worked. I was totally dependent on those people. I wanted them to like me, I wanted them to get to know me, I wanted them to care about me. That's how you survive." [Atzili asked her guards why they were affiliated with Hamas.] Atzili: "I was able to understand a little about the place Hamas has in their lives. They talked a lot about the poverty in the Strip, about how hard it is to leave it. Both really wanted to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. They're considered to be middle class – from native Gazan families, not refugee families, and property owners – but said they still could not afford to leave. [...]" [When the hostage deal was made, Atzili and the other hostage from Nir Oz were moved to the Nasser Hospital, where the hostages to be released were gathered. One of their guards walked them to the van that would take them there.] Littman: How did you part?" Atzili: "Before he left us, he said, 'Good luck, may God bless you.' We thanked him. There were mutual pats on the shoulder. After all, we'd spent a period of time together. On one hand, it's a terrible crime, what they did to us, and the fact that they chose to participate in it. On the other, they treated us humanely in a way that made it possible for us to get through that period alright, all in all." "[...] Other people [i.e., hostages] endured completely different things. It's clear to me that the way I endured this thing is what helped me to be in the place I'm in today and to speak as I do. I really understand people [i.e., families of hostages and victims] who only want revenge and are filled with anger. Those voices need to be accommodated. But it's also important for there to be other voices. It's essential for there to be other voices." | 2024-07-27 | Source |
| Liat Beinin Atzili | Israeli-American kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 | [Liat Beinin Atzili was kidnapped from Nir Oz on 10/7/2023 and held hostage in Gaza by two young Hamas members until 11/29/2023, when she was released. The following quotes are from an interview with Haaretz journalist Shany Littman. More quotes about Atzili's experience as a hostage, and her views on Israel and Palestine, can be found on this website by searching "Liat Beinin Atzili."] Atzili: "We've [i.e., Israelis have] been living for 20 years with abandonment and neglect and zero political strategy. October 7 is the result of Netanyahu's policy and of that of the right-wing governments throughout that period. This includes cultivating Hamas at the expense of the Palestinian Authority, the attempt to cover up the Palestinian issue and the failure to conduct diplomatic negotiations." [... Atzili spoke about her temporary home in Kiryat Gat, which she was grateful for.] "[...] We received furnished apartments down to the level of the teaspoon and the potted plant. True, it's not a kibbutz, but [...] I look at the alternative: a United Nations tent and packages of humanitarian aid? Most people in the world who go through what we experienced – that's what they get." Littman: "Are you referring to the people of Gaza, in this sense?" Atzili: "Obviously. I was and I remain a leftist from the radical edges who believes in coexistence and peace. "Peace is not a dream of bleeding hearts. We have no other alternative. Without peace, we will not survive. And peace isn't eating falafel in Khan Yunis with my captors. Peace is the absence of war. And if this war will not finally be leveraged to create dramatic change, then we really can pack our bags and leave this place. "The wretched statement that the whole [Gaza] Strip is Hamas is factually wrong. They were wrong in their support for what was done, like the Israeli public was wrong about many things. Here too there is a horrible government. Here too an unworthy prime minister is elected time and again by a disturbing majority. And yes, I think about what is happening in Gaza. I feel compassion for people who suffer, bereaved families on both sides are families that are overcome with sadness and loss, and my sadness and loss are no more important the sadness and loss of other families. War is not an end in and of itself. It's clear to me that this war at the moment serves only political interests. And it's clear that the government has sacrificed the hostages on the altar of its political survival." | 2024-07-27 | Source |
| Liat Beinin Atzili | Israeli-American kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 | [Liat Beinin Atzili was kidnapped from Nir Oz on 10/7/2023 and held hostage in Gaza by two young Hamas members until 11/29/2023, when she was released. The following quotes are from an interview with Hannah Rosin from Radio Atlantic. More quotes about Atzili's experience as a hostage, and her views about Israel and Palestine, can be found on this website by searching "Liat Beinin Atzili."] Hannah Rosin: "[...] I'm just curious, did you have an image of Gaza or anything like that [before you went there as a hostage]?" Liat Beinin Atzili: "I did. I did. I sort of imagined it, like, you know, a very poor third-world country. And I knew that the supply of water and electricity wasn't 100 percent, that there were long periods of time that they didn't have running water or electricity. I was really, really curious about how you live like that. "You know, I'm a teacher. I'm a history teacher. I'm a Holocaust educator. A huge issue that we discuss with students when teaching about the Holocaust is how something like the Holocaust can happen and why people don't do anything about it. And to me, you know, there was a fence there [between Gaza and kibbutz Nir Oz], and I felt obligated to be interested in what happens on the other side of the fence." Rosin: "I've always been curious about that [...]-there's a fence there. Like that's just an odd situation to be in. You know, there's the new Holocaust movie The Zone of Interest. You know, that whole movie is about people living inside a fence, sort of trying to ignore what's on the other side of the fence. "And I mean, it's such a terrible question I'm asking, but I have always been curious, like, what was the process of ignoring-? You know, what was people's interactions with the fence before they'd ever been there [i.e., to Gaza]? Or thinking, Why is the fence there? or, What's our relationship to that fence? or anything like that. Is that a terrible question?" Atzili: "It's not a terrible question. I think it's a really important question. I think it's the question. And I think that, really, you can sort of very roughly divide people into people who cared what happened on the other side of the fence and people who didn't. "[...] I think that's the most important question, whether you can relate to the fact that on the other side of the fence live human beings, and that there is a reason for what's been happening in the past. "[...] I'll just say there's a reason for what's been happening in the past 15 years, and October 7 didn't happen in a vacuum, and there are reasons for why it happened. "A word that's difficult- it's difficult to use it, but there's a context to what happened. And you can't forget that-can't forget that these people have been living in, I think, terrible circumstances. [...] I think Israel has a huge part in enabling Hamas to have such a strong hold on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, that it's impossible to ignore all these things. It's impossible to ignore that people are living in this place with very, very little hope to have a normal life, or what I consider a normal life. "And I actually spoke about this quite a bit with my captors." | 2024-08-01 | Source |
| Liat Beinin Atzili | Israeli-American kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 | [Liat Beinin Atzili was kidnapped from Nir Oz on 10/7/2023 and held hostage in Gaza by two young Hamas members until 11/29/2023, when she was released. The following quotes are from an interview with Hannah Rosin from Radio Atlantic. In the portion of the interview quoted here, Atzili speaks about the captors – two young men – who held her captive in Gaza for nearly two months. More quotes about Atzili's experience as a hostage, and her views about Israel and Palestine, can be found on this website by searching "Liat Beinin Atzili."] Liat Beinin Atzili: "[The] first few days I was very, very scared. But then I got the feeling that these people were genuinely interested in really protecting us, that they weren't going to hurt us, that they believed that what Hamas wanted to achieve was a deal, a hostage-that they'd taken hostages to have political prisoners released." Atzili: "So during the day, I mean, there was a lot of noise and people coming and going. But in the evenings, when things started to quiet down-so it was really important to our captors that we be quiet, and they were afraid that people in the street would find out that we were being held there." Rosin: "Because they couldn't control-they didn't know the people on the street, and they couldn't control how they would react to seeing Israelis. Because Israelis were the cause of their misery at that moment." Atzili: "Yeah, they were afraid that we would be attacked." Rosin: "Which is also strange because then they're in a position of being your-they're protective." Atzili: "Yeah, yeah. I mean, the thing that frightened me the most was that there would be a bombing or a missile attack, and that they would die, and I'd be left alone. [...]" Rosin: "And how far did your conversations go? Like, did you have enough courage to ask them these kinds of questions? Like, why would you kill someone?" Atzili: "Yeah. Yeah, we spoke about it very freely. They either were incredible actors or they really, really didn't know what had happened. Because, like, when we told them that there had been looters in Nir Oz-the woman that I was with, her jewelry had been stolen from her and been taken off of her when she'd arrived in Gaza-they were shocked. And they were like, 'This should never have happened.' "Like, they kept saying, 'We don't understand why you were taken hostage. You're women. We don't fight women. Women shouldn't be involved in war.' At some point, pictures of all the hostages were released, and one of them said, 'I'm shocked at the number of children, at the number of elderly people, at the number of women. I didn't think it was like that.'" | 2024-08-01 | Source |
| Limor Son Har-Melech | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Today, every citizen in the State of Israel knows that to restore security to the South, to remove from common parlance the words 'rocket' and 'red alert,' to give back to each and every child a sense of security, there is no choice but to reassert full control over Gaza." | 2023-11-22 | Source Source Source |
| Limor Son Har-Melech | Israeli Member of Knesset | "There is no escape from returning and fully controlling the Gaza Strip. Full control, which would include a vigorous and vibrant settlement throughout the Strip. Not like the Gush Katif settlements which were concentrated in a few isolated areas, but a settlement for the entire length and width of the Gaza Strip." | 2023-11-23 | Source Source |
| Limor Son Har-Melech | Israeli Member of Knesset | "[R]ebuilding Jewish homes in Gaza is our victory in the war. Our fighters on the front lines are giving their lives for this decision. Today I spoke to the Prime Minister and told him that the only image of victory in this war is that we will see Jewish homes in Gaza. The victory will be when we see the children of Israel playing in the streets of Gaza." | 2023-12-11 | Source Source |
| Lindsey Graham | American lawyer and politician serving as senior United States senator from South Carolina | "[...] Israel is in a fight for their lives. [...] Israel is surrounded by forces, terrorist groups, that want to destroy the Jewish state, not help the Palestinians. This is 9/11 and Pearl Harbor all rolled into one. To abandon Israel under these circumstances would be outrageous, it would be dangerous. [...] When we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by bombing Hiroshima, Nagasaki with nuclear weapons. That was the right decision. "Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war they can't afford to lose and work with them to minimize casualties. To Israel, do whatever you have to do to survive as a Jewish state. Whatever you have to do." [Graham was speaking during an interview by Kristen Welker, on NBC News' "Meet the Press."] | 2024-05-12 | Source Source |
| Lindsey Graham | American lawyer and politician serving as senior United States senator from South Carolina | [The following quotes are taken from a 12 May 2024 interview Kristen Welker conducted with Senator Lindsey Graham on NBC News' "Meet the Press."] Host, Kristen Welker: "Why should Americans trust [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu to put the United States' interests first" [in reciprocity for the trillions of dollars worth of weapons the U.S. has given Israel since 7 October 2023]? Graham: "Americans should be 'all in' helping Israel against an existential threat. [...] The people Israel is fighting are bent on destroying all of the Jews. This is Holocaust Remembrance Month, for God's sake. We should unequivocally support Israel. Yes, work with them to limit civilian casualties. They want to do that; I know they do. Graham: "[...] Why did we drop two bombs – nuclear bombs – on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? To end a war that we couldn't afford to lose. You don't understand, apparently, what Israel is facing." | 2024-05-12 | Source |
| Lindsey Graham | American lawyer and politician serving as senior United States senator from South Carolina | [U.S. Senate Republicans criticized U.S. President Joe Biden for pausing the delivery of high payload weapons to Israel. At an 8 May 2024 hearing on the U.S. Defence Department budget, Senator Lindsey Graham made the following statement.] "If we [i.e. the United States] stop [sending] weapons necessary to destroy the enemies of the State of Israel, at a time of great peril, we will pay a price. This is obscene; it is absurd. [...] This is Hiroshima and Nagasaki on steroids!" | 2024-05-08 | Source |
| Lior Haiat | Spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs | "Today we were witness to one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims. South Africa, which is functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization, utterly distorted the reality in Gaza following the October 7 massacre and completely ignored the fact that Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, murdered, executed, massacred, raped and abducted Israeli citizens, simply because they were Israelis, in an attempt to carry out genocide. South Africa seeks to allow Hamas to return to commit the war crimes, crimes against humanity and sexual crimes they committed repeatedly on October 7, as its leaders have stated. Hamas' representatives in the Court, the South African lawyers, are also ignoring the fact that Hamas uses the civilian population in Gaza as human shields and operates from within hospitals, schools, UN shelters, mosques and churches with the intention of endangering the lives of the residents of the Gaza Strip. 136 hostages are being held in Hamas captivity, denied access to Red Cross representatives and medical care. The State of Israel will continue to protect its citizens in accordance with international law, while distinguishing between Hamas terrorists and the civilian population, and will do anything in it's power to release all hostages and eliminate the Hamas terrorist organization, a racist and antisemitic terrorist organization that calls in its Convention for the destruction of the State of Israel and the murder of Jews." | 2024-01-11 | Source Source Source Source |
| Lior Narkis | Israeli singer | "Gaza, you black woman, you trash. ... Gaza, you bitch. ... Gaza, daughter of a huge whore, like your mother, Gaza. Gaza, you whore! | 2023-11-15 | Source Source Source Source |
| Lior Narkis | Israeli singer | "Shame on you! Babies there for a month, girls, old soldiers. All of us, we should be ashamed, we are all ashamed! Instead of us all going there on foot into Gaza and slaughtering them alive, we will burn them like they burned a child in an oven. I'm ready to walk in now. I am ready to die for the honor of the slaughtered, the captives who ask where we are. There is nothing like our soldiers. I salute you, but this is not happening and a month has passed, all because the leadership[, it] is not your fault my brothers. Sorry to all the abductees. [Yoav] Galant, it doesn't look like you are destroying Hamas except taking down buildings, nothing. Go home, you and Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu], I voted for him all my life, sorry that I was wrong, sorry for the people of Israel, for everyone who sacrificed and was betrayed by the state." | 2023-12-26 | Source |
| Lloyd Austin | U.S. Secretary of Defense | "Now, this is no time for neutrality, or for false equivalence, or for excuses for the inexcusable." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Lloyd Austin | U.S. Secretary of Defense | "Ladies and gentlemen, the United States will remain Israel's closest friend in the world. Our support for Israel's security is non-negotiable, and it never will be. | 2023-12-04 | Source Source |
| Lloyd Austin | U.S. Secretary of Defense | "... the lesson is that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians. You see, in this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian populaation and if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat. So I have repeatedly made clear to Israel's leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and a strategic imperative and so I've personally pushed Israeli leaders to avoid civilian casualties, and to shun irresponsible rhetoric, and to prevent violence by settlers in the West Bank, and to dramatically expand access to humanitarian aid." | 2023-12-04 | Source Source |
| Lt. Col. A. | IAF Apache Attack Helicopter Pilot | "I find myself in a dilemma as to what to shoot at, because there are so many of them [Israelis and Gazans fleeing below the attack helicopter as it responds to 10/7]." | 2023-10-20 | Source |
| Lt. Col. E. | IAF Apache Attack Helicopter Pilot | "I understand that we have to shoot here and quickly, shooting at people in our territory- this is something I never thought I would do [on 10/7 shooting missiles and an autocannon at people fleeing in different directions, in different vehicles and on foot]." | 2023-10-20 | Source |
| Maayan Sherman | Mother of IDF soldier, Ron Sherman, who was captured in Israel by Palestinian resistance forces 10/7/2023 and found dead in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023. | "My love. May I die in your place. What a nightmare you went through! Death in terrible agony! And all at the behest of the Israel Defense Forces, which you trusted and appreciated so much, and the government cabinet. There is no future for this country if this is what they did to you after they abandoned you that Shabbat. What was the decision if Bibi's [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's] son was there in the terrorist's tunnel or Gallant's [Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant's] grandson?? Or the son of Herzi Halevi [Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces]? Would they also have been poisoned with gas bombs?" [Maayan Sherman's son, Ron, was an IDF soldier who was held hostage in a Gaza with two other Israeli men - soldier Nik Beizer and civilian Elia Toledano – after being abducted in Israel 10/7/2023. The IDF discovered their bodies in a Gaza tunnel in mid-December. At the time Sherman made this statement, no cause of death had been determined for either of the three men. (Translated from Hebrew by Google.)] | 2024-01-16 | Source Source |
| Maayan Sherman | Mother of IDF soldier, Ron Sherman, who was captured in Israel by Palestinian resistance forces 10/7/2023 and found dead in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023. | [After receiving the pathologist's report indicating that her son's body showed no signs of injury and no cause of death could be determined, Maayan Sherman, on her Facebook page, placed a photo of her sleeping son, Ron, next to a photo of a gas chamber and claimed the IDF killed Ron.] "The results of the investigation: Ron was indeed murdered. Not by Hamas. Think more in the direction of Auschwitz and the showers but without Nazis and without Hamas as the cause. Not an accidental shooting. Not friendly fire. Premeditated murder. Bombs with poisonous gasses. Ron was kidnapped because of the criminal negligence of all the senior military and damned government officials who gave an order to eliminate him in order to settle a score with some terrorist from Jabaliya [a city in North Gaza]. Oh yes, and they also found that he also had several crushed fingers, apparently due to his desperate attempts to get out of the poison grave that the IDF buried him in when he tried to breathe air but breathed only IDF poison. | 2024-01-16 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Maayan Sherman | Mother of IDF soldier, Ron Sherman, who was captured in Israel by Palestinian resistance forces 10/7/2023 and found dead in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023. | "[W]e were told that one of the plausible possibilities for the deaths of Ron, Nick, and Eliyah [Elia] is that they inhaled poisonous gases emitted from IDF [Israeli military] bombings." [Maayan Sherman made this statement in a Facebook post after IDF representatives visited her home to discuss the death of her son, Ron, an IDF soldier who was held hostage in a Gaza with two other Israeli men - soldier Nik Beizer and civilian Elia Toledano – after being abducted in Israel 10/7/2023. The IDF discovered their bodies in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023.] | 2024-01-17 | Source |
| Maayan Sherman | Mother of IDF soldier, Ron Sherman, who was captured in Israel by Palestinian resistance forces 10/7/2023 and found dead in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023. | "I feel like I'm putting together a puzzle, which isn't difficult to assemble. [Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories] Maj. Gen. Ghasan Alyan, who was Ron's commander in the unit, arrived at the shivah. He said that he and Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon [head of the army's intelligence task force for locating the hostages and the missing] knew where they [the three hostages] were. However, at a meeting of the 551st Brigade, which Alex [Maayan's husband] attended, he was told that the army didn't know where they were and so the area was bombed. That completely contradicts what I was told and also contradicts common sense, because they could have expected that a senior figure like Randor [a.k.a. "Ghandour"] would surround himself with hostages. It doesn't seem to me that they didn't know, so let them at least coordinate their accounts." [Maayan Sherman accused the Israeli military of pre-meditatively murdering her son, Ron, with poison gas while he was held hostage in a tunnel under Gaza in 2023. (See other quotes attributed to Maayan Sherman catalogued under her name.) Sherman believed her son was being used as a human shield for Ahmed Al-Ghandour (a.k.a. "Randor"), a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades Military Council and commander of the Northern Brigade. Ghandour was reportedly killed in Northern Gaza sometime before 11/26/2023. Ron Sherman and fellow soldier Nik Beizer were kidnapped from their IDF military base near Israel's Erez Crossing on 10/7/2023 and taken to Gaza, where they (and an Israeli civilian) were later found dead. At the time of Sherman's Facebook post, no cause of death for either of the three hostages had been revealed to their families.] | 2024-01-26 | Source |
| Maayan Sherman | Mother of IDF soldier, Ron Sherman, who was captured in Israel by Palestinian resistance forces 10/7/2023 and found dead in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023. | "Come back! Come back and help me go on, because I can't fight over what happened to you and to us when you are not here with me. You are my power, my strength, my inspiration. So come back to me, my beloved. Forgive me for not saving you. I didn't believe they [the Israeli Defense Forcces] would sacrifice three [hostages] for one senior [Hamas] official." [Maayan Sherman posted this message to Facebook. It seems she wrote it for her son, Ron, who she claims was "murdered" by the Israel Defense Forces while he was held hostage in a tunnel under Gaza with, she believes, Ahmed Al-Ghandour, a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades Military Council and commander of the Northern Brigade (who was reportedly killed in Northern Gaza sometime before 11/26/2023). Ron Sherman was kidnapped from his IDF military base near the Erez Crossing in Israel on 10/7/2023 and taken to Gaza, where he was later found dead. At the time of Sherman's Facebook post, no cause of death for Ron had been revealed to the Sherman family.] | 2024-01-26 | Source |
| Maayan Sherman | Mother of IDF soldier, Ron Sherman, who was captured in Israel by Palestinian resistance forces 10/7/2023 and found dead in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023. | "They [an Israeli Defense Forces delegation] told me [on December 14] that Ron had been murdered in Hamas captivity, that was the wording of the notification, and they asked if we wanted an autopsy to be performed. [...Two weeks later a] pathologist came to see us. It turns out that although they [the army] had not performed an autopsy [after recovering the body], they did do a CT of the body, they checked it from all directions and didn't find any injuries – no gunshot or knife wounds, no shrapnel, no fractures or external injuries, no signs of strangulation or blast-wave injury. We received a detailed report [...] but the cause of death was not found. [...] The [IDF] delegation told us that they don't rule out gas poisoning as a result of IDF bombings, but they're not certain." [Maayan Sherman's son, Ron, was an IDF soldier who was held hostage in Gaza with two other Israeli men - soldier Nik Beizer and civilian Elia Toledano – after being abducted in Israel 10/7/2023. The IDF discovered their bodies in a Gaza tunnel 12/14/2023. At the time Sherman made this statement, no cause of death had been determined for either of the three men.] | 2024-01-26 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Mani Gothman | Israeli army rabbi | [In a lecture he delivered to a pre-military academy, about Israel's military offensive in Gaza, which he referred to as a "process of salvation," Rabbi Gothman said...] "even if all people want it, they [Israel's "leftists"] will still say it won't happen in 'the day after.' So, the question is, very simply, what is your picture of victory? Very simple. Three words. Think about it. Expel, deport, settle. Great answer. Yes, we'll go back to Gush Katif. A great answer." [Gush Katif was an Israeli settlement in Gaza that was evacuated in 2005.] | 2024-01-16 | Source Source Source Source |
| Mark Regev | Israeli Ambassador to U.K. | "I think the South African case [accusing Israel of genocide in the ICJ] is very sad because they've basically decided to become Hamas's lawyer. And I paid very close attention to what they said yesterday. And it's as if they mentioned Hamas just to tick the box, so to speak, they mentioned Hamas and they acknowledged that maybe Hamas did some bad things on October 7th, but the fact that there's a war going on between Israel and Hamas is totally forgotten. It's as if Israel is acting within a vacuum in Gaza, that Israel is not acting within the right of every country to self-defense [sic]." | 2024-01-12 | Source Source |
| Mark Regev | Israeli Ambassador to U.K. | "... let's be clear. I'm willing to have a serious conversation with the Brits, with the Americans, about Israel's tactics. We're always willing to hear the thoughts of our friends and to engage and can we do a better job. That's a good conversation to have, but that's not what the South Africans are doing. The South Africans have adopted full, you know, life, how do you say, in total, the Hamas narrative and they're accusing Israel of genocide. And there, the British government, the American government, other Western governments have stood up and said, 'This is just simply not true. This is a baseless claim.' I think the Americans are said, 'This is without any merit.' And you have to distinguish between what is a valid argument, a valid discussion, about our tactics, and we're always, as I said, willing to hear and learn from our friends and allies, but this charge of genocide is totally preposterous. It's outrageous." | 2024-01-12 | Source Source |
| Mark Regev | Israeli Ambassador to U.K. | "We originally said in the atrocious Hamas attack on our people on October 7th we had the number at 1,400 casualties. And now, we've revised that down to 1,200 because we understood that we had overestimated, we made a mistake. There were actually bodies that were so badly burnt [that] we thought they were ours in the end apparently they were Hamas terrorists." | 2023-11-16 | Source |
| Martin Buber | Jewish Austrian-Israeli philosopher and spiritual Zionist | "The majority of the Jewish [Zionist] people preferred to learn from Hitler rather than from us (spiritual Zionists)...Hitler showed that history does not go the way of the spirit but the way of power, and, if a people is powerful enough, it can kill with impunity..." | 1958 | Source |
| Martin Buber | Jewish Austrian-Israeli philosopher and spiritual Zionist | "What I felt sixty years ago when I joined the Zionist movement is essentially what I feel today. I have joined this national movement because it was not called 'Jewish' nationalism but Zionism... I believed that this nationalism would not go the way of all the others – beginning with a great hope and then deteriorating, decaying, becoming a collective egoism, even daring, like Mussolini, to call itself sacrosanct egoismo as if collective egoism could be any more sacred than the egoism of any individual ... When we returned to Palestine, the decisive question was, do we want to come there as an ally, as a friend, as a brother, as a member of the coming community of the peoples of the Near East, or as the representative of colonialism and imperialism? The majority of the Jewish people preferred to learn from Hitler rather than from us ... Hitler showed that history does not go the way of the spirit but the way of power, and if a people is powerful enough, it can kill with impunity....This is the situation that we had to fight..." | 1958 | Source Source |
| Martin Buber | Jewish Austrian-Israeli philosopher and spiritual Zionist | "Only an internal revolution can have the power to heal our people of their murderous sickness of causeless hatred (for the Arabs). It is bound to bring complete ruin upon us. Only then will the old and young in our land realize how great was our responsibility to those miserable Arab refugees in whose towns we have settled Jews who were brought from afar; whose homes we have inherited, whose fields we now sow and harvest; the fruits of whose gardens, orchards and vineyards we gather; and in whose cities that we robbed, we put up houses of education, charity, and prayer while we babble and rave about being the 'people of the book' and the 'light of the nations!'" | 1961 | Source Source Source |
| Martin Shaw | Genocide Scholar, Professor of International Relations, Politics, and Human Rights | "Cutting off power, water and fuel until Israeli hostages are freed turns Gaza's entire population into hostages." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Matan Vilnai | Former Maj. Gen. of IDF, Former Member of Knesset, Former Israeli Minister for Home Front Defense | "The more Qassam [rocket] fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah [Hebrew word for holocaust] because we will use all our might to defend ourselves." | 2008-02-29 | Source Source Source |
| Matthew Miller | Spokesperson for the United States Department of State | "I will say that as it relates to the State Department, we have been committed to addressing the humanitarian situation in Gaza and have made a priority of preventing, as we- I just said in your- in response to your question, the displacement of Palestinians. I will also say, though, that genocide is of course a heinous atrocity, one of the most heinous atrocities that any individual can commit. Those are allegations that should not be made lightly, and as it pertains to the United States, we are not seeing any acts that constitute genocide." | 2024-01-03 | Source Source Source Source |
| Matthew Miller | Spokesperson for the United States Department of State | [The following quotations are from the United States State Department Press Briefing, with Matthew Miller as State Department Spokesperson, 30 September 2024.] Matthew Miller: "So every conflict is different, but if you look at what we continue to engage with Israel about when it comes to Lebanon, it is ensuring that they have the ability to attack terrorist targets, terrorist infrastructure, a terrorist organization. But ultimately we want to see a diplomatic resolution." Press Question: "Well, was that the case with Rafah [in Palestine], for instance? Not just in Rafah, but -" Miller: "We've – we've never – hold on. We've never wanted to see a diplomatic resolution with Hamas." Question: "Well, okay. Well, what about the ceasefire negotiation?" Miller: "We wanted to see a ceasefire, but we have always -" Question: "Does that not involve diplomacy?" Miller: "We have always been committed to the destruction of Hamas. We did want to see a ceasefire, but we have always made clear that we wanted to see a different authority moving forward in governance of Gaza. "[...] we have been engaged to try to reach a ceasefire to end that conflict, which is why we have been pushing for a ceasefire for months. And I wish that Hamas would come to the table and work with us on a ceasefire. As you saw – as you heard me saying earlier, Hamas has been absent for weeks, won't even respond to the mediators putting forward ideas asking whether they would agree to a ceasefire or not. "Look, you can talk about Israel and the culpability that has – that Israel has and the tough decisions that Israel needs to make. And it's absolutely true that Israel needs to make tough decisions to get to a ceasefire, but the way out of this conflict is a ceasefire, and it is Hamas that is missing in action right now, that won't come to the table to talk about one." [Two months before Matthew Miller made these statements about negotiations with Hamas, on 30 July 2024, Israel assassinated Hamas Political Bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was the chief Palestinian negotiator in months-long ceasefire talks with the Israeli delegation, among them the Mossad [Israeli national intelligence agency] Chief David Barnea, whose organization reportedly carried out Haniyeh's assassination. On 1 August 2024, journalists for the Christian Science Monitor wrote, "An Arab diplomat who requested anonymity confirms to the Monitor that talks are 'essentially suspended' as of Wednesday evening and that relations between Arab mediators and Israel have been 'severely strained' by the killing [of Haniyeh], hurting communications. Adds the diplomat: The assassination 'shattered the trust between Hamas and the mediators and between the mediators and Israel.'"] | 2024-09-30 | Source Source |
| Mattityahu "Matti" Peled | A.K.A. Abu Salaam, Arabic for "Father of Peace;" scholar; peace activist; former IDF soldier who reached rank of Major General | "This is the situation we have to live with, and I have no doubt that [it is a] direct consequence of the occupation [of Palestine]. Anyone who says 'occupation corrupts' was absolutely right, and we [Israeli Jews] have been occupying the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the last 25 years; this is corrupting us. American aid [to Israel] ... is one of the most damaging 'gifts' that we get from the United States. "We don't need all that money; it is far beyond our needs ... I always felt that this 'aid' to Israel is a plague ... it hurts Israeli society beyond anything [else] I can find. I can't think of anything that corrupts a society more [than taking money that has not been earned] ... now we are a corrupt society. "In the first place, with all that money, our military personnel can buy practically everything they like without really bothering to think how necessary it is. And I argue that 1.8 billion dollars annually for an army and air force the size of Israel's is - it is far too much. We don't need all that money. It is beyond – far beyond – our needs. But it has a more damaging effect because every dollar we get free from the United States, to buy arms, we have to invest at least two of our own dollars, to bring it [weapons], to store it, to train people to use it, to maintain it. And if you take the 1.8 billion dollars, plus double that sum – which we have to pay, to invest in order to absorb the arms – you get exactly the Israeli military budget. This is the way our budget is composed. So, obviously, if we get half of the 1.8 billion dollars, we would have half of our military budget. Because the factor which decides the size of the military budget is the money we get from the United States. "[Foreign] aid to Israel is a plague. It is something that hurts Israeli society and Israeli economy beyond anything I can find. We have a society which gets 3 billion dollars every year, without working for it, without earning it. It can be used for any purpose that they want – they don't have to give a report to anyone. And this comes every year regularly. [... Until] 1974 we had absolutely no aid from the United States. And I think between 1948, when Israel was created, and 1974, we did very well without American aid. Of course, we had to pay for the arms we bought in France and England and elsewhere. Now having to pay for these arms, made the use of arms very, very judicious. No one could say, 'Okay, let's order another 100 times [as many arms,]; it doesn't matter whether we need it or not, because we have the money.' [...] Now, we are a corrupt society. And the official report of the [unintelligible] that was presented to the Knesset, according to the law, last week, characterizes the Israeli bureaucracy as 'corrupt.' "Now with part of that aid – 1.2 billion dollars, part of which is defined as 'economic aid,' – the use of that money is also something which demands attention. Half of it, more or less goes to pay debts to American banks [...] The other half goes to establish more settlements in the Occupied Territories. And this is designed, over the years, when the United States clearly states that they are against setting up settlements in the Occupied Territories. And they are against it because this is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. They are against it, I suppose, because this may create an irreversible situation where there is no solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict [...] So then, there is a good reason to ask, 'What is the American goal?'" | 1992 | Source |
| Mattityahu "Matti" Peled | A.K.A. Abu Salaam, Arabic for "Father of Peace;" scholar; peace activist; former IDF soldier who reached rank of Major General | "[...] Palestinians are now in the fourth year of the Intifada [literally "shaking off" - the Palestinian opposition to the Israeli occupation]. Prior to the Intifada, on the weekends you could see Israeli families going to the West Bank, to the Gaza coast to spend the weekend. This is finished. It is now very dangerous for a Jew to enter into these territories [...]. In the Intifada, of course, the Palestinians demonstrated their resentment to the occupation, But the occupying power did everything it could to suppress this resentment by the Palestinians. And now you come, and you see hatred on both sides. What else did you expect? And I said, 'If [Yitzhak] Shamir's plan of invading the Occupied Territories with the Russian Jews would be implemented, we would be in a situation where four million Jews and three million Arabs will be living one next to the other, hating each other, fighting each other. [...] "We are living in very dangerous circumstances, due to the fact that there is a nation, the Palestinian people, who very naturally and very obviously resent to be oppressed by another people [Israelis]. This [oppression of Palestinians] is a question of policy. The Israeli government wants a policy which would hurt Arabs, ostensibly in order to 'help' the Jews. But of course, it doesn't help Jews. Jews cannot expect to live comfortable and pleasant life when they are forced, as they are, to live exactly where the whole surrounding is populated with Palestinians who have a very good cause to resent the presence of the Jews. So, this is part and parcel of [Israel's] policy. It is true that those Arabs who are deprived of their property grow to hate us. This is the most natural result. Many people point out that the hatred of Arabs for Jews is increasing, and they're absolutely right and we know the reason: this is something which we [Israeli Jews] caused." | 1992 | Source |
| Mattityahu "Matti" Peled | A.K.A. Abu Salaam, Arabic for "Father of Peace;" scholar; peace activist; former IDF soldier who reached rank of Major General | [After a series of car-bomb attacks against three Palestinian mayors of towns in the Occupied West Bank, Matti Peled, in an interview with French newspaper "Le Monde,"expressed great pessimism about the future of democracy in Israel], 'not simply because of the emergence of the phenomenon of Jewish terrorism, but because this terrorism has the official support of the government. The members of Gush Emunim [an extremist group of Jewish settlers in Israel] are organized on a military basis and the army supplies them with arms, ammunition and explosives. Their acts remain unpunished and I will go so far as to say that no one dreams of seeking out the guilty parties, who seem to act with the blessing of the authorities ... This state of affairs represents, without any doubt, the beginning of the collapse of the whole democratic system in Israel, for it is a matter of public knowledge that the extremists are supported by the army's Chief of Staff and by the Prime Minister personally'." | 1980-06-19 | Source |
| May Golan | Israeli Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women | [In a 2014 interview with journalist Hilo Frazer, Golan said she avoided restaurants that employ asylum seekgical reasons and health reasons. Her term for Africans who seek asylum in Israel is "infiltrators."] Golan: "There was a report recently published that said one of every three infiltrators has AIDS or tuberculosis." Interviewer: "You know that one can be infected with HIV through sexual contact or by a blood transfusion, not from a plate." Golan: "Fine, I believe that infiltrators don't have to work in restaurants. I check every restaurant before I go in and call on Israeli citizens who care about themselves and their health to do the same thing." | 2014-01-23 | Source |
| May Golan | Israeli Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women | "Outside my house I see shit and spit and psychopaths! You can see it in their eyes, people who just want to kill me. But nobody believes us. We're racists. We're racists because we want to preserve our lives and our sanity. So, I am proud to be a racist!! [Shouts from crowd: "And its our right to be racist!"] I'm proud to be racist. If I'm racist to preserve my life, then I'm proud!" [Golan was speaking to a crowd at a Tel Aviv protest demanding the expulsion from Israel of all non-Jewish African asylum-seekers.] | 2012-10-28 | Source Source Source |
| May Golan | Israeli Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women | "All of Gaza's infrastructures must be destroyed to its foundation and their electricity cut off immediately. The war is not against Hamas but against the state of Gaza." | 2023-10-07 | Source |
| May Golan | Israeli Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women | [Golan shouts at a counter-demonstrator at a Tel Aviv demonstration to deport all non-Jewish African asylum-seekers out of Israel. The counter-protestor had asked police to protect a man who was injured by the demonstrators.] Golan: "Protect your own daughters like you protect him!" [Probably referring to her previous claim that non-Jewish African asylum seekers are 'Muslim infiltrators,' criminals, and rapists.] Counter-protestor: "Why are you starting a provocation?" Golan: "Shut your hole!" "[...] Protect you in your grave. Just as women here are raped, may you be raped in your grave! You're garbage!" | 2012-12-10 | Source Source |
| May Golan | Israeli Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women | "I am personally proud of the ruins of Gaza, and that every baby, even 80 years from now, will tell their grandchildren what the Jews did..." | 2024-02-21 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| May Golan | Israeli Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women | "If I am racist for wanting to defend my country and for wanting to protect my basic rights and security, then I'm a proud racist." [Golan was speaking at a political rally in 2013 as a member of the far-right Jewish Power party, a descendent of the Kach party that was outlawed under Israeli anti-terrorism laws.] | 2013 | Source |
| May Golan | Israeli Minister for the Advancement of the Status of Women | "The word 'racist' has just lost all meaning to me. I think I, and the rest of the people of Israel, have the right to protect their homes and its borders and when they're bringing so many Muslim infiltrators just in the way of trying to change this Jewish country and to have the left radicals get voted in the seats in the parliament then you know that something is very wrong." [Golan in an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. "Infiltrators" is the term Golan uses for Africans seeking asylum in Israel.] | 2016-07-18 | Source Source |
| Meir Ben-Shabbat | Head of Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, Former Head of Israeli National Security Council | "There is a need for an immediate, viable plan for the resettlement and economic rehabilitation of the entire Arab population in the Gaza Strip." | 2023-10-17 | Source Source |
| Meir Ben-Shabbat | Head of Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, Former Head of Israeli National Security Council | "The destruction caused in Mosul was similar in its magnitude to what the Allies inflicted on Dresden in February 1945. At the end of the battle in Mosul, the UN estimated that over 80% of the city, the second-largest in Iraq, was uninhabitable. A similar experience occurred in Raqqa, Syria, another stronghold of ISIS that was targeted by the U.S. military, which also ended with the label 'unsuitable for human habitation'. This is the real corollary that should come with the statement that 'Hamas is ISIS'... In this war, Israel has no choice. It must act as the Allies did in their war against the Nazis. It's time to dispel the myth that 'the Gaza population is a victim of Hamas, which imposed itself on them'. True, not everyone there supports Hamas. There are many who do not share its ways, but the level of support for it undermines the claim that 'Hamas does not represent the Palestinians'... It is important to emphasise that there is no dilemma when choosing between adhering to international law and minimising the risks to our forces... [Israel] must respond with overwhelming force." | 2023-10-20 | Source |
| Meir Mazuz | Tunisian-born Israeli political leader and Sephardic Haredi rabbi | [In September 2024, video circulated of Rabbi Meir Mazuz blessing a soldier standing trial for allegedly taking part in the gang-rape of a Palestinian kidnapped from Gaza and being held hostage in Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp. Some of Rabbi Mazuz's words to the soldier, and others present, are quoted below.] "In another country, they would have given them [i.e., the alleged rapists] an award." "You will be granted complete innocence. What did you do? Did you hit your enemy? What's wrong in that?" [On the video, the soldier's lawyer, Attorney Demari, told the rabbi that they had evidence the victim was lying.] "What if it was true? Don't we have the right to do this?" [Demari replied, "The rabbi is right. We are allowed to do this in to defend our people and our honour."] | 2024-09-09 | Source Source |
| Meir Pa'il (Pa'el) | Eyewitness to Deir Yassin massacre in Palestine, Israeli politician, military historian | [The Deir Yassin massacre began 9 April 1948. The Zionist military (Haganah) and its elite fighting force (Palmach) were involved, as were the Stern Gang (also known as Lehi) and Irgun (also referred to as Etzel) – both Zionist paramilitary organizations. At the time of the massacre, Meir Pa'il was awaiting reassignment after the recent disbanding of his unit in the Palmach. He said he went to Deir Yassin (with a photographer) to observe what kind of fighters the Lehi and Etzel members were.] "Deir Yassin was a quiet village, that had a pact with us that had been approved by Yitzhak Navon, then Head of the Arab section of the Haganah Jerusalem Intelligence Service and later President of Israel. The people of Deir Yassin had kept to the pact. The Mukhtar's [mayor's] son had even been killed fighting off an attempt to bring in foreign Arab troops. "[...] it must have been around 11:00 o'clock, I wasn't paying attention to the time. Anyhow, after the Palmach guys left, I started hearing shooting in the village. The fighting was over, yet there was the sound of firing of all kinds from different houses. Sporadic firing, not like you would hear when they clear a house. I took my chap [photographer] with me and went to see what was happening. We went into houses. [...] in the corners we saw dead bodies. Almost all the dead were old people, children or women, with a few men here and there. They stood them up in the corners and shot them. In another corner there were some more bodies, in the next house more bodies and so on. They also shot people running from houses, and prisoners. Mostly women and children. Most of the Arab males had run away. It is an odd thing, but when there is danger such as this, the agile ones run away first. "[...] I couldn't tell if it was Lehi people or Etzel people doing the killing. They went about with glazed eyes as though entranced with killing. We went from house to house, and took pictures. In all the confusion nobody noticed us or challenged us. "I saw this horror, and I was shocked and angry, because I had never seen such a thing, murdering people after a place had been conquered. [...] Around noon, I saw that they had gotten together around twenty or twenty five males near the entrance to the village on the field track. A truck came in, and they put them on a truck, and drove off to the city. Meanwhile the massacre continued. About three quarters of an hour or an hour later the truck came back. The prisoners were led to a place in the quarries between Deir Yassin and Givat Shaul. We could see this from the village, and I suppose some survivors might have seen it too. We saw them going to the quarry, so my companion and I perched on a vantage point above the quarry and took some pictures down into it. There was a natural wall there, formed by digging out the quarry, along one side. There were a group of dissidents there, Irgun or Lehi, and they stood the prisoners against that wall and shot the lot of them. I didn't recognize who did the shooting. All the while the massacres were going on in the houses in the village as well. [...] "It is hard to estimate how many Arabs were killed. I don't think I gave a number in my report. Yehoshuah Arieli's report runs like this: 'We saw three groups of bodies, in one there were 70, the second had 20, the third had 20. But when we entered the village the whole village smelled of burned bodies, many bodies were thrown into cisterns.' [...] "I know that the next day, or the day after, on Sunday the Red Cross sent De Reynier and the Histadrut doctors came, but I never met those people and I wasn't there. De Reynier reported about 200 dead. I assume that the true count is in between 200 and 250. Most of the bodies were women and children. There were no Palestinian irregular 'gangs' there or people of the 'Tsva Hatzala' (Salvation Army of the Arab League). The inhabitants of Deir Yassin had kept their word up to the last minute." | 1998-10-01 | Source |
| Meir Sheetrit | Former Minister of the Interior | "The IDF should decide on a neighborhood in Gaza and level it." | 2008-10-02 | Source |
| Meirav (Merav) Raviv | Family member of four Israeli citizens who were taken hostage from their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on 10/7/2023 and released from Gaza before 12/17/2023 | [Three of the four of Raviv's family members who were kidnapped to Gaza had returned home when she was interviewed. Raviv shared from their stories.] "The thing that scared them the most is the shelling by the IDF [Israeli Defense Forces]. There's no bomb shelter. There's no siren. No alarm. It happens suddenly. And they are scared to death. They heard [bombing] all the time. They were also scared that there would be some heroic [rescue] operation, and they would be killed." | 2023-12-17 | Source |
| Meirav Ben-Ari | Israeli Member of Knesset | "There is no symmetry [between Israeli children and Gazan children]! And the children in Gaza- the children in Gaza have brought this upon themselves. We are a people who live in peace, a people who seek life. There is no symmetry." | 2023-10-16 | Source Source Source Source |
| Menachem Begin | Commander of Irgun (Etzel) - Zionist underground paramilitary organization - 1943-1948, Israeli politician, sixth prime minister of Israel | "Security and public order in the areas of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district will be the responsibility of the Israeli authorities." "Residents of Israel will be entitled to acquire land and settle in the areas of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district. [These areas are internationally recognized as a part of the Palestinian territories. What Israel names "Judea" and "Samaria" are internationally recognized as the West Bank.] "Arabs, residents of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district, who, in accordance with the free option granted them, become Israeli citizens, will be entitled to acquire land and settle in Israel." "Israel stands by its right and its claim of sovereignty to Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district." [The preceding quote contains portions of "Israeli Prime Minister Begin's Autonomy Plan," which Prime Minister Begin presented to the Israeli parliament (Knesset) on 28 December 1977.] | 1977-12-28 | Source Source |
| Menachem Begin | Commander of Irgun (Etzel) - Zionist underground paramilitary organization - 1943-1948, Israeli politician, sixth prime minister of Israel | The partition of the Homeland is illegal. It will never be recognized. The signature of institutions and individuals of the partition agreement is invalid. It will not bind the Jewish people. Jerusalem was and will forever be our capital. Eretz Israel (the land of Israel) will be restored to the people of Israel, All of it. And forever. [Begin was likely referring to the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, adopted by the UN General Assembly in November 1947.] | 1948 | Source Source |
| Menachem Begin | Commander of Irgun (Etzel) - Zionist underground paramilitary organization - 1943-1948, Israeli politician, sixth prime minister of Israel | "Arabs throughout the country [i.e. Palestine], induced to believe wild tales of 'Irgun butchery,' were seized with limitless panic and started to flee for their lives. This mass flight soon developed into a maddened, uncontrollable stampede. The political and economic significance of this development can hardly be overestimated." [This account of how terrorism carried out by Zionists contributed to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine is from Begin's book, The Revolt. As head of the Irgun (a Zionist underground paramilitary organization), Menachem Begin led the Deir Yassin massacre in 1948 and the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.] | 1951 | Source Source |
| Menachem Begin | Commander of Irgun (Etzel) - Zionist underground paramilitary organization - 1943-1948, Israeli politician, sixth prime minister of Israel | "[...] The legend of Deir Yassin helped us [i.e., Jewish military forces] in particular in the conquest of Haifa ... All the Jewish forces proceeded to advance through Haifa like a knife through butter. The Arabs began fleeing in panic, shouting: 'Deir Yassin!'" [A well-known massacre of around 110 people was carried out by Zionist paramilitary organizations in the village of Deir Yassin, Mandatory Palestine, on 9 April 1948.] | 1972 | Source |
| Menir Oz | Israeli citizen taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on 10/7/2023, released from Gaza before 12/5/2023 | [From a leaked audio recording of a 2023 meeting between Israel's war cabinet, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, and released Israelis taken captive to Gaza 10/7/2023, as well as hostages' family members. The quote below was translated from Hebrew by Google.] "I've been there, and I know how hard it is in captivity. Every day in captivity was very difficult. I was at [a Gaza] home when there was shelling all around. We sat in the tunnels and were terrified that it was not Hamas but Israel that would kill us, and then they would say, 'Hamas killed you.' So, I very much ask as soon as possible to start exchanging the prisoners and everyone needs to go home. There is no priority [of some hostages over others]. Everyone is important." | 2023-12-04 | Source Source Source |
| Merav Michaeli | Israeli politician, member of Israeli parliament (Knesset), leader of opposition's Labor party | "The time has come to say it in a clear [other sources translate the word as "loud"] and clear voice: There is a party of terrorist supporters in the Netanyahu government. Terrorist supporters. If you want to deport families of terrorists, you can start by deporting the family of the terrorist settler [Yehiel Indore]." [Merav Michaeli made his statement on social media after a group of Israeli settlers illegally living on Palestinian land attacked the West Bank town of Burqa. When residents confronted the settlers, one of the settlers opened fire, killing Qusai Jamal Matan, a 19-year-old Palestinian. Two settlers suspected in Matan's killing were arrested: Elisha Yered, a former spokesman for the Otzma Yehudit party's member of the Knesset, Limor Son Har-Melech, and Yehiel Indore.] | 2023-08-06 | Source Source Source Source |
| Meyer Habib | Member of the French National Assembly, representing the eighth constituency for French residents overseas (which includes Israel); French-Israeli dual citizen | [In a Radio J interview, the journalist questioned Habib about a possible clash between Israel and Egypt because, up to that point, Egypt had refused to allow Palestinians from Gaza to relocate to Egypt.] Habib: "The great Arab solidarity. Because they now know the cancer that this [Gazan] population is. To whom we have given everything. Israel has withdrawn from the Gaza Strip [...]. Let the Israelis work, they know what to do." | 2023-10-20 | Source Source Source Source |
| Meyer Habib | Member of the French National Assembly, representing the eighth constituency for French residents overseas (which includes Israel); French-Israeli dual citizen | "A Jew cannot be a settler in Judea! Jesus was born in Nazareth. He was Jewish! The Jews have been at home for 2,000 years." | 2023-11-16 | Source Source Source Source |
| Meyer Habib | Member of the French National Assembly, representing the eighth constituency for French residents overseas (which includes Israel); French-Israeli dual citizen | [Member of the French National Assembly, Meyer Habib, responding to France's adoption of sanctions against violent Israeli settlers.] "As a member of the French parliament who was elected four times with an overwhelming majority, among other things by French citizens living in Israel, and as their representative - I regret the decision. The timing is not good. Israel is at war following the most brutal terrorist attack in the country's history with an atrocity we have not seen since the Holocaust. I am of course against all violence. But there are very few cases of violence on the part of the settlers and certainly not acts of murder. In any case, if and when this happens, I trust the Israeli authorities to bring those responsible to justice. On the other hand, it is impossible to ignore the very serious incitement and terrorism on the part of the Palestinians against the Jews, with dozens of terrorist attacks that have claimed the lives of dozens of Israelis in just the last year in Judea and Samaria. They are trying to create an immoral equation between terrorists and settlers." | 2024-02-14 | Source |
| Mia Liemberg | Israeli citizen, 17-year-old, taken hostage from kibbutz Nir Yitzhak with her dog on 10/7/2023 | "When we were there we had to feed her our leftovers- yeah I'm talking about you Bella [Mia's dog]. And we had to make sure that she doesn't run wild where we were. We had to keep her so that she doesn't go exploring and annoy anybody there." | 2023-12-06 | Source Source |
| Mia Liemberg | Israeli citizen, 17-year-old, taken hostage from kibbutz Nir Yitzhak with her dog on 10/7/2023 | "It was difficult. I held her [Bella] all the way there. It was an extra four kilos. And I'm just lucky enough that I managed to keep her through that whole situation and bring her back." | 2023-12-06 | Source Source |
| Mia Liemberg | Israeli citizen, 17-year-old, taken hostage from kibbutz Nir Yitzhak with her dog on 10/7/2023 | "It was a huge help to me [to have my dog Bella with me in captivity]. She kept me busy. She was moral support- even though she didn't want to be, but I'm just so happy that I managed to do this journey with her." | 2023-12-06 | Source Source |
| Mia Liemberg | Israeli citizen, 17-year-old, taken hostage from kibbutz Nir Yitzhak with her dog on 10/7/2023 | "We miss them [the other hostages still in captivity] every day and it feels wrong being here without them. As much as I am happy to be back, we're still not done." | 2023-12-06 | Source Source |
| Michael Ben Ari | Former member of Knesset, one of the founders of the Jewish Power party | "There are no innocents in Gaza, don't let any diplomats who want to look good in the world endanger your lives[;] at any tiniest concern for your lives - Mow them [down]!" | 2012-11-19 | Source Source |
| Michael Ben Ari | Former member of Knesset, one of the founders of the Jewish Power party | "Our enemy is not Hamas, it's not the rockets, our enemy is the Arabs in Gaza. As long as there are Arabs in Gaza, the State of Israel is under threat. As long as there are Arabs in Gaza the State of Israel is threatened. | 2023-12-28 | Source Source |
| Michael Ben Ari | Former member of Knesset, one of the founders of the Jewish Power party | "The Arabs of Haifa aren't different in any way from the Arabs of Gaza. How are they different? In that they're here, enemies from within. They're waging war against us here, within the state. And this is called – it has a name – it's called a fifth column. We need to call the dog by its name. They're our enemies. They want to destroy us. Of course there are loyal Arabs, but you can count them – one percent or less than one percent." | 2018 | Source Source |
| Michael Milshtein | Former senior intelligence officer for Israel, Head of the Palestinian Studies Forum at Dayan Center/Tel Aviv University | "They've been saying this for a while, that Hamas is collapsing, but it's just not true. Every day, we're facing tough battles." | 2023-12-27 | Source Source Source |
| Michal | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank commander, tank crewed by her, "Hagar", "Hila", and "Tal Sarah", platoon commanded by "Karni" on 10/7 | Michal: "The brigade commander [Raviv Mahmia] comes into my tank, saying they had an attack from the north, and that there are terrorists all over. In the trees north of us. We need to scan the area, I load the guns, and the crew spots the terrorists. We start shooting. We start with machine gun fire on the terrorists close by, then move to heavy projectiles to the ones farther from us." Interviewer: "You see the hits?" Michal: "I see the hits, I see them falling." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Michal Paikin | Kibbutz Be'eri spokesperson | [A New York Times (NYT) exposé – "Screams Without Words" - published on 28 December 2023, alleged that Hamas members systematically weaponized sexual violence during the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel, and sexually assaulted two females at Kibbitz Be'eri. With information presented in the article, the victims were identified as sisters Yahel and Noyia Sharabi, ages 13 and 16. Michal Paikin, a spokesperson for the kibbutz, denied the veracity of the claims made in the article.] "You're talking about the Sharabi girls? No, they just - they were shot. I'm saying 'just,' but they were shot and were not subjected to sexual abuse." [Paikin also disputed graphic, detailed descriptions of the condition an Israeli special forces paramedic (a source for the NYT story and quoted by numerous other media outlets) claimed to have found the Sharabi sisters in.] "It's not true. They were not sexually abused." | 2024-03-04 | Source Source |
| Michal Waldiger | Israeli lawmaker, lawyer | Do not supply fuel to the enemy. The residents of Gaza brought this war upon themselves, and we must win and bring our abductees home. We have no other choice, and we have zero trust in them [Gazans]. I am going to express my protest to the chair of my party [referring to Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance]. Supplying fuel to the Nazis [referring to every single Palestinian life in Gaza] is an attack on the abductees, on national resilience, and on the moral standing of the people. | 2023-12-06 | Source |
| Michele Bachmann | Dean of Robertson School of Government at Regent University, Former U.S. Congresswoman for Minnesota's 6th district | "The money is flowing in for Gaza. All the money is coming in from Iran. And that's what the people of Gaza are: they're basically hired mercernaries. That is their industry. Terrorism is their industry. That's why you have more miles of tunnels, Charlie, than you have [in] the New York subway, because they have one industry in Gaza and that's terrorism. So it's time that Gaza ends. The 2 million people who live there, they are clever assassins. They need to be removed from that land. That land needs to be turned into a national park. And since they're the voluntary mercernaries for Iran, they need to be dropped on the doorstep of Iran. Let Iran deal with those people." | 2023-12-19 | Source Source Source Source |
| Miki Zohar | Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports | "Our brothers' and sisters' blood was not spilled so that the Palestinians would be rewarded and we would risk our future in our land. I say clearly to everyone who is still stuck on October 6: We will never participate in the establishment of a Palestinian state. This is our commitment to the holy martyrs and fallen heroes." | 2024-01-20 | Source Source |
| Miki Zohar | Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports | "The public in Israel is a public that belongs to the Jewish race, and the entire Jewish race is the highest human capital, the smartest, the most comprehending." | 2018-06-13 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Miki Zohar | Israeli Minister of Culture and Sports | "The Jewish people and the Jewish race are of the highest human capital that exists. What can you do? We were blessed by God... and I will continue to say that at every opportunity. I don't have to be ashamed about the Jewish people being the Chosen People; the smartest, most special people in the world. You can understand why we usually win a lot of Nobel Prizes." | 2018-06-13 | Source Source |
| Miriam "Miri" Regev | Israeli Minister of Transportation and Road Safety | [I am] happy to be a fascist. | 2012-11-?? | Source Source |
| Miriam "Miri" Regev | Israeli Minister of Transportation and Road Safety | "[The] Sudanese are a cancer in our body." [Israeli lawmaker Miri Regev spoke these words while taking part in a violent protest in a Tel Aviv neighborhood. Other protestors called for the expulsion of Sudanese asylum seekers from Israel.] | 2012-05-24 | Source Source Source Source |
| Mordechai Bar-On | Israel military company commander during 1948 Arab-Israeli War | "Beyond the details on the manner in which Palestinians had to leave this or that village, one must simply acknowledge that the tragedy would not have occurred had the Zionists never arrived in Palestine. If the Jews at the end of the 19th century had not embarked on a project of reassembling the Jewish people in their 'promised land,' all the refugees languishing in the camps would still be living in the villages from which they fled or were expelled." [The quotation above is from pages 42-43 of a chapter, entitled "Remembering 1948," Mordechai Bar-On contributed to the book: Making Israel. (Morris, & Morris, Benny. (2007). Making Israel / edited by Benny Morris. University of Michigan Press.)] | 1996 | Source Source |
| Mordechai Bar-On | Israel military company commander during 1948 Arab-Israeli War | "[The] self-righteous, moral significance inherent in the common Zionist narrative evades deeper questions. What is aggression? Is the aggressor always the one who fires the first shot in defense of his endangered, vital interests? Perhaps this sort of violence should be seen as a desperate attempt by Palestinian Arabs to defend rights that may well be considered legitimate. Is it absurd to claim that the UN partition plan was an act of aggression against their legitimate rights? Was their refusal to accept the UN verdict as illogical and immoral as the common Zionist narrative would have it? In this respect, the war did not start on November 30, 1947, at Yazur. Rather, Yazur, by then, was only a new phase in a fifty-year-old conflict." [The quotation above is from page 34 of a chapter, entitled "Remembering 1948," Mordechai Bar-On contributed to the book: Making Israel. (Morris, & Morris, Benny. (2007). Making Israel / edited by Benny Morris. University of Michigan Press.) This article is an edited and somewhat expanded version of the Hebrew original, published under the title "Zikhronot Tashah" [Memories of 1948] in the festschrift Dvarim le-Yizhar [For S. Yizhar], ed. Nitza Ben-Ari (Tel Aviv, 1996).] | 1996 | Source Source |
| Mordechai Bar-On | Israel military company commander during 1948 Arab-Israeli War | "[The] Israelis did not shed too many tears and were glad to find, at the end of the [1948] war, that much of the land they had conquered was empty of its indigenous population, waiting for the hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants who began flocking into the country. And, indeed, Israel never allowed any significant number of refugees to return to their villages." [The quotation above is from page 43 of a chapter, entitled "Remembering 1948," Mordechai Bar-On contributed to the book: Making Israel. (Morris, & Morris, Benny. (2007). Making Israel / edited by Benny Morris. University of Michigan Press.) This article is an edited and somewhat expanded version of the Hebrew original, published under the title "Zikhronot Tashah" [Memories of 1948] in the festschrift Dvarim le-Yizhar [For S. Yizhar], ed. Nitza Ben-Ari (Tel Aviv, 1996).] | 1996 | Source Source |
| Mordechai Bar-On | Israel military company commander during 1948 Arab-Israeli War | "Under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion, most Israelis in the 1950s and early 1960s were ready to accept the territorial outcome of the1948 war. This meant giving up on parts of the Holy Land, including the Old City of Jerusalem and its holy sites. But they remained adamant about continuing the march of Zionism, that is, 'ingathering the exiles' and settling them on the emptied lands. And this entailed a point-blank refusal to allow a significant number of Palestinian refugees to return." [The quotation above is from page 44 of a chapter, entitled "Remembering 1948," Mordechai Bar-On contributed to the book: Making Israel. (Morris, & Morris, Benny. (2007). Making Israel / edited by Benny Morris. University of Michigan Press.) This article is an edited and somewhat expanded version of the Hebrew original, published under the title "Zikhronot Tashah" [Memories of 1948] in the festschrift Dvarim le-Yizhar [For S. Yizhar], ed. Nitza Ben-Ari (Tel Aviv, 1996).] | 1996 | Source Source |
| Mordechai Bentov | Russian-born Israeli journalist and politician, signatory of Israel's declaration of independence | Near the end of the Arab-Israeli War in late 1948, the Israeli government began to discuss reports of massacres by Israel forces that had taken place. According to Haaretz's investigative report, the archival records of meetings reveal that Israel's leaders knew atrocities were being committed during the invasions of Arab villages. While minutes of these cabinet meetings have been available for years, the discussions devoted to "the army's behaviour in the Galilee and the Negev" were censored up until a few years ago. In the following quote, Israeli Minister of Labor, Mordechai Bentov, expressed his belief in the seriousness of the atrocities Israeli soldiers had committed.] "The people who did this claimed they had received orders in this spirit. It seems to me that we have not been as helpless about any issue as we are, apparently, about this issue. In my opinion this is not an Arab question, it is a Jewish question. The question is which Jews will remain in the country after the war. I see no way but to eradicate the evil with a strong hand. As we have not seen that strong hand in [army] headquarters or in the Defense Ministry, I support Mr. Shapira's proposal for a committee to be chosen, which will be given the authority by the government to investigate every person it wishes. It's necessary to investigate the chains of command, who received orders from whom, how things are being done without written orders. These things are done according to a particular method. It turns out that an order is one thing and procedure another." | 1948-11-07 | Source Source Source |
| Moshe "Musa" Peled | Israeli military commander, brigadier general of Israeli military forces | [The following quotes are from an audio recording of an interview researcher Teddy Katz conducted with Moshe Peled around 1998, regarding activities that were part of Peled's involvement with the Israeli military.] Peled: "In the operation to take the Galilee, that was conducted a little bit later, there were two Arab villages. I don't remember which was Druze and which was Arab, Nahf and Sajur. One, we ravaged and the other we didn't touch. We didn't take a single hair off their heads." Katz: "What do you mean by, 'ravaged?'" Peled: "Leave it." Katz: "Leave it?" Peled: "It was a time [David] Ben-Gurion said we have to do everything so that Arabs flee the Galilee. So, we beat them up, and burned, and did all kinds of things to cause them to flee. Now, to each his morality, to each his interpretations." | 1998 | Source |
| Moshe Dayan | Israeli military leader and politician, Jewish atheist | [In December 1971, Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan and Jewish Philosopher Herbert Marcuse met at the Israeli Ministry of Defense. Dayan was the main speaker, answering Marcuse's questions in a lecture format. In this meeting, Dayan revisited the Six Day War in 1967 and, pointing to a map of the Middle East, he acknowledged that Israel was founded on stolen – taken – Arab land.] Moshe Dayan: "We came here, and (a) we cut off the two parts of the Arab world from each other; and (b) we took from them an Arab land and made it Jewish." Herbert Marcuse: "Do you admit that? You are the first Israeli I have met here in the country who admits this." Moshe Dayan: "Of course I admit it. It's a fact." | 1971-12-29 | Source |
| Moshe Dayan | Israeli military leader and politician, Jewish atheist | [The following quote is from a private conversation between Moshe Dayan and Rami Tal, about clashes between Israel and Syria prior to the outbreak of the 1967 war.] "Along the Syria border there were no farms and no refugee camps - there was only the Syrian army... The kibbutzim saw the good agricultural land ... and they dreamed about it... They didn't even try to hide their greed for the land... We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance further, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was...The Syrians, on the fourth day of the war, were not a threat to us." | 1976 | Source Source |
| Moshe Dayan | Israeli military leader and politician, Jewish atheist | "We came to this country which was already populated by Arabs, and we are establishing a Hebrew, that is a Jewish state here. In considerable areas of the country we bought lands from the Arabs. Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you, because these geography books no longer exist; not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahalal arose in the place of Mahalul, Gevat - in the place of Jibta, Sarid - in the place of Haneifs and Kefar Yehoshua - in the place of Tell Shaman. There is no one place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population." [ From an address Moshe Dayan delivered to Technion University students (19 March 1969), a transcription of which appeared in Ha'aretz (4 April 1969).] | 1969-03-19 | Source Source |
| Moshe Dayan | Israeli military leader and politician, Jewish atheist | [The following quote is from a eulogy Moshe Dayan wrote and delivered at the funeral for Roi Rotberg, a young officer in charge of security for Kibbutz Nir Oz, who was murdered and mutilated near the Gaza border a day earlier. Translated from Hebrew by Mitch Ginsburg.] "Yesterday with daybreak, Roi was murdered. The quiet of a spring morning blinded him, and he did not see the stalkers of his soul on the furrow. Let us not hurl blame at the murderers. Why should we complain of their hatred for us? Eight years have they sat in the refugee camps of Gaza, and seen, with their own eyes, how we have made a homeland of the soil and the villages where they and their forebears once dwelt. "Not from the Arabs of Gaza must we demand the blood of Roi, but from ourselves. [...]" | 1956-04-30 | Source Source |
| Moshe Dayan | Israeli military leader and politician, Jewish atheist | "A generation of settlement are we, and without the steel helmet and the maw of the cannon we shall not plant a tree, nor build a house. Our children shall not have lives to live if we do not dig shelters; and without the barbed wire fence and the machine gun, we shall not pave a path nor drill for water. The millions of Jews, annihilated without a land, peer out at us from the ashes of Israeli history and command us to settle and rebuild a land for our people. But beyond the furrow that marks the border, lies a surging sea of hatred and vengeance, yearning for the day that the tranquility blunts our alertness, for the day that we heed the ambassadors of conspiring hypocrisy, who call for us to lay down our arms." [The above quotation is a portion of the eulogy Moshe Dayan wrote and delivered for Roi Rotberg, a young officer in charge of security for Kibbutz Nahal Oz, who was murdered and mutilated near the Gaza border. Translated from Hebrew by Mitch Ginsberg.] | 1956-04-30 | Source Source |
| Moshe Dayan | Israeli military leader and politician, Jewish atheist | During the last 100 years our people have been in a process of building up the country and the nation, of expansion, of getting additional Jews and additional settlements in order to expand the borders here. Let no Jew say that the process has ended. Let no Jew say that we are near the end of the road. | 1968-07-07 | Source Source |
| Moshe Feiglin | Former Member of Knesset | "When Gantz and Netanyahu say that the goal is 'the elimination of Hamas' what they are saying is that IDF soldiers will be sent to conquer Gaza, in order to hand it over to Abu Mazen. In Oslo, we handed Gaza over to Arafat, and now we will spill our sons' blood to conquer Gaza for Abu Mazen - his heir... It's not Hamas that needs to be eliminated. Gaza needs to be razed and Israeli sovereignty restored there. This is our country." | 2023-10-11 | Source Source |
| Moshe Feiglin | Former Member of Knesset | "I dedicated my adult life to prevent this moment- if the goal of this operation is not destruction, occupation, deportation and settlement, we have done nothing. In the end, the whole country will be [Kibbutz] Be'eri." | 2023-10-12 | Source Source |
| Moshe Feiglin | Former Member of Knesset | "The solution for Gaza is served to us on a silver platter. The population wants to leave, European countries want to accept them, and all we have left is to level the area and turn Gaza into Jaffa before they turn Jaffa into Gaza." | 2023-10-18 | Source Source |
| Moshe Feiglin | Former Member of Knesset | "There is one and only one solution, which is to completely destroy Gaza before invading it. And when I talk about destruction, I mean destruction like it was in Dresden and Hiroshima, without a nuclear weapon." | 2023-10-26 | Source |
| Moshe Feiglin | Former Member of Knesset | "Do not leave a stone upon a stone in Gaza. Gaza needs to turn into Dresden... Complete incineration. No more hope... Annihilate Gaza now! Now!" | 2023-10-27 | Source |
| Moshe Feiglin | Former Member of Knesset | Our soldiers are the only innocents in Gaza. Under no circumstances should they be killed because of false morality that prefers to protect enemy civilians. One hair on the head of an Israeli soldier is more precious than the entire Gazan populace, which elected the Hamas and supports and encourages anyone who murders Israelis. [Originally posted to Feiglin's Facebook page, July 2014.] | 2014-07-?? | Source |
| Moshe Feiglin | Former Member of Knesset | Gaza is part of our Land and we will remain there forever...Subsequent to the elimination of terror from Gaza, it will become part of sovereign Israel and will be populated by Jews. [The preceding quote originally appeared in a July 2014 op-ed on Arutz Sheva website.] | 2014-07-?? | Source |
| Moshe Feiglin | Former Member of Knesset | "The IDF shall designate certain open areas on the Sinai border, adjacent to the sea, in which the civilian population will be concentrated, far from the built-up areas that are used for launches and tunnelling... In these areas, tent encampments will be established, until relevant emigration destinations are determined." | 2014-08-01 | Source |
| Moshe Feiglin | Former Member of Knesset | "[I suggest] we internalise the fact that the Oslo [Accord] is finished, that this is our country- our country exclusively, including Gaza." | 2014-08-01 | Source |
| Moshe Katsav (Musa Qassab) | Iranian-born, eighth president of Israel | [According to CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis), Moshe Katsav, in the following statement, was specifically referring to the murders of two boys – allegedly by "Palestinian terrorists" - who had skipped school to explore a cave in May 2001. The Jerusalem Post prefaced the statement by Moshe Katsav, by adding this context: "President Moshe Katsav said yesterday that Israel would never stoop to the brutality the Palestinians displayed in the stoning to death of two Tekoa teenagers this week."] "There is a huge gap between us [i.e., Israeli Jews] and our enemies] – not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. "We would never stoop to the kind of brutality inflicted on the victims in Tekoa and Ofra. They're [i.e., Palestinians whose land Israel occupies are] our neighbors here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred meters away, there are people who don't belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy." [While in 2001, Katsav spoke of his people's morality, conscience, superiority, and absence of brutality, in 2010 Katsav was convicted of two counts of rape (one victim was a former employee), obstruction of justice, and other charges, and sentenced to seven years in prison of which he served five years. He was the first former Israeli head of state to be jailed.] | 2001-05-10 | Source Source |
| Moshe Menuhin (Mnuchin) | Anti-Zionist Russian-Israeli-American Jew | "[...] Prophetic Judaism is my religion, not Napalm Judaism, - 'Jewish' nationalism. The 'Jewish' nationalists – the new specimens of fighting Jews – are not Jews as far as I am concerned, but 'Jewish' Nazis who have lost all sense of Jewish morality and humanity. Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism." [Born in Russia in 1893, Moshe Menuhin grew up in Palestine. In 1913, Menuhin migrated to the U.S.A. to study, became a U.S. citizen in 1919, and settled there. He was a vocal Jewish anti-Zionist.] | 1967-08-31 | Source |
| Moshe Menuhin (Mnuchin) | Anti-Zionist Russian-Israeli-American Jew | "With all the cloaking, image building, with the torrents of sophisticated and astute publicity gimmicks, polemical rhetoric, hiding of facts and rewriting of history, it remains a tragic FACT that the 'Jewish' nationalists (the political Zionists) took away by force of arms, terror and atrocities the homes, the land, and the homeland of the Arab peasants, workers and merchants in old Palestine, carved out a 'Jewish Home-land' and have expanded it during months before May 14, 1948 - their Day of Declaration of Independence - through massacres, plundering, terrorization between April 10 and May 14, by evicting the Arabs from such purely Arab cities as Deir Yassin, Jaffa, Acre, Ramle, Lydda, etc. which the United Nations granted to the Arab State when the Partition Resolution was passed on November 29, 1947. "The leader of the Israeli 'IRGUN' terrorists, Menachem Begin, tells it in a few boastful words, 'all the Jewish forces proceeded to advance like a knife through butter...the Arabs began to flee in panic shouting, 'Deir Yassin.' In Deir Yassin, on April 10, 1948, 254 Arab men, women and children were butchered in cold blood and their mutilated bodies were thrown into a well... Deir Yassin is just one example of the atrocities committed to force the Arabs out of their homeland..." [Born in Russia in 1893, Moshe Menuhin grew up in Palestine. In 1913, Menuhin migrated to the U.S.A. to study, became a U.S. citizen in 1919, and settled there. He was a vocal Jewish anti-Zionist.] | 1967-08-31 | Source |
| Moshe Menuhin (Mnuchin) | Anti-Zionist Russian-Israeli-American Jew | "The Arabs from then on [i.e. following the expulsion from their homes and land in 1948] were never a match in any war with Israelis. The Israelis knew it, the Arabs knew it; the whole world knew it. Israel never feared the Arabs, separately or jointly. But, at the bottom is this fact: The Arabs were always friendly to the Jews all through history; they never harmed Jews. If the Christian nations of Europe, Russia and Germany in particular, massacred and mistreated Jews, it was not for the Arabs to atone for the sins of others, be exiled by the 'Jewish' nationalists so they could create a 'Jewish Homeland' in Arab Palestine... The 'Jewish' nationalists are 'Jewish' Nazis, and I am ashamed of being identified with them and their unholy causes..." [Born in Russia in 1893, Moshe Menuhin grew up in Palestine. In 1913, Menuhin migrated to the U.S.A. to study, became a U.S. citizen in 1919, and settled there. He was a vocal Jewish anti-Zionist.] | 1967-08-31 | Source |
| Moshe Menuhin (Mnuchin) | Anti-Zionist Russian-Israeli-American Jew | "Let us first take up the highlights of the current war [i.e. 'The Six-Day War'] which is far from the end, for God knows whether the world may not be plunged into a Third and atomic World War because of these grasping aggressive militarists who want more and more "Lebensraum" [i.e. the German concept of territorial expansionism]. "According to Israeli sources of information, their own casualties during the six days of warfare amounted to 679 killed and 2563 injured, whereas the carnage on the Arabs - a 'Roman holiday' ('butchered to make an Israeli holiday...') came to a total of 115,605 (the figure given by the American Friends of the Middle East is 150,000): 66,000 killed, wounded or captured Jordanians; the Egyptians suffered up to 10,000 men killed, and 300 captured (plus uncounted tens of thousands of wounded and uninjured men left to die from thirst, hunger, and heat in the blazing hot and vast Sinai desert); the Syrians suffered about 36,665 men killed, wounded and captured. When one adds to the above the 260,000 new Arab refugees, evicted and fleeing Jordanians and Syrians; when one thinks of the malevolent demolition of whole Arab villages and the dynamiting of homes; when one thinks of the agonies, anxieties, and miseries of the hapless, helpless bewildered population whether refugees or those who remained behind to be under the terror of the conquering Israelis, and when one thinks of the Charter of the United Nations that bars the use of force 'against the territorial integrity or political integrity of any State,' or of the International Court of Justice that could and should arbitrate international quarrels, one cannot help exclaiming, 'JEWISH' NAZIS!..." [Born in Russia in 1893, Moshe Menuhin grew up in Palestine. In 1913, Menuhin migrated to the U.S.A. to study, became a U.S. citizen in 1919, and settled there. He was a vocal Jewish anti-Zionist.] | 1967-08-31 | Source |
| Moshe Saada | Israeli Member of Knesset | "It is clear for everyone today, the right-wing parties were right about the Palestinian matter. Today, it's very simple. You're going everywhere, and they tell you, 'Annihilate them [Gazans].' The kibbutzim say 'Annihilate them.' Even my attorney's office colleagues, who always disagree with me on everything, they tell me: 'Moshe of course we must annihilate all Gazans.' This is words that I've never heard before." | 2024-01-02 | Source Source Source Source |
| Moshe Sharett (Chertok) | Russian-born Israeli politician, Israel's second prime minister | [In 1938, while giving a lecture to employees of Zionist organizations in Jerusalem, Moshe Sharett reported that he had achieved the purchase of 2500 dunam (2.5 million square meters or 250 hectares) in the Baysan Valley in eastern Palestine.] "This purchase was accompanied, interestingly, by transfer of population [unsure of his audience's familiarity with the term, he repeated it in English]. There is a tribe that resides west of the Jordan river and the purchase will include paying the tribe to move east of the river; by this [act] we will reduce the number of Arabs [in Palestine]." | 1938-12-13 | Source |
| Moshe Sharett (Chertok) | Russian-born Israeli politician, Israel's second prime minister | We have forgotten that we have not come to an empty land to inherit it, but we have come to conquer a country from people inhabiting it, that governs it by the virtue of its language and savage culture. | 1914 | Source Source Source |
| Moshe Sharett (Chertok) | Russian-born Israeli politician, Israel's second prime minister | "We have forgotten that we have not come to an empty land to inherit it, but we have come to conquer a country from people inhabiting it, that governs it by the virtue of its language and savage culture. If we seek to look upon our land, the Land of Israel, as ours alone and we allow a partner into our estate-all context and meaning will be lost to our enterprise." | 1914 | Source Source |
| Moshe Sharett (Chertok) | Russian-born Israeli politician, Israel's second prime minister | [In 1949 Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett supported abolishing Israel's death penalty.] "Human society must aspire to a moral level at which it's forbidden to take human life." [In 1951, Sharett changed his stance.] "With great regret I've become convinced that abolishing the death penalty is inconceivable. [Countries] which are immeasurably more humane than we are – I've spent years there and I live here – maintain the death penalty. "[The main reason for my change in views is] the crimes that have happened and are happening week after week, especially in the army." "[Sociopaths might not be deterred by the death penalty], but that Jewish chap who kills two Arabs he met on the road, I'm not willing to say, without trying it first, that he's a killer by nature and won't fear the death penalty. "[Some Jews believe] every Arab is a dog, a wild dog that it's a mitzvah [i.e., a commandment or good deed prescribed by Jewish religious law] to kill. [And] to save them from killing human beings, it's a mitzvah to have the death penalty here. As long as we don't have it, these murders will continue, and we'll be held accountable, and it will create moral corruption here. "[I'm] giving a speech of repentance and confession here. I've learned from experience that in this country, the death penalty is necessary... We made a mistake when we stopped hanging... If all the crimes committed in this country were reported, terror would grip the public and lynchings would start. I'd shoot a Jewish chap who wanted to shoot an Arab passerby if that were the way to save him." | 1951 | Source |
| Moshe Sharett (Chertok) | Russian-born Israeli politician, Israel's second prime minister | "Transfer [i.e. ethnic cleansing of Palestinians] could be the crowning achievements, the final stage in the development of [our Zionist] policy, but certainly not the point of departure. By [speaking publicly and prematurely] we could [end up] mobilizing vast forces against the matter and cause it to fail, in advance. [... W]hen the Jewish state is established--it is very possible that the result will be transfer of Arabs." [The above quote is from a 1944 meeting of the Jewish Agency Executive, during which Moshe Sharett, then director of the Jewish Agency's Political Department, spoke.] | 1944-05-07 | Source Source |
| Moshe Sharett (Chertok) | Russian-born Israeli politician, Israel's second prime minister | [The following quote is part of the response sent on behalf of Israel to the United Nations (regarding the UN's proposal of the return of "Arab refugees" to the land Israel had occupied) four months after more than 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes or were expelled from them by Zionist forces, leaving behind productive agricultural lands; citrus and olive groves; thousands of shops, stores, and other services and businesses; fishing ports; villages; and entire cities – all of which had sustained them for generations. The document is signed "Mr. Shertok, Minister for Foreign Affairs." This was likely Moshe Sharett as he held that office in Israel from 1948-1956 and his surname at birth was Chertok.] "On the economic side, the reintegration of the returning Arabs into normal life, and even their mere maintenance, would present an insoluble problem. The difficulties of accommodation, employment and ordinary livelihood would be insuperable. You will, we feel sure, readily admit that the international assistance which you envisage is for the time being purely hypothetical. On the other hand, the Provisional Government [of Israel] would resist as utterly unjust an attempt to impose on its limited and heavily strained resources any part of the financial liability for the relief and resettlement of returning Arabs. Far from being ready to shoulder responsibilities on behalf of Arabs whom the Jews never intended to harm – with whom they were, indeed, anxious to live at peace – the Provisional Government considers itself entitled and is indeed determined, to claim compensation from the Arab States for all the havoc and destruction, the loss of life, property and livelihood, which the criminal folly of their armed intervention in Palestine has wrought." | 1948-08-01 | Source |
| Motel Sokoler | Jewish guide from Zichron Yaakov (a town near Tantura), who buried bodies of Palestinians killed in 1948 Tantura massacre | [Teddy Katz interviewed Motel Sokoler around 1998, about what he witnessed, as a local Jew, in the Palestinian village of Tantura in 1948.] Sokoler: "Let's go back to the picture and we'll end with that. The picture where everyone is gathered by the house...the factory. When the battle was over, after they took the men, the women, children, and elderly remained." Katz: "How much longer did they remain in the village?" Sokoler: "About a day or two." Katz: "With all of the bodies and all of the...?" Sokoler: "The bodies – two days later, I brought people from Fureidis [one of the few Arab villages on Israel's coast left intact after the 1948 war] and they buried them." Katz: "So the families remained in the village with the bodies scattered around?" Sokoler: "With all the bodies. Yes." | 1998 | Source |
| Motel Sokoler | Jewish guide from Zichron Yaakov (a town near Tantura), who buried bodies of Palestinians killed in 1948 Tantura massacre | "On Saturday [22 May 1948] two guys said to me, 'You have to join us.' I asked why. They said, 'We have to go to Tantura tonight.' We were there for a few days, then we had to bury the dead. So, we buried them. I took workers from Fureidis [one of the few Arab villages on Israel's coast left intact after the 1948 war]. We buried them and that was it." Interviewer: "How many were killed?" Sokoler: "Some 270. 280. I buried them. I came back two days later and there was a hill like a mountain. They [the bodies] swelled. Then, they went down." [The preceding quote is from Motel Sokoler's interview for the documentary, "Tantura," about the 1948 massacre in the Palestinian village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Mulik Sternberg | Israeli Alexandroni Brigades soldier, present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "Of course we killed them [Palestinians]. We killed them...without any qualms." [The preceding quote is from Sternberg's interview for the documentary, "Tantura," about the 1948 massacre in the Palestinian village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Mulik Sternberg | Israeli Alexandroni Brigades soldier, present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "I remember the battle for Tantura. It was a serious battle. The town was eradicated [by the Israeli military]. That's it!" [The preceding quote is from Sternberg's interview for the documentary, "Tantura," about the 1948 massacre in the Palestinian village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Naftali Bennet | Former Israeli Prime Minister | "The Gaza siege plan: impose a total siege on the north of the Gaza Strip, dry up and suffocate the Hamas terrorists in the tunnels until they are forced to come out; create a new security strip 2 km deep into the territory of the Strip along our entire border, a permanent Strip... Imagine bulldozers simply levelling the area; Countries around the world can take in the refugees- only temporarily, of course- until Hamas surrenders and the war ends. Between 6 months and 5 years; In the south of the Gaza Strip ... we allow (but do not give ourselves): water, food, medicine... We arent allowing any drop of fuel to enter the entire Strip. Without fuel there are no tunnels because there is no ventilation and no lighting... Any country in the world that expresses pain over the situation of the refugees in the south is invited to temporarily host refugees (Scotland, Egypt, Turkey, etc.)... Avoid collateral damage as much as possible as it may lead to [the international community forcing us to] halt the operation before Hamas has been eradicated... This plan has been reviewed by experts in international law, and is consistent with all the standards of international law." | 2023-10-28 | Source |
| Naftali Bennet | Former Israeli Prime Minister | "12 year old Liel Hetzroni of Kibbutz Beeri was murdered in her home by Hamas monsters on Oct 7th. Her body has now been identified. Her brother and grandfather were also murdered. Look at her sweet smile. Liel harmed nobody. She was murdered just because she's Jewish. We're fighting the most just war: to ensure this can never happen again. Nobody should ask us to stop, nor will we, before we achieve that goal." [Yasmin Porat's eyewitness testimony given to Kan news on November 15, 1 day after this tweet, reveals that the Hetzroni family was killed when, on October 7, an Israeli tank fired two shells into the house they were being held hostage in by Hamas militants] | 2023-11-14 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Naftali Bennett | Former Israeli Prime Minister | "I will do everything in my power, forever, to fight against a Palestinian state being founded in the Land of Israel." "The most important thing in the Land of Israel is to build, build, build [settlements]. It's important that there will be an Israeli presence everywhere. Our principal problem is still Israel's leaders' unwillingness to say in a simple manner that the Land of Israel belongs to the People of Israel." | 2013-01-?? | Source |
| Naftali Bennett | Former Israeli Prime Minister | If you catch terrorists, you have to simply kill them...I've killed lots of Arabs in my life-and there's no problem with that. [Naftali Bennett made this statement at a July 2013 Knesset meeting; reported by Yedioth Ahronoth.] | 2013-07-?? | Source |
| Naftali Bennett | Former Israeli Prime Minister | "If you catch terrorists, you have to simply kill them...I've killed lots of Arabs in my life-and there's no problem with that." Naftali Bennett made this statement at a July 2013 Knesset meeting, reported by Yedioth Ahronoth. Bennett essentially called for the extrajudicial execution of prisoners who had been denied their human rights, by Israel, under international law. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) enshrines everyone's right to "be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence." Often, those Israel takes hostage and holds indefinitely in prison are not even charged with an offence, let alone allowed to have their rights - enshrined in Article 10 and Article 11 in the UDHR - upheld. Bennett's call for the murder of Palestinian hostages also shows disregard for international humanitarian law – specifically the Third Geneva Convention, which outlines the protections afforded prisoners upon their capture.] | 2013-07-30 | Source Source Source |
| Nahum Goldmann | Founder and president of the World Jewish Congress | "One of the great oversights in the history of Zionism is that when the Jewish homeland in Palestine was founded, sufficient attention was not paid to relations with the Arabs. [...] "Even Theodor Herzl's brilliantly simple formulation of the Jewish question as basically a transportation problem of 'moving people without a home into a land without a people' is tinged with disquieting blindness to the Arab claim to Palestine. Palestine was not a land without people even in Herzl's time; it was inhabited by hundreds of thousands of Arabs who, in the course of events, would sooner or later have achieved independent statehood, either alone or as a unit with a larger Arab context." | 1970 | Source |
| Nahum Goldmann | Founder and president of the World Jewish Congress | "At last I can tell the truth...In 30 years, Israel has never presented the Arabs with a single peace plan. She has rejected every settlement plan devised by her friends and by her enemies. She has seemingly no other object than to preserve the status quo while adding territory piece by piece." [For this, Goldmann blamed the "blind support given by American Jews to Israel," and beseeched then U.S. President Jimmy Carter for an intervention "to prevent the Jewish state's slide into catastrophe."] | 1977 | Source |
| Nancy Pelosi | American politician who served as Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives (2007-2011, 2019-2023) | "[...] If this capitol crumbled to the ground, the one thing that would remain is our [i.e., the USA's] commitment to our aid – I don't even call it 'aid' - our 'cooperation' with Israel. That's fundamental to who we - that's fundamental [...]." | 2018 | Source |
| Nancy Pelosi | American politician who served as Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives (2007-2011, 2019-2023) | [The following is a partial quote of a speech made by Nancy Pelosi at the 2008 annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).] "Ensuring the security of Israel, and the entire world, demands that we do more to convince Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions and cease its support for terrorist groups. "This isn't just about Israel, as important as it is to Israel, the existential threat that Iran presents to Israel. These two features are pillars of American foreign policy. Stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is a pillar of our foreign policy. Fighting terrorism wherever it exists is a pillar of our foreign policy. "So this is an issue where Israel is on the front line fighting the fight, bearing the brunt of the threat, and in doing so, Israel makes that fight not just for Israel, but for the entire world, including the United States of America." [Another quote from Nancy Pelosi's 2008 speech is catalogued on this site under her name.] | 2008-06-04 | Source |
| Nancy Pelosi | American politician who served as Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives (2007-2011, 2019-2023) | [The following is a quote from a speech made by Nancy Pelosi at the 2008 annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).] "Just recently [...] many of you urged your representatives to pass a resolution expressing our support and enthusiasm for Israel on its 60th anniversary. "I am proud to say we were able to deliver this [...] and to say it passed the Congress unanimously. How much more bipartisan can you get than unanimously? Just think of the thrill it was for all of us to stand there as we went into the Knesset [i.e., Israeli parliament] to be able to present that resolution to Speaker Itzik and to the people of Israel on your behalf [...] it certainly was a thrill of a lifetime for each of us. "America and Israel, as we said that day and had said in the resolution, have a common history. We are both nations that are beacons of democracy to the world, forged by pioneers, developed by immigrants, fulfilled by immigrants. We share a common future - as entrepreneurs and innovators, building the kind of world that we dream of for our children's children. And we share a common cause - a safe and secure Israel living in peace with her neighbors." [Another quote from Nancy Pelosi's 2008 speech is catalogued on this site under her name.] | 2008-06-04 | Source |
| Natasha Bertrand | American journalist, Pentagon correspondent for CNN covering U.S. national security | "Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza in its war with Hamas since October 7 have been unguided, otherwise known as 'dumb bombs,' according to a new US intelligence assessment. "The assessment, compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and described to CNN by three sources who have seen it, says that about 40-45% of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions Israel has used have been unguided. The rest have been precision-guided munitions, the assessment says. "Unguided munitions are typically less precise and can pose a greater threat to civilians, especially in such a densely populated area like Gaza. The rate at which Israel is using the dumb bombs may be contributing to the soaring civilian death toll." | 2023-12-13 | Source |
| Nathan (Natan) Alterman | Israeli poet, playwright, journalist, translator | [In November 1948, Nathan (Natan) Alterman published a poem titled "About This" in Israel's daily Davar. He wrote the poem five months after the massacre of Palestinians in Lydda and, in the poem, recounted and denounced war crimes committed by the Israeli military. The following quote comprises excerpts from the poem; translation by Ralph Mandel.] "Across the vanquished city in a jeep he did speed – A lad bold and armed, a young lion of a lad! And an old man and a woman on that very street Cowered against a wall, in fear of him clad. Said the lad smiling, milk teeth shining: 'I'll try the machine gun' and put it into play! To hide his face in his hands the old man barely had time When his blood on the wall was sprayed. We shall sing, then, about 'delicate incidents' Whose name, don't you know, is murder. Sing of conversations with sympathetic listeners, Of snickers of forgiveness that are slurred. For those in combat gear, and we who impinge, Whether by action or agreement subliminal, Are thrust, muttering 'necessity' and 'revenge,' Into the realm of the war criminal." | 1948-11-19 | Source Source Source |
| Nathan Chofshi (Nathan Hofshi, Nusyn Frankie) | Russian-Israeli pacifist, one of original Jewish "pioneers" in Palestine | [Nathan Chofshi was one of the original Jewish "pioneers" in Palestine, arriving in 1908. The quote below is from a Letter to the Editor he wrote in a rebuttal of an American Zionist Rabbi's claim that the reason Palestinians fled Palestine is that their leaders ordered them to evacuate.] "If Rabbi Kaplan really wanted to know what happened, we old Jewish settlers in Palestine who witnessed the flight could tell him how and in what manner we, Jews, forced the Arabs to leave cities and villages . . . some of them were driven out by force of arms; others were made to leave by deceit, lying and false promises. It is enough to cite the cities of Jaffa, Lydda, Ramleh, Beer Sheba, and Acre from among numberless others. Here was a people who lived in its own land for 1,300 years. We came and turned the native Arabs into tragic refugees. And still we dare to slander and malign them, to besmirch their name. Instead of being deeply ashamed of what we did and of trying to undo some of the evil we committed by helping those unfortunate refugees, we justify our terrible acts and even attempt to glorify them." | 1959-02-09 | Source Source Source Source |
| Neomit Dekel-Chen | Resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, survived kidnapping attempt by Hamas on 10/7/2023 | [Neomit Dekel-Chen's account of trying to flee from invaders in Kibbutz Nir Oz on 10/7/2023.] "[...] About 150 meters later, a tuktuk vehicle pulling an open cart stopped beside us. In the cart there were five people, all from the kibbutz. My good friend was there with three little girls, two of them only 3 years old; they were crying, looking lost. "They continued to drive with us in the back, toward Gaza, when an IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] helicopter appeared above us. At some point the helicopter shot at the terrorists, the driver and the others. There was screaming in the tuktuk. "All the terrorists were dead and we were alive, except for one of the women with us. She had died in the arms of her daughter [probably Doron Katz Asher], who had come to the kibbutz to visit and now would not leave her mother. I took one of the little girls in my arms, another friend took a second little girl and we started running towards the fields [...]. We called out to the woman whose mother had been shot that she should flee with us, because her mother was dead. She kept weeping: 'Mama died in my arms, and I didn't protect the girls.' "We were 50 meters into the fields when I was hit with shrapnel in my head, knee and back. I was bleeding. I lay down on the ground and a tractor showed up. It was my tractor, the one I work with. There were terrorists on it. They saw us and started coming toward us to put us on the tractor and take us with them. I said to myself that it was now or never; I decided to play dead - and they didn't take me. They ignored me. They took the three little girls, the parents of the twin girl, everyone who was there and still alive. They took them all to Gaza. "More terrorists in more cars drove by, loaded with the things they had looted. The IDF helicopter was overhead. I tried to signal to them that I was alive [...]" | 2023-10-16 | Source Source Source |
| Neve Gordon | Israeli professor, fellow of the British academy of social sciences | "One of the first instances of the use of human shields occurred during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in mandatory Palestine, when . . . Palestinian bodies became a warfare technology, used as human shields against insurgency attacks and as 'human mine sweepers.'" [The preceding quote is from, "The politics of human shielding: On the resignification of space and the constitution of civilians as shields in liberal wars," an article Neve Gordon co-authored with Nicola Perugini in 2015. Not only is the use of human shields a violation of international humanitarian law, on 5 October 2005 the High Court of Israel ruled that Israel's longstanding practice of using Palestinians as human shields was illegal. Israeli chief justice Aharon Barak stated, "You cannot exploit the civilian population for the army's military needs, and you cannot force them to collaborate. Based on this principle, we rule it illegal to use civilians as human shields."".] | 2013-09-28 | Source |
| Nikki Haley (Nimrata Nikki Randhawa) | Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., failed U.S. presidential candidate | [On 28 May 2024, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and failed 2024 U.S. presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, visited sites in Israel that had been affected by the violence that occurred on 10/7/2023. While there, holding a purple marker, Haley crouched to write a short, personal message on one of a group of olive green artillery shells destined to be fired by the Israeli military on Gazans.] "FINISH THEM! "AMERICA [LOVES] ISRAEL "ALWAYS "Nikki Haley" | 2024-05-28 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Nili Margalit | Israeli citizen abducted at age 41 with her father 10/7/2023 from Kibbutz Nir Oz, released to Israel 11/30/2023 | [The following testimony is from a letter Margalit, an experienced nurse, wrote to the Israeli war cabinet, which was leaked to media. In her letter she explained that she was held captive with a group of hostages most of whom were aged 75 and older.] "We were in the tunnels, in tough to impossible conditions. Underground, with little oxygen, sporadic electricity, sometimes we would go whole days in the dark. With only the most basic food of rice or pita once or twice a day. [We endured] horrible sanitary conditions [which led to digestive problems among the hostages]. These people are living on borrowed time." | 2023-12-10 | Source |
| Nili Margalit | Israeli citizen abducted at age 41 with her father 10/7/2023 from Kibbutz Nir Oz, released to Israel 11/30/2023 | "If the hostages do not return to their homes, every mother and father will know that they are next in line and that they live in a country that is not committed to their safety." | 2024-02-08 | Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "It is better to burn down buildings rather than have soldiers harmed. There are no innocents there ... One hundred thousand remain [in the north of Gaza]. I have no mercy for those who are still there. We need to eliminate them." | 2024-01-10 | Source Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "Nakba?! Expel them all. If the Egyptians care so much for them- they are welcome to have them wrapped in cellophane tied with a green ribbon. Salamat [Goodbye in Arabic]!" | 2023-10-19 | Source Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "Now we all have one common goal - erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth. Those who are unable will be replaced." [Translated from Hebrew by Google.] | 2023-10-07 | Source Source Source Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "Erase Gaza. Nothing else will satisfy us... Do not leave a child there[,] expel anyone who remains there when it ends, so that they won't re-establish." | 2023-10-09 | Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "We need to put them [the Palestinians] on boats and send them to wherever will be good for them. They're wanted in Scotland? We'll hand them over." | 2023-11-12 | Source Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | Vaturi: "[Rehavam] Gandhi was right [to suggest forcible expulsion of Palestinians in West Bank and Gaza" Kahanist Benzi Gofstein: "[It's] Kahana, darling. He was the first one" Vaturi: "Rabbi Kahana was a great Tzadik [i.e., righteous man]" | 2023-11-14 | Source Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "A return to Jewish settlement in the northern Gaza Strip is a correct and logical answer to the murderous terrorist attack by Hamas! The settlement will help restore security, and fix the image of Israeli victory in the eyes of our enemy." | 2023-11-14 | Source Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "In 1967 we held them by force. This mistake must not be repeated. As a democratic country we must allow them to leave for other countries, far from here #voluntary_transfer" | 2023-11-16 | Source Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "All the preoccupation with whether or not there is internet in Gaza shows that we have learned nothing. We are too humane. Burn Gaza now nothing less!" | 2023-11-17 | Source Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "The war will never end if we don't expel them all." | 2023-11-02 | Source Source Source |
| Nissim Vaturi | Israeli Member of Knesset, Deputy Speaker of Knesset | "Who's left in Gaza? Are there citizens? There are only tunnels, Hamas, and accursed terrorists who murdered children and are holding children hostage. We have to crush Gaza, Gaza is Hamas." | 2023-11-20 | Source Source |
| Noa Argamani | Israeli citizen kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 from Nova music festival | "There is no water or food. All resources have been depleted. Al-Qassam [Hamas' military branch] soldiers are treating us well. They are caring for us as much as they can't but there aren't much [sic] resources left." | 2024-01-14 | Source Source |
| Noa Argamani | Israeli citizen kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 from Nova music festival | "I was located in a building. It was bombed by an IDF [Israeli military] airstrike, an F16 fighter jet. Three rockets were fired. Two of the rockets exploded, and the other didn't. We were in the building with Al Qassam soldiers and three hostages: Myself, Noa Argamani, Itai Svirsky, and Yossef Sharabi. After the building we were in was hit, we were all buried under rubble. Al Qassam soldiers saved my life, and Itai's, unfortunately, we were not able to save Yossi's. After many days...two nights, Itai and I were relocated to another place. While we were being transported, Itai was hit by an IDF airstrike. He did not survive. I remained injured in my head. My head is full of shrapnel, and I have injuries in my body. Itai Svirsky and Yossi Sharabi, they died because of our own IDF airstrikes. Stop this madness and bring us home to our families. While we are still alive, bring us home." [This quote is from a video testimony released by Hamas while Argamani was still captive in Gaza. The details of her testimony have since been confirmed by an Israel Defense Forces investigation. For details, see quotes by Yaniv Kubovich (2/9/2024), catalogued under his name.] | 2024-01-15 | Source Source Source |
| Noa Argamani | Israeli citizen kidnapped to Gaza 10/7/2023 from Nova music festival | "I cannot ignore what the Israeli media has done to me over the past 24 hours, taking my words out of context. "Al Qassam Brigades' members did not hit me while I was in captivity, nor did they cut my hair; I was injured by the collapse of a wall caused by an Israeli airstrike. "I emphasise that no one hit me during captivity, but I was injured all over my body after the airstrike. "I am a victim of the October 7th incident, and I refuse to be victimised again by the Israeli media." [Hamas released a video in January 2024 of Noa Argamani speaking. Her words are quoted on this website under her name and the dates 1/14/2024 and 1/15/2024. In that video, she told about being injured and one hostage with her being killed when a building they were being held in collapsed on them after being hit from a bomb dropped by the Israeli air force. She revealed that the other hostage with her was killed by Israel's air force while they were being transferred to a different location. Argamani also talked about Hamas members covering the hostages with their bodies to protect them from harm during the Israeli air strikes. Yet, after the first testimony she gave (on 22 August 2024) following her captivity, some Israeli news media outlets misrepresented her words and seemed not to remember the details she gave in her January 2024 testimony from Gaza about being bombed by Israel: "My head is full of shrapnel, and I have injuries in my body." On 22 August 2024, when Argamani stated (in English) "All my head was cut" (from being bombed), it was reported that she said, "All my hair was cut." When she stated, "I was being hitted [sic] all over my body," some reported that she said she was being beaten all over her body by Hamas members.] | 2024-08-22 | Source Source Source Source |
| Noam Dan | Israeli relative of Ofer Calderon who was abducted from Israel to Gaza 10/7/2023 and remained in custody on 12/1/2023 | "[We] know for sure that not only did [Israeli civilians] hear bombings, but buildings collapsed on top of their inhabitants, hostages were injured [in the Israeli military's attacks on Gaza]. The IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] damages the houses where [the hostages are] held. [...Our] sanctions on Gaza endanger the health of the hostages [too, because] if Gaza doesn't have flour, [the hostages] don't have flour... It's one to one." "The whole notion that 'the IDF knows and protects [hostages]' has dissolved." [Dan stated she was "surprised" the Israeli army] "allowed us to know so much, because it completely fractured our confidence. We used to think the IDF knows what it's doing – we now know nothing's that simple." | 2023-12-01 | Source Source |
| Noam Dan | Israeli relative of Ofer Calderon who was abducted from Israel to Gaza 10/7/2023 and remained in custody on 12/1/2023 | [Noam Dan had three family members kidnapped to Gaza from Israel on 10/7/2023. Two had been release by 12/17/2023.] "At first, government officials made it clear to us that the hostages were in tunnels, and therefore the army's bombings won't hit them. When the hostages were released, we realized that many of them were above ground, in people's homes. The government kept telling us that they knew where they were, that they wouldn't do anything that would endanger them, that everything was under control. But once the abductees got out of there, these things turned out to be false. Everything we thought [was true] collapsed." [According to Yuval Abraham, journalist at 927 Magazine (which the above quote is taken from, from "Dan's conversations with hostages who had been released, she learned that their primary fear was being killed or wounded by the Israeli army's attacks - fear other captives released in recent weeks. She also said that there was evidence of hostages being hit by Israel's bombing in Gaza."] | 2023-12-17 | Source |
| Noam Dan | Israeli relative of Ofer Calderon who was abducted from Israel to Gaza 10/7/2023 and remained in custody on 12/1/2023 | [Noam Dan's relative, Ofer Calderon, remained in captivity when this interview about hostages being held in Gaza aired 2/3/2024 on Channel 12 News in Israel.] Interviewer: "Do you think this is a frustrating situation where we are faced with someone devoid of emotions and humanity, making it difficult to reach [hostage] agreements with them?" Dan: "Are you referring to [Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya] Sinwar or Bibi [Netanyahu]?" Interviewer: "I was referring to Sinwar." Dan: "Oh, I didn't understand, because Bibi Netanyahu [Israel's prime minister] also meets all these definitions." | 2024-02-03 | Source Source |
| Nof Erez | Reservist Israeli Air Force Col. | "In the IDF, the way the [Apache helicopter] gunship operates is as follows: it arrives at the area of activity attempting to communicate with the division's headquarter command center. [On October 7, 2023] At 6:30 AM, the division headquarter was already gone. If it can't communicate with the division's command center, it attempts to establish communication with the Brigade command center. But this was also gone. And battalion 13 [Golani] sadly wasn't available anymore. I know about a few cases in which gunship pilots received, by means of mobile phones, the contact numbers of patrolling groups in the settlments [around Gaza] and then coordinated with them fire management and support." | 2023-11-20 | Source |
| Nof Erez | Reservist Israeli Air Force Col. | "And the Hannibal directive, when people speak about it, is about stopping a hostage scenario with a single vehicle. It was guided by past events in Lebanon over three decades ago. Even there, there is no clear singular authority for the gunship or the drone operator to open fire on the vehicle, acting carelessly of the safety of the hostage, there is no directive that formally specifies that." | 2023-11-20 | Source |
| Nof Erez | Reservist Israeli Air Force Col. | "We don't know whether hostages were hit once gunships and drones started to fire at the fence once they saw the mass traffic through the fence that was coming in and going out." | 2023-11-20 | Source |
| Nof Erez | Reservist Israeli Air Force Col. | "It was an impossible mission to identify [targets] and to do what they [the pilots] did [kill many unidentified people]. I know that whoever had the weapons systems available, both drones and gunship pilots, did whatever they could without the coordination with ground forces because these weren't around." | 2023-11-20 | Source |
| Nof Erez | Reservist Israeli Air Force Col. | "They didn't bomb houses without permission. I myself, by the way, saw many drones above every settlement as a computer image. We can watch from every command center in Israel. There is a big problem to deploy drones above your own territory, if you don't know who is the enemy and who is the settlement's patrol unit and who are our soldiers that were there already by 10 AM, and to identify them from the air neither with the FLIR system [infrared thermal cameras] on the gunship or with the FLIR system of the drones, is absolutely impossible. If you don't have someone to talk to and tell you that 'I am in house number such and such and everyone on the other side is an enemy', [if you don't have that] it is very hard to hit and shoot." | 2023-11-20 | Source |
| Nof Erez | Reservist Israeli Air Force Col. | "Hannibal directive was probably deployed because once you detect hostage situation, this is Hannibal. But, the Hannibal we have been drilling in the past 20 years was relating to a [single] vehicle, you know at what point in the fence it would come in, on what side of the road it would move, and even on which road. What we saw here was a MASS HANNIBAL. There were many openings in the fence, thousands of people on many different vehicles with hostages and without." | 2023-11-20 | Source |
| Noga Arbell | Former Israeli foreign ministry official | "Our main goal in the war is to eliminate the threat, and not to neutralize it. And we know how to eliminate terrorists. It is more difficult for us with an idea. UNRWA is the source of the idea. The idea is that more and more terrorists are born in all kinds of methods. And it will be impossible to win the war if we do not destroy [translation disputed by Ms. Arbell, she reports that she said 'defund'] UNRWA. And this destruction must begin immediately. It is not relevant to talk about the day after. The day is now. We must act to deal with these threats completely. Or that we will miss the opportunity window, as we have already done here several times. And in this context, there are two ways we can move forward today. One is the relationship of the State of Israel to UNRWA and the countries that contribute to it. And the second is the relationship to the Palestinian population that UNRWA serves. Sometimes in a legitimate way. In order to deal with UNRWA itself, let's remember that it operates here, in the territories that Israel conquered in 1967, at the request of Israel to do so. This is what brought it here. Israel can now ask it to stop. And, at the same time, dig into the refugee status that it distributes very generously. Because for a refugee there are international obligations. UNRWA's duties cannot be ignored. They must be abandoned. Or they must go to hell. Whoever deserves it should go and check if the UNHCR can help." | 2024-01-04 | Source Source Source Source |
| Nurit Peled-Elhanan | Israeli professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem | [Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studied the content of Israeli school books for five years before her book, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, was published. She said what she discovered in those books was "racism."] "The objective of removing Palestinian citizens from the land legitimates the current occupation and the permanent confinement imposed by the military government of 1948-1966 on all Palestinian citizens. Schoolbooks justify this period of ongoing siege by the overriding need to keep as much land as possible in Jewish hands. "'The military government helped Jewish settlement all over the country and prevented Arab seizure of vacant lands.' (Shahar 2010, 138). "These 'vacant lands' or 'state land' were confiscated from the Palestinians. The practices of the Occupation such as the separation wall, check-points, targeted assassinations, administrative detention ('detaining a person without trial, without being able to meet a lawyer for an indefinite span of time,' Going the Civilian Way, 2012), house demolition, confiscation of land, curfew, and the use of 'mild' physical and psychological pressure ('not torture,' ibid.) are explicitly rationalized and legitimated in the name of our 'defensive democracy'." [The textbooks referred to in the above quote are: Shahar, David. 2010. Citizenship in the State of Israel. Tel Aviv: Kineret and Geldi, Bina, Nisan Naveh and Asaf Matzkin (2012) and Going the Civilian Way.Tel Aviv Rahes Publishers.] | 2022-05-01 | Source |
| Nurit Peled-Elhanan | Israeli professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem | "Palestinians are never presented in [Israeli] schoolbooks as human beings with whom we can identify or seek to become close to, and the very few photographs that depict them are invariably 'evidence' of terror and backwardness (Peled Elhanan 2012). Their stereotypization fixes them in the unchanging 'race' that was assigned to them. "Following is an example of this practice: 'The Arab society is traditional and objects to changes by its nature, [it is] reluctant to adopt novelties [...]. The Arabs refuse to live in high-rise buildings and insist on living in one-storey land-exploiting houses.' (Geography of the Land of Israel, 2003, 303)." "The Palestinians who remained on the land in 1948 are frequently defined as obstacles on the way to a purely Jewish state. They are 'our' problems: the refugee problem, a 'developmental problem,' a 'demographic problem' and a 'security threat.' These problems often act as 'a self-directed phenomenon, independently of human action or cause." (Van Leeuwen, ibid.) Following is an example from the schoolbook The 20th Century (Barnavi 1999, 184). "'Although Israel emerged victorious from the war of survival that was forced upon her, for more than a generation the Palestinian problem would poison the relationship between Israel and the Arab world, and with the international community.' "By defining Palestinians as a problem Israeli schoolbooks set them in a hierarchy that justifies their removal while legitimating Jewish superiority and the privilege of the Israeli colonizer to 'usurp of indigenous land and goods'(Memmi 2005)." [Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studied the content of Israeli school books for five years before her book, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, was published. She said what she discovered in those books was "racism." The textbooks she refers to in this quote is Aharony, Y., and T. Sagi. 2003. The Geography of the Land of Israel – A Geography textbook for grades 11-12. Tel Aviv: Lilach Pub and Bar-Navi, E. 1998. The 20th Century: A History of the People of Israel in Recent Generations, for Grades 10–12. Tel Aviv: Sifrei Tel Aviv.] | 2022-05-01 | Source |
| Nurit Peled-Elhanan | Israeli professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem | [Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studied the content of Israeli school books for five years before her book, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, was published. She said what she discovered in those books was "racism."] "The only thing that unites the antagonistic Jewish ethnic groups in Israel is fear of the enemy and the quest for a Jewish national "purity" along with the belief that only a Jewish majority and a strong Jewish army can prevent another Holocaust, this time perpetrated by the Palestinians or other Muslim powers, such as Iran. "The most recent civic studies textbook Being Citizens in Israel: A Jewish Democratic State (2016, 15) reiterates time and again that the Jews must maintain their majority in the land of Israel/Palestine called Eretz Israel, because 'our people still bleeds,' and the state of Israel with its strong army ensures that the Jews will not once again become a minority that can easily be exterminated by hostile majorities. The book asserts that 'the Holocaust that befell the Jewish people during WWII is proof of the existential need to found a state where the Jews can live in security.' (31, 325). "The book explains that the Law of Return, which entitles every Jew in the world to Israeli citizenship upon arrival, serves to safeguard the Jewish majority, because this majority is not secure as long as the borders of the state have not been defined to Israel's satisfaction and the Palestinians' demand for an equivalent right of return has not been buried (ibid.). "Securing a Jewish majority justifies violating international law and decisions as Going the Civilian Way (2012, 250) declares: 'Upon the founding of the state of Israel, many Arabs fled the land. The state does not allow them to return and reunite with their families in order to secure the Jewish majority'." [The textbooks Peled-Elhanan refers to in this quote are: Alperson, Bilhah, Dubi Tamir, and Dana Shtrakman. 2016. Being Citizens in Israel: A Jewish Democratic State. Jerusalem: The Ministry of Education, and Geldi, Bina, Nisan Naveh and Asaf Matzkin (2012) Going the Civilian Way. Tel Aviv Rahes Publishers.] | 2022-05-01 | Source |
| Nurit Peled-Elhanan | Israeli professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem | [Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studied the content of Israeli school books for five years before her book, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, was published. She said what she discovered in those books was "racism."] "The Jewish army as the epitome of Zionism's victorious response to Nazism is heralded in the Minister of Education's communications to teachers and students. On September 1, 2020, he emphasized the values of Zionism: 'love of the land and of the nation, the importance and uniqueness of the Israeli army.' "And on Holocaust Day 2020: '... How long it took for this nation to cover the distance from the lonely shoe of a baby girl in Auschwitz to an IDF military tank? It took only three years! Three years. This is the wonder of [our] resurrection.' "Although these letters were circulated to all teachers and students, it was clearly addressed solely to Jewish students and teachers. The 20% Palestinian-Israeli teachers and students were obviously excluded." | 2022-05-01 | Source |
| Nurit Peled-Elhanan | Israeli professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem | "[...] civic Studies schoolbooks assure students that a democracy can be an exclusionary and segregationist Ethnocracy: 'There is no contradiction between the fact that Israel is a civil nation of citizens [in which] several ethno-cultural minorities live and that the only nationality that enjoys self-determination is the Jewish one.' (Diskin 2013, 165)." [Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studied the content of Israeli school books for five years before her book, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, was published. She said what she discovered in those books was "racism." The book referred to in the above quote: Diskin, Abraham. 2013. Israel in Politics and Government. Maggie Publishers, Israel.] | 2022-05-01 | Source |
| Nurit Peled-Elhanan | Israeli professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem | "Schoolbooks justify the ongoing endeavor to distance Palestinian citizens from the land by the need to 'Jewify' the entire country. "'[We must] preserve the national land and protect it from illegal invasion by the non-Jewish population, to acquire land for development in order to prevent [the formation of] a territorial sequence of non-Jewish settlements, lest an Arab sequence brings about the detachment of the Galilee from the state of Israel.'" [Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studied the content of Israeli school books for five years before her book, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, was published. She said what she discovered in those books was "racism." The book referred to in this quote is Aharony, Y., and T. Sagi. 2003. The Geography of the Land of Israel – A Geography textbook for grades 11-12. Tel Aviv: Lilach Pub.] | 2022-05-01 | Source |
| Nurit Peled-Elhanan | Israeli professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem | [The following quote is from a confidential letter Chaim Arlosoroff sent to Chaim Weizmann, in which he outlined his views on Zionist strategy, specifically, "Plan D" (also known as Plan Dalet). At the time, Chaim Weizmann was president of the World Zionist Conference (1921-32, 1935-46) and Chaim Arlosoroff was director of the political department of the Jewish Agency for Israel. After outlining the first four stages of Plan D, Arlosoroff commented on the next stage.] "The real test of Zionist policy is whether the next stage in this sequence is attainable on the basis of its current strategy. Under present circumstances Zionism cannot be realized without a transition period during which the Jewish minority would exercise organized revolutionary rule... during which the state apparatus, the administration, and the military establishment would be in the hands of the minority. [I am aware that this] might even resemble dangerously certain political states of mind which we have always rejected, [but I will] never become reconciled to the failure of Zionism before an attempt is made whose seriousness corresponds to the seriousness of the struggle." | 2022-05-01 | Source |
| Nurit Peled-Elhanan | Israeli professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem | [Peled-Elhanan, a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, studied the content of Israeli school books for five years before her book, Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education, was published. She said what she discovered in those books was "racism"] "- but, more than that, a racism that prepares young Israelis for their compulsory military service. [Palestinians are only referred to as "Palestinians" in the context of terrorism. They are generally called, "Arabs."] "The Arab with a camel, in an Ali Baba dress. They describe them as vile and deviant and criminal, people who don't pay taxes, people who live off the state, people who don't want to develop. The only representation is as refugees, primitive farmers and terrorists. You never see a Palestinian child or doctor or teacher or engineer or modern farmer. [...Children grow up to serve in the army and internalise the message that Palestinians are] people whose life is dispensable with impunity. And not only that, but people whose number has to be diminished." | 2011-08-07 | Source |
| Oded Forer | Israeli Member of Knesset, Former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Former Minister of Development of the Periphery, the Negev, and the Galilee | "There cannot be any humanitarian aid in [Gaza] while there are hostages in the Gaza Strip who are not receiving any humanitarian aid and are not receiving any visits, not from the Red Cross, and no one has any idea what is happening to them." | 2023-10-16 | Source Source |
| Ofer Cassif | Israeli Member of Knesset | "The Ethics Committee's decision [when they voted to suspend me] is another nail in the coffin of freedom of political expression. In each of my interviews, I emphasised my complete condemnation and deep disgust for the criminal massacres by Hamas. The political statements against the occupation and the war are not statements against Israel, since peace and justice also serve it and its inhabitants. | 2023-10-18 | Source Source |
| Ofer Cassif | Israeli Member of Knesset | [Ofer Cassif made the following post to social media after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed United States Congress in July 2024.] "Like any psychopath, Netanyahu in his disgraceful speech denied all guilt and responsibility and put them on others - the Palestinians, the protesters, the left and who not. His speech was full of lies, distortions, smears and demagoguery typical of bloodthirsty fascist dictators. "But the painful truth must be told: Netanyahu is a war criminal and a mass murderer - he is the head, he is the culprit: in the genocidal massacre in Gaza, in the destruction, in the starvation and thirst, in the anihilation [sic] of hospitals, educational and religious institutions, in the obliteration of entire families from the face of the earth, in sacrifying [sic] the hostages to to [sic] torturing and soldiers as cannon fodder. And all just to stay in power and persist in his malicious plan - the destruction of the Palestinian people and the establishment of a full-fledged racist fascist dictatorship in Israel itself. "We shall not be silent and never give up! We shall continue to fight together - Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs - for the liberation of all, for an end to the criminal bloodshed, for Palestinian independence and a just peace for the benefit of both peoples of this land." | 2024-07-24 | Source |
| Ohad Tal | Israeli Member of Knesset | "We cannot go back to the same conception... we need to exact a territorial price from them [Hamas], including returning Jewish settlements at least to the north of Gaza Strip." | 2023-10-16 | Source Source |
| Ohad Yahalomi | Resident of Kibbutz Nir Oz, abducted to Gaza 10/7/2023 at age 49 | "Benjamin Netanyahu, please stop creating problems. We want for these people [Gazans]-for the families of these people-to live in respect, and for there not to be more pain. I ask you to release everyone from here. Be wise; our future and the future of the good people of Gaza are one. We don't want wars." [While a few Israeli news outlets reported on the video released by Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades on 1/19/2024, and that Ohad Yahalomi appeared to be injured, none reported the words spoken by Yahalomi in the video – not his Hebrew message for Netanyahu nor his "Thank you very much. I appreciate it," (spoken in English) to the presumed Brigade members who appeared to be treating Yahalomi's injured leg. According to Israeli sources at the end of January 2024, Yahalomi was presumed to still be held hostage in Gaza. He was not reported to have been killed after being targeted by the Israeli Air Force, as the Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades claimed, on their release of the video.] | 2024-01-19 | Source Source Source |
| Omer Bar-Lev | Former Israeli Minister of Public Security, Former Israeli Member of Knesset | "A complete siege on Gaza. No water, no electricity, no food. Like in Beirut 1982. Water for the south of the Gaza Strip - only in exchange for the return of the kidnapped children and women. A wide humanitarian operation only in exchange for the return of all the kidnapped. We must not give in, even if Biden pressures us." | 2023-10-17 | Source Source |
| Omer Tishler | Israeli Air Force Chief of Staff, Brig. Gen. | "We do not act like the other side, we do not attack the civilian population. Behind every attack there is a target." | 2023-10-11 | Source |
| Omer Tishler | Israeli Air Force Chief of Staff, Brig. Gen. | "We operate in a precise and professional manner, but not surgically." | 2023-10-11 | Source |
| Omer Tishler | Israeli Air Force Chief of Staff, Brig. Gen. | "Our airstrikes are very broad, but [sic] not surgical. [Attacking] all these areas of terror are targets of substance... Where there is an enemy and where you want to kill an enemy- you don't do a 'tap on the roof' [i.e., you don't warn the civilian population]. Period." | 2023-10-11 | Source |
| Ophir Wallas | Rabbi at the Bnei David Military Mechina | "In conquering the Land [of Israel] according to Nachmanides and Rashi, who say that the wars of today are also mitzvah wars for conquering the Land, I am beholden to nothing. This isn't the law of the persecutor, right? [Law of the Persecutor is a halachaic law (collective body of Jewish religious laws) permitting the harm, up to killing, of a person who is 'persecuting' others and putting them in danger.] What law are we dealing with? The laws of a mitzvah war, a war of occupying the Land. [Mitzvah wars are believed to be ordained, holy wars, during which the enemy is considered to be the enemy of God.] "Even if I don't conquer Gaza right now, [conquering it] is part of my ability to settle the Land of Israel, so it is also a part of the mitzvah of conquering the Land. And therefore it follows, there's no other way; like, we'd have to kill them all. Because this is the difference between the Law of the Persecutor and mitzvah wars [...] A mitzvah war of conquering the Land, which is not limited to saving the people of Israel from their enemies, according to some of the Rishonim I could, on the face of it and by the essential law, destroy, kill and cause to perish all of them. I will not do so, because if I were to do so, and reject international treaties, then the State of Israel shall perish, unless we shall witness a miracle of miracles – and one must not trust in a miracle. And that's the only reason I won't do it." [In the above quote (from a lecture captured on video), Rabbi Ophir Wallas of the Bnei David Military Mechina was teaching young would-be soldiers that Israelis are (according to Jewish religious laws) permitted to wipe out Palestinians, and that only fear of massive retaliation prevents that. A mechina is a religious school that prepares high school graduates for military service with extremist interpretations of the Jewish Torah. Mechina teachers are public employees who receive their salaries from Israel's Education Ministry and Defense Ministry.] | 2018-04-15 | Source Source Source |
| Oren Schindler | IDF Lieutenant Colonel, commander of the 74th battalion of the1887th brigade | Schindler: "We need to make sure that whenever the IDF meets Gaza, there is devastation. Nothing more, nothing less." Interviewer: "Did it happen?" Schindler: "Where battalion 74 was, it happened, I can guarantee you that. Devastation, nothing less. In every place we were, there was only sand left, and houses on the ground. Because in every home, unfortunately, I learned that in Gaza there is no innocence." | 2024-01-16 | Source Source Source Source |
| Oren Schindler | IDF Lieutenant Colonel, commander of the 74th battalion of the1887th brigade | "[...] when they [Gazans] look at Shujaiya, they'll see there's nothing here. They'll see only sand. [...] In my opinion they will not be able to return here for at least 100 years." | 2024-01-16 | Source Source |
| Oren Zini | Chief of Staff of the IDF Northern Brigade in Gaza, Colonel (Res., currently in active duty in Gaza) | We are talking here about a hornets' nest. The entire Strip is a hornets' nest of terrorists. Therefore we have to work systematically... A systematic, continuous, long treatment- without taking to heart all these noisemakers, ... there are a lot of noisemakers, we should ignore them at the moment. I object to, now I'm talking privately, yes? As a private individual. I object to the entry of all sorts of things to the other side that might help them recover. I believe in suffocating it. This means stubbornly continuing to strangle them- below ground, above ground." | 2023-11-16 | Source |
| Oren Zini | Chief of Staff of the IDF Northern Brigade in Gaza, Colonel (Res., currently in active duty in Gaza) | Interviewer: "Let me tell you another thing, I'm sure you will agree with me: Israel must demonstrate a performance in Gaza that will have significance in two ways: one is 'so that they see and fear' We must remember that the entire Middle East is looking at Israel in Gaza; ... and the second thing is the domestic scene in Israel- I think Israel, both the military and the state owe our society the completion of the task." Zini: "Unequivocally, I agree with what you said." | 2023-11-16 | Source |
| Ori Givati | Former Israeli soldier | "I joined [the Israeli military] to be a combat soldier because I wanted to protect my country, my friends and my family. When I see the military that I joined used as an employee of the settler movement, this process is terrifying for me. It's already devastating for the security of Israel itself. "[As a soldier in the Israeli military, you] don't have the order to stop violent settlers. What you do have orders for is to protect the Jewish community. We don't have orders as soldiers to protect everyone in the area. We have hundreds of testifiers. None of them said that they received an order to detain a settler attacking a Palestinian, even though it's the most simple order." | 2023-11-14 | Source |
| Ori Givati | Former Israeli soldier | "Occupying millions of people for decades means you control their everyday life. The first command I received as a soldier in the West Bank was to make all of the Palestinians feel like they cannot lift their heads up. We have to make sure that they know who's the boss. How do we do that? We make sure that all of the Palestinians cannot pass a day without understanding who is controlling them. "For example, one of the missions is called a mock arrest. A mock arrest is when a group of soldiers invades a Palestinian home in the middle of the night, arrests one of the family members. It can be a few minutes, sometimes it's a few hours. They choose, with intelligence, the home of a family that is not violent; they arrest the father, usually, and then bring them back because they're just training for a future mission. Imagine the impact of this mission to the kids, to the wife, to the family." | 2023-11-14 | Source |
| Ori Givati | Former Israeli soldier | [In the following quote, Givati addressed Israeli settler violence against Palestinians living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.] "The violence is not new. It didn't start during this war. It started in 1967 from the first day of the occupation. But today, what we're seeing in the West Bank is the peak of this violence. To understand the violence we have to understand what's behind it. Violent settlers understand that by attacking a Palestinian community in a rural village, if they do it with enough persistence and with enough interruption they can make them move away. Violent people exist everywhere, criminals exist everywhere. But what we are seeing today is a phenomenon of settlers attacking Palestinians while the military, which is supposed to protect the Palestinians, is actually protecting the attackers. Palestinians in these communities are left with zero protection of their families, of their lands, of their culture, and are basically left with no options, leaving sometimes decades-old communities." | 2023-11-14 | Source |
| Orit Strook | Israeli Minister of Settlements and National Missions | "There is no such thing as a Palestinian people. There will never be a Palestinian state in the land of Israel. Every cultured person in the world knows that this land is ours, for the Israeli people and only for us. [A Palestinian state would be an] existential threat [to Israel and the] peace and order of the whole world." | 2024-02-20 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Ovadia Yosef | Israeli rabbi, spiritual leader of the Shas Party (which was a part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government from 2009-2012) | [Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said the lives of non-Jews were protected in order to prevent financial loss to Jews.] "With gentiles, it will be like any person: They need to die, but God will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one's donkey would die, they'd lose their money. This is his servant. That's why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew." | 2010-10-16 | Source Source Source Source |
| Ovadia Yosef | Israeli rabbi, spiritual leader of the Shas Party (which was a part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government from 2009-2012) | [Rabbi Ovadia Yosef shared his view of Muslims during a weekly Saturday night sermon in December 2009.] "They're stupid. Their religion is as ugly as they are." | 2009-12-?? | Source Source Source |
| Ovadia Yosef | Israeli rabbi, spiritual leader of the Shas Party (which was a part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government from 2009-2012) | "It is forbidden to be merciful [to Arabs.] You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable. [...] The Lord shall return the Arabs' deeds on their own heads, waste their seed and exterminate them, devastate them and vanish them from this world." | 2001-04-09 | Source Source Source Source |
| Ovadia Yosef | Israeli rabbi, spiritual leader of the Shas Party (which was a part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government from 2009-2012) | "Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] and all these evil people should perish from this world. God should strike them with a plague, them and these Palestinians." [Rabbi Ovadia Yosef made this comment in his weekly sermon at an Israeli synagogue a few days before peace talks between Israel and Palestine were scheduled to begin in the United States. Yosef denounced the peace talks and the Palestinian Authority's president.] | 2010-08-29 | Source Source |
| Ovadia Yosef | Israeli rabbi, spiritual leader of the Shas Party (which was a part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government from 2009-2012) | [In a sermon to his congregation in August 2000, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, leader of the Shas Party (a Haredi religious political party in Israel), declared that Prime Minister Ehud Barak lacked sense because he was trying to make peace with Palestinians.] "Where are this man's brains? He runs a mad dash after them [Palestinians] to catch them and then he continues to make peace. But what is peace? This is peace? There should be security for the people of Israel. Why are you [Prime Minister Barak] bringing them [Palestinians] close to us? You bring snakes next to us. How can you make peace with a snake? Those evildoers, the Arabs--it says in the Gemara [religious texts] that God is sorry he ever created those sons of Ishmael." | 2000-08-06 | Source Source Source |
| Ovadia Yosef | Israeli rabbi, spiritual leader of the Shas Party (which was a part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government from 2009-2012) | [Rabbi Ovadia Yosef claimed Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for U.S. President George W. Bush's support for Israel's "disengagement" in Gaza and northern West Bank.] "There was a tsunami and there are terrible natural disasters, because there isn't enough Torah study... black people reside there [in New Orleans]. Blacks will study the Torah? (God said) let's bring a tsunami and drown them. "Hundreds of thousands remained homeless. Tens of thousands have been killed. All of this because they have no God. Bush was behind the (expulsion of) Gush Katif. [Gush Katif was was a bloc of 17 illegal Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza Strip. As part of the Israeli government's decision to withdraw its military presence from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military removed 8,600 Israeli residents from their homes in August 2005, and they were forced to leave Gaza.] He encouraged [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon to expel Gush Katif...we had 15,000 people expelled here, and there 150,000 [were expelled]. It was God's retribution ...God does not short-change anyone. He [Bush] perpetrated the expulsion. Now everyone is mad at him...this is his punishment for what he did to Gush Katif, and everyone else who did as he told them, their time will come, too. "Where can evil escape to from God? Its time will come and it will be slapped on the head." | 2005-09-07 | Source Source Source |
| Patrick J. Hurley | American politician and diplomat, U.S. President Roosevelt's representative in the Middle East | [In a report to the American Government dated May 3, 1943, General Patrick Hurley, President Roosevelt's personal representative in the Middle East, made the following statement.] "Among the Arabs, there is little or no anti-Jewish sentiment as we ordinarily use the term; nor is there serious opposition to the concept of a Jewish National Home. There are racial relationships between the Arab and the Jew. Notwithstanding these factors, there is deep-seated Arab hostility to any immigration program intended to create a Jewish majority in Palestine and to the establishment of a Jewish sovereign state. "There is hostility also toward the Jewish claim that they are the 'chosen people' and hence entitled, even though they are a minority, to special privileges. One leading Arab spokesman described this 'chosen people' concept as kindred to Nazi doctrine. "The basic fear of the Arab leaders seems to be that a Jewish Political State in the Middle East, due to the influence of world Jewry on the great powers, would become the means by which imperialism would continue to dominate the Middle East. Such a condition would, of course, obstruct the establishment of really independent Arab political, states in an Arab union." | 1943-05-03 | Source |
| Patrick J. Hurley | American politician and diplomat, U.S. President Roosevelt's representative in the Middle East | [In a report to the American Government dated May 3, 1943, General Patrick Hurley, President Roosevelt's personal representative in the Middle East, made the following statement.] "Mr. Ben-Gurion, the Zionist leader in Palestine, discussed at length and with unusual eloquence the Jewish claim to political control of Palestine. Throughout his argument, Mr. Ben-Gurion assumed and asserted that the Government of the United States is committed and obligated, repeat obligated, to establish a Jewish Political State in Palestine. "This alleged obligation was said to derive from: (1) Scriptural promises and historical logic, (2) the investment in Palestine of Jewish American capital in reliance on the protection of the U.S. Government, (3) support accorded by the U.S. Government to the establishment of the Palestinian Mandate, and (4) support of the Zionist program implied in the Joint Resolution of Congress of 1922. "These Zionist arguments, intended to prove that the United States is obligated to establish a Jewish Political State in Palestine, do have an appeal and do encourage acceptance but they are in fact incorrect. It seemed wise, therefore, to point out to Mr. Ben-Gurion that none of the evidence offered revealed any obligation of the U.S. Government or the American people to support the present Zionist demand for creation of a Jewish majority and establishment of a Jewish Political State in Palestine. The documents involved in (3) and (4) were produced and it was shown clearly that the U.S. Government merely consented to the British Mandate for Palestine and, in the joint Resolution, favored only the establishment of a National Home for the Jews insofar as such a home would not trespass on the rights of Christian and other non-Jewish community in Palestine. "Speakers opposing the Zionist position emphasized to me that the handing over of the Government of Palestine to the Jewish minority would violate the fundamental principles of Americanism, the Atlantic Charter and the four freedoms. [The Four Freedoms were enunciated by President Roosevelt in his State of the Union Message, January 6, 1941, Congressional Record, vol. 87, pt. 1, p. 44.] They pointed out further that if it is admitted that a minority has a perpetual right to restitution of territory taken from it by conquest, the enforcement of that principle would destroy the British Empire and would require the United States to make restitution to Mexico of much of our West and Southwest." | 1943-05-03 | Source |
| Patrick J. Hurley | American politician and diplomat, U.S. President Roosevelt's representative in the Middle East | [In a report to the American Government dated May 3, 1943, General Patrick Hurley, President Roosevelt's personal representative in the Middle East, shared the following information.] "The Zionist organization in Palestine has indicated its commitment to an enlarged program for: 1. a sovereign Jewish State which would embrace Palestine and probably eventually Transjordan; 2. an eventual transfer of the Arab population from Palestine to Iraq; 3. Jewish leadership for the whole Middle East in the fields of economic development and control." | 1943-05-03 | Source Source |
| Prosper Azran | Israeli politician, former mayor of Kiryat Shmona (1983-1997) | "We should plow all of southern Lebanon with the same heavy machinery that plowed Gaza. Destroy all the houses in all of southern Lebanon. Kill everyone who lives there and doesn't want to evacuate." | 2024-07-28 | Source |
| Rafael David "Rafi" Milo | Maj. Gen. of IDF, Cmdr. of Israeli Home Front Command | "[Speaking to the evacuated residents of the southern kibbutz of Yad Mordechai] I think that [the evacuation of residents in the north along the Lebanese border due to conflict with Hezbollah is] a much, much bigger problem. Their situation is much worse than yours. We haven't dealt with the north yet and right now we are very focused on the south [Gaza]. It's a completely different arena- we're preparing for it. We already set a target date for it." | 2023-12-14 | Source Source |
| Rafael Eitan | Former Israeli general, chief of staff of the Israeli military, Israeli parlimentarian | "Anyone who says that the blacks in South Africa are being persecuted is lying. The blacks there want to take over the white minority just like the Arabs here want to take over us. And we, like the white minority [in South Africa], need to act so that they do not take over us." [The preceding quote is from a Hebrew article published in Yedioth Ahronoth on 25 December 1987, and was translated by the person who posted the article to X social media platform (the first source provided for this quote). Other translation tools confirm the translation as accurate.] | 1987-12-25 | Source Source Source Source |
| Rafael Eitan | Former Israeli general, chief of staff of the Israeli military, Israeli parlimentarian | [Following the ousting of several West Bank mayors in the spring of 1982, protests and demonstrations were held by Palestinians throughout the West Bank. As a result, Israeli authorities decided to change their policies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The office of Rafael Eitan, Israeli military chief of staff at the time, released a document outlining the new policy. The document called for the following methods to control Palestinians.] "1. It is necessary to act with force against the agitators and to imprison them at every opportunity." "2. ... When it is necessary, use legal measures which enable imprisonment for interrogation (without a trial) for a period stated in the law, and release them for one or two days and then re-imprison them (tertur)." [The Hebrew word "tertur" is army slang for exercises that are degrading and semi-torturous for a soldier, according to a report (the source of this quote) by the International Commission of Jurists and Law in the Service of Man.] | 1982 | Source |
| Rafael Eitan | Former Israeli general, chief of staff of the Israeli military, Israeli parlimentarian | "The Arabs will never defeat us by throwing stones. Our answer will be a nationalist Zionist solution. For every stone throwing – we'll establish ten settlements. If there will be – and there will be – a hundred settlements between Nablus and Jerusalem, no stones will be thrown." [Rafael Eitan made the preceding comment during a Knesset (Israeli parliamentary) committee meeting in April 1983.] | 1983-04-12 | Source |
| Rafael Eitan | Former Israeli general, chief of staff of the Israeli military, Israeli parlimentarian | When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle. [Rafael Eitan made the preceding statement in a committee of the Israeli parliament in 1983, the month he retired from the Israeli military, as he boasted about his 'victories' in the West Bank (occupied Palestinian territory).] | 1983-04-14 | Source Source Source Source |
| Ram Ben-Barak | Israeli Member of Knesset, Former Deputy Director of Mossad | "Look, a Hamas official said a few days ago that they won't provide for the population [of Gaza], the population are all refugees and the UN should provide for them, right? There was such a statement from someone in Hamas? Well, if everyone in Gaza is a refugee, let's scatter them around the world. Let's scatter them around the world. There are 2.5 million people there, every country will take in 20,000 people, 100 countries. It's humane, it's an obvious [solution]. They are refugees anyway, it is better to be a refugee in Canada than a refugee in Gaza. If the world really wants to solve this problem, it can solve it." | 2023-11-01 | Source Source Source |
| Ram Ben-Barak | Israeli Member of Knesset, Former Deputy Director of Mossad | "Those who think that I have joined the extreme right circles - you can relax. The intention is to build a coalition of countries and international funding that will allow Gazans who want to leave to be absorbed into them with citizenship and a proper absorption basket. Unlike the transfer program of the right, this will be by agreement and with the aim of giving them an opportunity to escape from the reign of fear of Hamas, which uses them as a human shield." | 2023-11-02 | Source Source |
| Ram Ben-Barak | Israeli Member of Knesset, Former Deputy Director of Mossad | "The intention is to build a coalition of countries and international funding that will allow those Gazans who want to leave to be absorbed into these countries with citizenship and a proper absorption basket." | 2023-11-02 | Source |
| Rami Igra | Former member of Mossad (Israel's foreign intelligence agency) | [The following exchange from which the quotes from Rami Igra ("Igra") are taken is a television interview Kan media reporter Ayala Hasson ("Hasson") conducted with Igra in February 2024.] Igra: "In Gaza, everyone is involved. Everyone voted Hamas. Anyone over the age of four is a Hamas supporter. And our goal at the moment [...] is to turn them from Hamas supporters to Hamas dislikers. And the way is supplying the humanitarian aid, through us [i.e. Israel]." Hasson: "OK, so look, regarding the uninvolved, every house in Gaza is a Hamas HQ, weapons, Al Aqsa, everything, all the signs are there. And still, how did you say, children from the age of zero to four? They are uninvolved – maybe when they grow up, they will be [involved]. In the meantime, you cannot starve them – they are children, there's nothing to do." Igra: "I agree with you." Hasson: "This is in the interest of us all." Igra: "It's also against our interest." Hasson: "Yes, exactly." | 2024-02-13 | Source Source Source |
| Raviv Mahmia | Brig. Gen of IDF (commander of Paran Brigade, on 10/7) | "We are in battle inside [kibbutz] Holit. There's also fire from the fields [surrounding], and in the community. We fire projectiles [tank shells] and machine guns. Also in the community. This is a very complex situation. The terrorists did not fight the tank once the tank arrived, they either ran or died. They [tank crews] killed dozens of terrorists." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Raviv Mahmia | Brig. Gen of IDF (commander of Paran Brigade, on 10/7) | "These all women tank crews stopped the attacks. On these two communities where the tanks fought terrorists, most of the terrorists were killed. The ones who didn't die, ran, knowing they don't stand a chance, and these women warriors, with three tanks, fought brilliantly. In ways they were not trained to fight. They battled in Israeli communities, drove on plain roads. And thanks to their activity, further, southern attacks were prevented. The Shalom area communities, were safe from terrorists thanks you [sic] the Paran Brigade forces, and the women tank crews, who were so crucial in this stage. | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Raviv Mahmia | Brig. Gen of IDF (commander of Paran Brigade, on 10/7) | "These are the only combat women tank crews in the world, highly trained, highly professional. | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Raz Segal | Israeli historian | "We have to understand that the UN convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide from 1948 requires that we see special intent for genocide to happen and, to quote the convention, 'intent to destroy a group as defined as racial, ethnic, religious, or national as such' (that is, collectively, not just individuals). And this intent, as we just heard, is on full display by Israeli politicians and army officers since 7th of October we heard Israel's president, it's well known what defense minister Yoav Gallant said on 9th of October declaring a complete siege on Gaza, cutting off water, food, fuel, stating that we're fighting human animals and will react accordingly. He also said that we will eliminate everything. We know that Israeli Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari, for example, acknowledge wanton destruction and said explicitly 'the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy' so we're seeing the special intent on full display and really, I have to say, if this is not special intent to commit genocide, I really don't know what is. | 2023-10-16 | Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Only an explosion that shakes the Middle East will restore this country's dignity, strength, and security! It's time to kiss doomsday. Shooting powerful missiles without limit. Not flattening a neighbourhood. Crushing and flattening Gaza. Otherwise, we would have done nothing. Not with passwords, with penetrating bombs. Without mercy! Without mercy!" | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "A leadership that has mercy on monsters who massacred us is not worthy of leadership. A ceasefire for several hours is surrender, it is weakness, humiliation. They knew there would be a ceasefire, they are so familiar with this shameful conduct. Anyone who took part in this disgraceful decision is a coward. Without crushing Hamas and razing Gaza, we will not have the right to exist." | 2023-10-16 | Source Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Without hunger and thirst among the Gazan population, we will not succeed in recruiting collaborators, we will not succeed in gathering intelligence, we will not succeed in bribing people with food, drink, medicine, in order to obtain intelligence and we know that finding the abductees is a supreme and extremely important goal alongside combat objectives." | 2023-10-23 | Source Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "'Let their village burn'!! Yes, yes, as far as I'm concerned, it's great morale to wish for Gaza to be erased and set on fire. I have said more than once that revenge is a value. They almost conquered the kibbutzim in the south, slaughtered, raped, beheaded, and gouged out eyes, nearly 1400 murdered in a single Sabbath. So let their village burn. And if 'La Familia' sings this, it's because they understand that the enemy only understands force! And more force." | 2023-10-29 | Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Bring down buildings!! Bomb without distinction!! Stop with this impotence. You have ability. There is worldwide legitimacy! Flatten Gaza. Without mercy! This time, there is no room for mercy!" | 2023-10-07 | Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "I urge you to do everything and use Doomsday weapons fearlessly against our enemies. [Israel] must use everything in its arsenal." [The "Doomsday" weapons to which Gotliv referred are Jericho 3 missiles - high-explosive nuclear warheads (which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied possessing), according to MISSILE THREAT, a product of the United States' Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).] | 2023-10-09 | Source Source Source Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Jericho [Nuclear] Missile! Jericho Missile! A strategic alert, before considering the introduction of forces. A doomsday weapon! This is my opinion. May God preserve all our strength." | 2023-10-09 | Source Source Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "There are no uninvolved, neither in Khan Yunis nor in Saja'iya. They are all deserving of death. This must be the working assumption. Bombard without mercy from the air! Ground maneuvers only after flattening buildings. Every Gazan who did not heed the IDF's request to leave is a terrorist assistant. And if [President] Biden or any other kind-hearted person has a problem with this working assumption, he is welcome to enter Gaza himself." | 2023-12-12 | Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "I want to hear fighter jets flying in the sky towards Gaza all the time! Like at the beginning of the war. The shelling that shook the skies of the northern Gaza Strip. The exact same noises. It seems too quiet to me lately. The fate of Khan Younis and Shuja'iyya is the fate of the north of the Gaza Strip. A Gazan terrorist that does not evacuate is responsible for his death. Our brave and spirited soldiers will maneuver only after shelling from the air." [Gotliv referred to every single Palestinian life in Gaza (including the elderly, women, children, and babies) as a "terrorist."] | 2023-12-14 | Source Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Any Gazan who dares to stay in combat zones is an enemy. Any Gazan who dares to stay despite the IDF's [Israeli military's] calls to leave is an enemy. There are no innocents there and there are no uninvolved there. All Gazans who remain there are helping Hamas harm our soldiers. They are mortal. Shell artillery with high intensity mercilessly! We are not a star on the US flag. We are in a war of existence. We must not forget." | 2023-12-18 | Source Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "[...] One should fearlessly declare occupation and control of the northern Gaza Strip while establishing military bases and settlements. This is what the enemy understands as his humiliation. Think outside the box." | 2023-12-28 | Source |
| Revital "Tally" Gotliv | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Bombard from the air without mercy!! Enough with having mercy on the cruel at such painful costs. Enough with having mercy on 'uninvolved' Gazans. There are no uninvolved. Every Gazan who remains in a place of combat is an assistant to a terrorist organization. Enough! Change tactics. Destroy every place where there are terrorists and terrorist assistants. From the air!! Do not risk soldiers' lives if it is possible to bombard from the air!" | 2023-12-07 | Source |
| Revital Smotrich | Israeli; married to Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli lawmaker | [Speaking to Israel's Channel 10 News, Revital Smotrich stated her views on birth.] "[I once] kicked an Arab obstetrician out of the [delivery] room. I want Jewish hands to touch my baby, and I wasn't comfortable lying in the same room with an Arab woman. I refuse to have an Arab midwife, because for me giving birth is a Jewish and pure moment." | 2016-04-05 | Source Source |
| Rishi Sunak | U.K. Prime Minister | "[The U.K. gov't] also recognise that the Palestinian people are victims of Hamas too, and that is why I welcome your [Prime Minister Netanyahu's] decision yesterday that you took to ensure that routes into Gaza will be opened for humanitarian aid to enter. " | 2023-10-19 | Source |
| Rishi Sunak | U.K. Prime Minister | "I want to share the deep condolences of the British people, and stress that we absolutely support Israel's right to defend itself in line with international law, to go after Hamas, to take back hostages, deter further incursions and to strengthen your security for the long-term. Now I know that you are taking every precaution to avoid harming civilians, in direct contrast to the terrorists of Hamas, which seek to put civilians in harm's way. " | 2023-10-19 | Source |
| Robert David Steele | Former CIA Officer, Co-founder of the U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence Activity | "I remain of the view that Jeffrey Epstein is a Mossad clandestine operations officer, assisted by Mossad clandestine operations officer Ghislaine Maxwell, and that their mission is to do precisely what they have been doing: entrap US politicians, judges, celebrities, prosecutors, and corporate leaders with rigged 'no name' hotels and the mult-cavern 'Lolita Island' where anything goes and the Mossad gets it all on video- grown people doing bad things to small children. My sources suggest that Vicky Ward has it wrong, Epstein is not a grifter that made it big on crime, that is a cover story. I believe he was given a billion dollar line of credit by a real Zionist billionaire, and has always been 'on the job.' Alert readers will recall that Ghislaine Maxwell is the daugher of Robert Mazell, one of Israel's most famous super-spies, and the man who single-handedly opened all doors for Israel's promulgation of PROMIS, the first major 'hack' of many Western governments by Israel. I further believe that because Epstein has been 'on the job' that both the CIA and the FBI have been associated with this 'job' and sharing the take. It is more important to them to be able to blackmail as many people as possible to keep their budgets growing, than it is to stop traitors, pedophiles, and white collar criminals. Bill Binney and I, simply accessing the 99% of the NSA database that has not been processed, could nail almost every traitor, pedophile, compromised judge, and white collar criminal within 90 days using Thin Thread. We told Jefferson Sessions, then AG, how to do this. Of course our mail to him (and to Donald Trump) could have been intercepted by the various traitors that so easily gain access to the upper ranks precisely because they have CIA, FBI, Freemason, Knights of Malta, and other forms of sponsorship. The fact that the FBI broke down Epstein's door is somewhat significant. It suggests that the old deal is off the table and our President may be about to begin a scorched earth campaign to drain the swamp. I pray this be so.We do not lack for the knowledge of who all these evil people are. We lack- or have lacked up to today- the integrity to do our jobs and serve the public. If President Donald Trump follows through on this- and then throws in 9/11 disclosure and an end to our support for Zionist Israel and its unregistered agents bribing and blackmailing everyone of consequence (AIPAC and ADL), then he will in all probability be re-elected in a landslide, at the same time that the Democrats lose the House and 27 states flusher their Governors and state legislators out for making it a felony to speak freely about the need to boycott Zionist genocidal apartheid criminal invented state Israel. Whatever the President's intent, American disgust over pedophilia, transgenderism, political correctness, legalizes lies, and foreign wars is now at 'Peak Disgust.' Hear us, Mr. President- we want heads to roll- many heads." | 2019-07-09 | Source Source Source Source |
| Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. | U.S. Environmental Lawyer and 2024 U.S. Presidential Candidate | "Israel is critical and the reason it's critical is because it's a bulwark for us in the Mid East. It's almost like having an aircraft carrier in the Mid East. It's our oldest ally. It's been our ally for 75 years. It has been an incredible ally for us in terms of the technology exchange, and, you know, building the Iron Dome, which we've [U.S. taxpayers] paid a lot for has also taught us enormously about how to defend ourselves at home from missiles. So those military expenditures are, you know, all going, 75% of it, goes to U.S. companies. [They] are under the agreement, under the M.O.U., but if you look at what's happening in the Mid East, now Iran is now- the closest allies of Iran are Russia and China. Iran also controls all of Venezuela's oil. Hezbollah is also in Venezuela. They have propped up the Maduro regime and so they control that oil supply. BRICS, Saudi Arabia is now joining BRICS, so those countries will control 90% of the oil in the world. If Israel disappears, the vacuum in the Mid East, which is, you know... Israel is our ambassador, it's our presence, our beach-head in the Mid East and it gives us ears and eyes in the Mid East. It gives us intelligence. It gives us the capacity to influence affairs in the Mid East. If Israel disappeared, Russia and China would be controlling the Mid East, and they control 90% of the world's oil supply, and that would be cataclysmic for U.S. national security..." | 2023-11-05 | Source Source Source |
| Ronald Reagan | American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States of America | [U.S. President Ronald Reagan hand-wrote diary entries every day he was president (1981 to 1989) except for when he was in the hospital recovering from an assassination attempt in March 1981. Harper Collins published The Reagan Diaries. The following quotes, with context, are taken from a Reuters article, which quoted Reagan's diaries. At one point, the diaries revealed, Reagan compared Israel's bombardment and destruction in Lebanon to the "holocaust."] On 6 February 1982, U.S. President Ronald Reagan noted there was "trouble brewing in the Middle East" ahead of the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon and that, "Right now Israel has lost a lot of world sympathy." According to Reagan's diary entry, one especially devastating bombing and artillery attack on western Beirut in August 1982, led Saudi Arabia's King Fahd to call the White House, "begging me to do something." "I told him I was calling P.M. [Menachem] Begin immediately. And I did -- I was angry -- I told him it had to stop or our entire future relationship was endangered. I used the word holocaust deliberately & said the symbol of war was becoming a picture of a 7-month-old baby with its arms blown off." | 1982 | Source |
| Ronen Bergman | Israeli investigative journalist and author, senior political and military analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest-circulation daily | "[On the morning of October 7, 2023] the first videos about captives started coming in, and [IDF] Headquarters also understood that at least in this respect, this was now a completely different event. This was the moment at which the IDF decided to return to a version of the Hannibal Directive. [...] The 7 Days investigation shows that at midday of October 7th, the IDF instructed all its fighting units to perform the Hannibal Directive in practice, although it did so without stating that name explicitly. The instruction was to stop 'at any cost' any attempt by Hamas terrorists to return to Gaza, using language very similar to that of the original Hannibal Directive, despite repeated promises by the defense apparatus that the directive had been canceled. In practice, the meaning of the order is that the primary goal was to stop the retreat of the Nukhba operatives. [Editor's note: "nukhba" is Arabic for "elite" and refers to a special force in Hamas's Al-Qassam Brigades] And if they took captives with them as hostages, then to do so even if this means the endangerment or harming of the lives of civilians in the region, including the captives themselves." [Ronen Bergman co-wrote the article from which this quote is taken with Yoav Zitun - a reporter and military correspondent at Yedioth Aharanoth (ynetnews), an Israeli news agency,] | 2024-01-12 | Source |
| Ronen Bergman | Israeli investigative journalist and author, senior political and military analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's largest-circulation daily | "In 1986, after the capture and murder of two IDF soldiers by Hezbollah, the IDF introduced a new, secret, and controversial directive. Under the 'Task' section, it included the statement that 'Immediate location of a "Hannibal" incident, delay/halt the capturing force at any price and release the captives.' The original command stated that 'In the course of a capture, the main task becomes rescuing our soldiers from the captors, even at the price of hitting or injuring our soldiers.' According to publications, the order was changed in 2016, softened, and had its name changed. Its current language has not been published, but a clarification was introduced that actions must be avoided that would be highly likely to endanger the captive's life." [Ronen Bergman co-wrote the article from which this quote is taken with Yoav Zitun - a reporter and military correspondent at Yedioth Aharanoth (ynetnews), an Israeli news agency] | 2024-01-12 | Source |
| Roongarun Wichanguen | Sister to Vetoon Phoome, a Thai citizen abducted from Israel to Gaza 10/7/2023, released before 11/28/2023 | "[My brother's] face was very happy, and he seemed okay. He said that he was not tortured or assaulted and had been fed good food. He was taken care of very well. It looks like he just stayed in a house, not the tunnel." | 2023-11-26 | Source Source Source |
| Roy Sharon | Israeli Journalist | "I spoke about a million bodies not as a goal, I said that if, in order to finally eliminate the military capabilities of Hamas, including Sinwar and Deif, we need a million bodies, then let there be a million bodies." | 2023-10-11 | Source Source |
| Sahar Calderon | Israeli citizen abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz with her brother and father 10/7/2023 at age 16, spent 52 days in captivity | [This testimony is about Sahar Calderon's experience as an Israeli hostage in Gaza.] "There was no daylight. There was no sense of time. I heard all the Israeli strikes, very intense bombings. Many times I told myself that, in the end, I will die from Israel's missiles and not from Hamas. When I went into Gaza, I was scared to death. When you're a hostage, you know nothing about what's going on outside. It's complete helplessness. [...] Where I was, the conditions were really hard. I was hungry. People there were constantly hungry and there was nothing we could do. The only questions I had when I was there were, 'When will I get out of here? Will I ever see my family again? Will I return to my normal life?' "I was told I was going back to Israel one hour before. I was sure they were lying to me until they actually came and took me. I met my brother Erez a few moments before we were handed over to the Red Cross. I was so happy to see him. I started crying, and I said to myself, 'I have him, at least,' because I knew nothing. When I reached Israel, I told myself, 'I made it back but what about my father, who has been left behind?' [The hostages who were not released] are suffering there and every day that passes, they suffer more. They feel they have been forgotten there. When I was there, I also felt I had been forgotten." | 2023-12-21 | Source |
| Sahar Calderon | Israeli citizen abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz with her brother and father 10/7/2023 at age 16, spent 52 days in captivity | "Do you know what it's like to be there [in Gaza] for even a day? Not even a day, one hour is hell. I was there for 52 days. Why did I, a 16-year-old girl, need to go through all of that? Why did I need to be in that place for 2 months? "Correct, I am alive and breathing but my soul was murdered. And everyone who is still there [in Gaza] is murdered anew each day." | 2024-02-07 | Source |
| Sahar Calderon | Israeli citizen abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz with her brother and father 10/7/2023 at age 16, spent 52 days in captivity | "I am alive and breathing, but my soul has been murdered. I am grateful to the government for bringing me back, but what about my father who is abandoned anew every day, uncertain if he will live or die? I just want his warm embrace. Bring him back, do not make me lose faith in our country a second time." | 2024-02-08 | Source |
| Salman Habaka | Lt. Col. of IDF, Israeli Tank Battalion Cmdr., killed in Gaza on November 2, 2023 | "I arrived in Be'eri to see Brig. Gen. Barak Hiram and the first thing he asks me is to fire a shell into a house [where Hamas were sheltering]. ... The first question that comes to your mind is- are there hostages there? We did all the preliminary checks before we decided to fire a shell into a house. And then we went from house to house to free the hostages. And that's how the fighting was until the evening. In the kibbutz and in the streets. I realised that as soon as people heard the rumbling of the tanks, they suddenly had a moment of security. The moment that is etched in my memory is that I am driving on the roads and realise that I am going to enter an Israeli community where there are cowards who had taken advantage of the holiday to enter the community, who killed, butchered, and kidnapped elderly children and babies" [Yasmin Porat's eyewitness testimony given to Kan news on November 15, reveals that on October 7 many Israelis, including 12-year-old twins Liel and Yanai Hetzroni, were killed when an Israeli tank fired two shells into the kibbutz Be'eri house they were being held hostage in by Hamas militants] | 2023-10-12 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Sam Goldberg | President of Jewish National Fund - U.S.A.'s Mountain States Region | "It is my honor to be here with you [at the Jewish National Fund's USA Global Conference]. Friends, you are the best of America's zionists, and in this great test of our generation, we shall defeat the evil facing us. After all, defeating evil is the specialty of the Jewish heart. The era of the cowering Jew is over! The Jewish people of today stand strong and we stand united. We are winners, and we will, because that is what winners do. My brothers, my sisters, if you want to be a part of building the golden era of Jewish history, especially if you live here in Colorado, come and find me. Let's build together." | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Sara Netanyahu | Spouse of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu | [no direct verbatim quote. Sara Netanyahu criticized families of hostages held in Gaza for "helping Hamas." It is reported that Sara Netanyahu told these families that their criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu's leadership and decisions helps Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas] | 2024-01-02 | Source Source |
| Sara Netanyahu | Spouse of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu | "I really hope that our revenge, that of the State of Israel, on the cruel enemy- will be a very big revenge. I don't call them human animals because that would be insulting to animals..." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Sara Netanyahu | Spouse of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu | "I want a big revenge." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Sarah Manella | Zionist Israeli settler | I want to go back immediately. When they call me, I will go back to Gush Katif [the former Israeli settlement bloc in Gaza]. [The interviewer asks about the people who already live in Gaza.] "The area is empty now. Now you don't need to think where to put the settlement, you only need to come back and put a new settlement." | 2024-03-?? | Source |
| Shabtai (Shabatai) Kaplan | Soldier, journalist, member of Mapam (formerly, a left-wing political party in Israel) | [The letter quoted below was written by a member of Mapam, a left-wing Israeli political party, to the editor of the party's newspaper, Al-Hamishmar, reporting on a soldier's testimony.] "Dear Comrade Eliezer Peri, "I read today's editorial in Al Hamishmar about procedure in our army, which conquers everything except its base instincts. "Eyewitness testimony given to me by a soldier who was in Dawayima on the day after its capture. The soldier is one of ours, an intellectual, 100-percent reliable. He told me what was in his heart because of a psychological need to unburden his soul of the horrific awareness that our cultured and educated people are capable of achieving this level of barbarism. He told me what was in his heart, because not many hearts today are capable of listening. "There was no battle and no resistance (and no Egyptians). The first conquerors [to enter the village] killed from 80 to 100 [male] Arabs, women and children. They killed the children by smashing their skulls with sticks. There was not a home without its dead. The second wave of the army was a company to which the testifying soldier belonged. "Arab men and women who remained in the village were shut into houses without food or water. Then came sappers [combat engineers] to blow up houses. One commander ordered a sapper to put two old Arab women into the particular house that was going to be blown up with them inside. The sapper refused, saying he took orders only from his commander. So, the commander ordered his soldiers to shut the women in, and the horror was perpetrated. "One soldier boasted that he had raped an Arab woman and then shot her. Another Arab woman who was carrying a newborn baby was made to clean the courtyard, where the soldiers eat. She did that service for a day or two, and in the end she and her baby were shot. The soldier relates that their cultured, polite commanders, who are considered upstanding members of society, turned into base murderers, and not in the heat and passion of battle but in a system of expulsion and destruction. The fewer Arabs that remain, the better. That principle is the political driving force of the expulsions and atrocities, to which no one objects, either in the operational command or in high command. I myself was at the front for two weeks and heard tales of boasting by soldiers and commanders of how they excelled at hunting and "screwing." To screw an Arab, just like that and under all circumstances, is an honorable mission and there's competition for winning at this. "We are in a bind. To issue an outcry in the press is to assist the Arab League, as our representative rejects their complaints out of hand. Not to react is [to show] solidarity with baseness of spirit. The soldier told me that Deir Yassin is not the peak of the wildness. Can we shout about Deir Yassin and remain silent about far worse?" [signed] "Kaplan" [Professor Yair Auron stated in an article he wrote for Haaretz – "Breaking the Silence: The Poem That Exposed Israeli War Crimes in 1948" (3/18/2016) - that he had learned "definitively" that the S. Kaplan to whom the letter above is attributed, was Shabatai (or Shabtai) Kaplan "who went on to serve for many years as the correspondent of the Mapam newspaper Al-Hamishmar in the south." Deir Yassin, mentioned in the letter, referred to the Deir Yassin massacre of Palestinian villagers by Zionist paramilitaries on 4/9/1948. The al-Dawayima massacre of villagers by the Israeli Defense Forces took place in the Palestinian town of al-Dawayima on 10/29/1948.] | 1948-11-08 | Source Source Source Source |
| Shachar Mendelson | Friend of Capt. Harel Itach, from the Givati Brigade of the IDF, who kidnapped an infant from Gaza and who was killed in Gaza on November 22, 2023 | [Clip starts at 10:30/60:00, on Israeli Army Radio] Mendelson: "[Captain Harel Itach] was a friend who helps, a friend who supports-" Interviewer: "Say, you are talking about his big heart, I understand that there is some story about a baby girl, that he saved her life in Gaza? Can you tell me about it?" Mendelson: "He talked to one of the friends during his time at Gaza and told him, said that in one of the houses he entered, he heard the crying of a baby girl, and he decided that he would send her to Israel, despite all the atrocities he saw in [kibbutz] Nahal Oz and in Gaza, he put his heart before it, and did the right thing, and that was the man." Interviewer: "What, wait, for a moment I think I misheard you. He found a crying baby and what did he do with her?" Mendelson: "He brought that Gazan baby back, he brought her back to Israel." Interviewer: "He brought the crying baby to Israel?!" Mendelson: "Yes. He cared for her." Interviewer: "And you probably don't know what's up with this baby today, but her family must have been killed around there or something like that, and he saw that there was no relative who could take care of her, who could take her?" Mendelson: "Right." Interviewer: "Listen, it's a story we'll hear about one day, when this baby is older." Mendelson: "This is a man about whom you will hear about a lot, people will learn about him in the army training base. They will still be learning about the man he was, and the friend he was, and the commander he was." | 2023-12-31 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Sharon Aloni Cunio | Israeli citizen abducted at age 34 from Kibbutz Nir Oz with her twin daughters and husband 10/7/2023, released from Gaza with daughters 11/27/2023 | [Sharon Aloni Cunio shared her testimony at a rally calling for the release of Israeli abductees in Gaza, including her husband. Aloni Cunio and her three-year-old twin daughters were released after 52 days of captivity.] "Fifty-two days in which we didn't know if we would live. Fifty-two days of no night or day. Fifty-two days which we didn't know if they were really 52 days. My husband David has been there for 78 days and every day he doesn't know if he'll live or die. I turn to the war cabinet - Emma and Yuli [her daughters] suffered enough. I ask that returning the captives be the top priority, now, not in another year." | 2023-12-23 | Source |
| Sharon Aloni Cunio | Israeli citizen abducted at age 34 from Kibbutz Nir Oz with her twin daughters and husband 10/7/2023, released from Gaza with daughters 11/27/2023 | [Sharon Aloni Cunio made the following statement about the experience she had, along with her two young daughters, of being held hostage in a house in Gaza, while under bombardment from Israel's military.] "One day the house next door was bombed, and half of the wall, windows, everything broke on us and they [the captors] understood they had to take us from there [to protect us]. We were shaking, shivering, everything was covered in glass, and some glass even went into my head." | 2023-12-25 | Source |
| Sharon Aloni Cunio | Israeli citizen abducted at age 34 from Kibbutz Nir Oz with her twin daughters and husband 10/7/2023, released from Gaza with daughters 11/27/2023 | [Sharon Aloni Cunio addressed the following statement to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.] "We've reached the awful moment when you must decide who lives and who dies ... 136 hostages now wait in tunnels, without oxygen, without food, without water and without hope, waiting for you to save them. The price is heavy, unbearable, but the price of negligence will become a stain for generations." | 2024-02-08 | Source |
| Sharone Lifshitz | Daughter of released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, lives in Walthamstow in east London | "The destruction is so big [in Kibbutz Nir Oz, after October 7]. My parents' home is burned to the ground. There is nothing left, and the people we have lost we will not get back. There is so much trauma, too. At my kibbutz, there is a rota for attending funerals. There are six funerals every day. We have had funerals for whole families." | 2023-10-24 | Source |
| Sharone Lifshitz | Daughter of released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz, lives in Walthamstow in east London | "The way she [Yocheved Lifshitz] walked off and then came back [to the Hamas combatant] and then [shook his hand, said shalom, and] said thank you was quite incredible to me. It's so her." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source Source |
| Shay Golden | Television presenter at Israel's Channel 14 | "... and we keep telling [you] every day, we are coming. We are coming. We are coming to Gaza. We are coming to Lebanon. We will come to Iran. We will come everywhere. ... You must take this into account. Can you imagine how many we are going to kill, how many of you we will slaughter, for each one of the 1,300 that you killed, kidnapped. ... You did not see these numbers in all Arab history. I assure you that it will come, in case you are confused. I assure you it is coming. Numbers that you have never imagined that could be reached. Even if we needed to boycott the entire world, we are prepared to fight the United States and the entire world. As many of you as we need to kill until all of you, including the ones who support you, will go and meet Allah [God]. That's for sure. That's for sure. This is Israel's approach, and this is its sentiment. ... Have fun on your social media accounts, write 'Free Palestine', do all your crying. We will destroy you. Destroy. Destroy! Share this video with all your friends, letting them know what we will be doing to you." | 2023-11-19 | Source Source Source Source |
| Shay Hazkani | Historian, Professor of History and Jewish Studies at University of Maryland | "It's amazing that [David] Ben-Gurion understood so early on that this issue of what happened to those 750-800,000 Palestinians in [1948] would be, perhaps, the main issue that would pre-occupy the State of Israel throughout all his years. But in the late [1950's] he turns this into a state project. He says: 'I want a study written that will prove that the Arabs left on their own accord and weren't driven out by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).' "I found correspondence related to the writing of the study. One of the historians whom Ben-Gurion approached for writing the study, wrote: 'You asked me to write a study proving the Palestinians left on their own accord, following their leaders' demand to do so.' [This historian was Moshe Ma'Oz and the letter of summation of his report was dated September 1962 .] There wasn't even an attempt to say, 'I wrote this study that shows X, Y, or Z.' No. Ben-Gurion demands that history be re-written and that an allegedly certified narrative be created that will show the Palestinians left of their own accord." [The preceding quote is from an interview with Professor Shay Hazkani for a documentary about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Shimon Kutner | Alexandroni Brigade soldier present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "For the most part, we were kids – 18 years old. Some were even 17. "The feeling was like something that doesn't exist in the world. We knew that by fighting the war, we would establish the state." [The preceding quote is from Shimon Kutner's interview for the documentary, "Tantura," about the 1948 massacre in the Palestinian village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Shimon Kutner | Alexandroni Brigade soldier present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "One guy went ballistic [in Tantura]. Moshe Barbalat was his name. We attended elementary school together in Bnei Brak. He took a grenade and threw it into a room and many Arabs were injured or killed." [The preceding quote is from Shimon Kutner's interview for the documentary, "Tantura," about the 1948 massacre in the Palestinian village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Shimon Riklin | Israeli journalist and TV Host of "Riklin and Co" on channel 14 | "[The war] needs to be finished with 2 important achievements: Territory: ... taking control of all the open areas in [Gaza] ... Population: thinning out the population in the [Gaza] Strip as much as possible by encouraging them to leave..." | 2023-10-12 | Source Source |
| Shimon Riklin | Israeli journalist and TV Host of "Riklin and Co" on channel 14 | "Gaza has to be wiped off from the face of the earth." | 2023-10-07 | Source Source |
| Shimon Riklin | Israeli journalist and TV Host of "Riklin and Co" on channel 14 | "Say, why exactly do we have an atomic bomb?" | 2023-10-07 | Source Source |
| Shimon Riklin | Israeli journalist and TV Host of "Riklin and Co" on channel 14 | "There are discussions about who will control Gaza the day after. But there are no discussions about how much territory we will take from the Strip. And that's strange. They invaded us and tried to conquer our territory. And they failed. Therefore, they must pay a territorial price. A significant one. I would turn Beit Hanoun into a high pile of stones. And I would make Beit Lahia into a seafront promenade. We must not retreat back as if nothing happened." | 2023-11-09 | Source Source |
| Shimon Riklin | Israeli journalist and TV Host of "Riklin and Co" on channel 14 | "I am for the war crimes, I don't care if I am criticized, and I honestly don't care. I am unable to sleep if I do not see houses being destroyed in Gaza. What do I say? More houses, more buildings, I want to see more of them destroyed. I want there to be nothing for them to return to. In the Torah, it says they used to spread the earth with salt, and they must complain. This is why we cannot reach a solution with them, and this is what war crimes mean to me." | 2023-12-17 | Source Source |
| Shlomo Ben-Ami (Benabou) | Moroccan-born Israeli historian, former diplomat, former politician | "The reality on the ground [in 1947-1948] ... was that of an Arab community in a state of terror facing a ruthless Israeli army whose path to victory was paved not only by its exploits against the regular Arab armies, but also by the intimidation, and at times atrocities and massacres, it perpetrated against the civilian Arab community. A panic-stricken Arab community was uprooted under the impact of massacres that would be carved into the Arabs' monument of grief and hatred... [historian] Benny Morris['s] thesis about the birth of the refugee problem being not by design but by the natural logic and evolution of the war is not always sustained by the very evidence he himself provides...Ben-Gurion [Zionists' de facto leader]...also instructed that abandoned Arab villages needed to be settled by Jews even before the end of hostilities.... Israel's formal rejection of the refugees' claim for return - a position that remains intact to this day - rather than the expulsion and dispossession, is the real defining moment of the conflict." [Quote from Shlomo Ben-Ami's 2006 book (p.42), Scars of War, Wounds of Peace: The Israeli-Arab Tragedy.] | 2006 | Source Source Source |
| Shlomo Karhi | Israeli Minister of Communications | "Maybe they're not involved [in terrorism] now, but they're not lovers of Israel, they educate their kids in [the ways of] terror. Voluntary emigration is an important thing. There is no violation of human rights here. And the war also must continue." [Karhi made the above statement about the Gazan population, and why he believed it was in Israel's interests to get even innocent civilians to leave the region.] | 2024-01-10 | Source Source |
| Shlomo Karhi | Israeli Minister of Communications | [Regarding the concept of "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians out of Gaza, Karhi stated that in war], "voluntary is at times a state you impose [on someone] until they give their consent." | 2024-01-28 | Source Source Source |
| Shlomo Karhi | Israeli Minister of Communications | "We must settle Gaza, with security forces and settlers who will wrap them and this land in love. We have an obligation to act, for our sakes and even for the sake of those purported uninvolved [Gazan] civilians, to [bring about] voluntary emigration - even if this war, which was imposed on us, turns this voluntary migration into a situation of 'Coerce him until he says, "I want to do so."'" [Karhi was quoting a principle in Jewish law that reportedly allows coercion to be used to get someone to perform certain religious duties - by physical, or other forms of, pressure.] | 2024-01-28 | Source |
| Shlomo Karhi | Israeli Minister of Communications | "Our fighters, who went to war... for revenge for the terrible massacre carried out by the Nazi terrorists... will return to peace with the hostages, only after they have cut off the foreskins of all these accursed." | 2023-11-21 | Source Source |
| Shmarya Guttman (Shmaryahu Gutman) | Israeli archaeologist, leader of Zionist military (Palmach) special undercover intelligence unit (1948) | [In 1948, Shmarya Guttman lived in Kibbutz Na'an, next to the Arab village of Na'aneh and the Bedouin village of Sataria. In spring 1948, at a meeting between leaders of the kibbutz and two villages, Guttman made a pronouncement intended to frighten his neighbors of 15 years into fleeing Palestine.] "There is a great war coming. When it reaches us, Kibbutz Na'an will not be able to stand by you and guarantee your future." [According to Ari Shavit, author of My Promised Land: The Tragedy and Triumph of Israel, who interviewed Guttman decades later, the Bedouins of Sataria left their homes the next morning and fled to Gaza. Na'aneh's villagers did the same a few weeks later.] | 1990s | Source Source |
| Shmuel Eliyahu | Chief Rabbi of Safed/Tzfet, member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, father of Amihai Eliyahu | "A nuclear bomb on Gaza is indeed an option! They will not fire me, they wanted my son, but they will not fire me." | 2023-11-14 | Source Source |
| Shmuel Eliyahu | Chief Rabbi of Safed/Tzfet, member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, father of Amihai Eliyahu | A Jew should not flee from Arabs. A Jew should make the Arabs flee. There is a silent war going on here for land. "Most of the violence in Israeli society stems from the Arabs." "The Arabs have a different code, and violent norms that have become an ideology." [These quotes were among the statements Shmuel Eliyahu made in a 2010 interview with the Hebrew language newspaper, Maariv.] | 2010 | Source Source Source |
| Shmuel Eliyahu | Chief Rabbi of Safed/Tzfet, member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, father of Amihai Eliyahu | "It's time to call the child by its name: Revenge, revenge, revenge. We mustn't forget. We have to take horrible revenge for the terrorist attack at Merced Harav yeshiva" [an incident in March 2008 in which eight students were killed]." [This statement was made in an article Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu wrote for a newsletter - Eretz Yisrael Shelanu – that was distributed to synagogues around Israel. In this article, Eliyahu also proposed "hanging the children of the terrorist who carried out the attack in the Mercaz Harav yeshiva from a tree."] | 2008-03-26 | Source |
| Shmuel Eliyahu | Chief Rabbi of Safed/Tzfet, member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, father of Amihai Eliyahu | [Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu advocated the Israeli military's "carpet bombing" of the general area from which rockets used by Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades were launched, regardless of the price in Palestinian life.] "If they [Al-Qassam Brigades] don't stop after we kill 100 [Palestinians], then we must kill 1,000. If they do not stop after 1,000, then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop, we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop." | 2007-05-30 | Source Source Source |
| Shmuel Eliyahu | Chief Rabbi of Safed/Tzfet, member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, father of Amihai Eliyahu | "[The Arab culture is] very cruel. [...] Arabs use different codes and violent norms that amount to an ideology." | 2012-07-08 | Source Source Source |
| Shmuel Mikunis | Russian-born Communist politician, member of Israeli Knesset (parliament) 1949-1974 | [Shmuel Mikunis learned about atrocities that had been committed in the Meron region by members of the Zionists' underground militia, Irgun. He avoided having his questions being subjected to military censorship by asking Israel's prime minister a parliamentary question, which ended up in the Knesset (i.e. Israeli parliament) archives. The following quote is an excerpt from Mikunis' question.] "A. They [i.e., Irgun members] annihilated with a machine gun 35 Arabs who had surrendered to that company with a white flag in their hands. B. They took as captives peaceful residents, among them women and children, ordered them to dig a pit, pushed them into it with long French bayonets and shot the unfortunates until they were all murdered. There was even a woman with an infant in her arms. C. Arab children of about 13-14 who were playing with grenades were all shot. D. A girl of about 19-20 was raped by men from Altalena [an Irgun unit]; afterward she was stabbed with a bayonet and a wooden stick was thrust into her body." | 1948 | Source |
| Shulamit Aloni | Former Israeli Minister, Former Israeli Member of Knesset | Interviewer: "Often, when there is dissent expressed in the United States against policies of the Israeli government, people here are called anti-Semitic. What is your response to that as an Israeli Jew?" Aloni: "Well, it's a trick, we always use it. When from Europe somebody is criticizing Israel, then we bring up the Holocaust. When in this country people are criticizing Israel, then they are anti-Semitic. And the organization is strong, and has a lot of money, and the ties between Israel and the American Jewish establishment are very strong and they are strong in this country, as you know. And they have power, which is okay. They are talented people and they have power and money, and the media and other things, and their attitude is, 'Israel, my country, right or wrong,' identification. And they are not ready to hear criticism. And it's very easy to blame people who criticize certain acts of the Israeli government as anti-Semitic, and to bring up the Holocaust, and the suffering of the Jewish people, and that is to justify everything we do to the Palestinians." | 2002-08-14 | Source Source Source |
| Singing and Dancing Israeli Soldiers | IDF | "Ahmed Tibi [Palestinian Member of Knesset] is dead, Ahmed Tibi is dead, Ahmed Tibi is dead." | 2023-11-26 | Source Source |
| Singing and Dancing Israeli Soldiers | IDF | "[singing] I'm coming to occupy Gaza and beat Hezbollah. I stick by one mitzvah, to wipe off the seed of Amalek. To wipe off the seed of Amalek. I left home behind me, won't come back until victory. We know our slogan, there are no 'uninvolved civilians.' There are no 'uninvolved civilians.'" | 2023-12-07 | Source Source |
| Supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu | Demonstrators in Tel Aviv | "Gaza and Hurawa. Burning their trucks. (Hurawa!) Their roads and cars. (Hurawa!) Their ambulances and fire engines, with faces covered and sidelocks. You won't recognize Hurawa anymore. Gaza! Everything in Gaza!" [While demonstrating with Israeli flags and posters of Israeli President Netanyahu's face, supporters loudly played, and sang along with, the song "Hurawa is Burning" (with "Gaza is Burning" added. Hurawa is a Palestinian city in the Occupied West Bank that has experienced much violence from Israeli settlers.] | 2024-03-09 | Source Source |
| Tamar | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank gunner, tank commanded by "Ophir" on 10/7 | Interviewer: "This is the first time shooting at people, at terrorists." Tamar: "Yes. I feel like this is what I was trained for, I followed the drills, my brain and hands knew exactly what to do." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Tamar | IDF soldier in Paran Brigade, tank gunner, tank commanded by "Ophir" on 10/7 | "You're saying 'heroes' and 'history'. I don't feel like a hero. I feel like a soldier following orders and doing her job, and I believe anyone would have done the same." | 2023-11-25 | Source Source |
| Tamir Pardo | Former Director of Mossad | "Let's say there's a car accident between a car of a Jewish settler and a car of a Palestinian who lives in Hebron or Nablus. Each one of them stands before a different legal system. One [the Palestinian] under the military legal system and the other [the Jewish settler], the civilian system. In a territory where two people are judged under two legal systems, that's an apartheid state." | 2023-09-06 | Source Source Source |
| Teacher in Israel | Female teacher in class of boys | [The following is an exchange between a teacher and her male students in a classroom in Israel, where there are guests attending to observe.] Teacher: "What comes to your mind when I say the word Yerushalayim (Jerusalem)?" Student: "The holy land, holy house, the temple." Teacher: "Who thinks that the temple will be built in few years?" [Many of the students raise their hands.] "What is there in place of the temple (right now)?" Student: "Al-Aqsa mosque." Teacher: "What will happen to the mosque?" Student: "It will collapse, explode, disappear." Teacher: "Who among you have met an Arabic kid in the last year?" [Many students raise their hands.] One of three men standing next to the teacher (pointing to a student whose hand is raised): "Where did you meet the Arabic kid? Did you talk to him?" Student: "No, he pushed me away and left." Another observer: "What happens when you meet Arabic kids; what do you feel?" Student: "Angry." Student: "I feel I want to kill them [i.e., Arabic children]." Teacher: "And what happens when you meet an un-religious Jewish kid?" Student: "We feel sorry for him because he is secular." Teacher: "Why do you feel sorry for him? Is it because he was not born religious? What did he lose?" Student: "He is not moving in the right path." Teacher: "How do you see Jerusalem in the next 10 years?" Student: "Everybody will be a religious Jew." Student: "And there will be Arabs, but they will be slaves." Teacher: "Oh, because the messiah will be here, I got it." Student: "There will be a massive war and all the Arabs will die." Student: And part of them will become slaves." Teacher: "Good, you got all the information." | 2023-10-13 | Source Source |
| Teddy Kollek (Kollek Tivadar) | Hungarian-born mayor of Jerusalem (1965-1993) | "I am looking after the Jewish majority [in Jerusalem]... that is why we are here, to take care of that." [The above quote from Teddy Kolleck, which suggests that as mayor he had no interest in serving non-Jewish citizens in Jerusalem, was taken from the minutes of a January 1982 meeting of the Jerusalem municipality.] | 1982-01-?? | Source |
| Teddy Kollek (Kollek Tivadar) | Hungarian-born mayor of Jerusalem (1965-1993) | Kollek: "We said things without meaning them, and we didn't carry them out. We said over and over that we would equalize the rights of the Arabs to the rights of the Jews in the city - empty talk... Both Levi Eshkol and Menachem Begin also promised them equal rights -- both violated their promise... Never have we given them a feeling of being equal before the law. They were and remain second - and third-class citizens." Interviewer: "And this is said by a mayor of Jerusalem who did so much for the city's Arabs, who built and paved roads and developed their quarters?" Kollek: "Nonsense! Fairy tales! The mayor nurtured nothing and built nothing. For Jewish Jerusalem I did something in the past twenty-five years. For East Jerusalem? Nothing! What did I do? Nothing. Sidewalks? Nothing. Cultural institutions? Not one. Yes, we installed a sewerage system for them and improved the water supply. Do you know why? Do you think it was for their good, for their welfare? Forget it! There were some cases of cholera there, and the Jews were afraid that they would catch it, so we installed sewerage and a water system against cholera..." | 1990-10-10 | Source Source Source |
| Teddy Kollek (Kollek Tivadar) | Hungarian-born mayor of Jerusalem (1965-1993) | "[L]ike all of us here, it seems to me, I am worried about the balance of power and Arab growth within and around Jerusalem." [The above quote from Teddy Kolleck was taken from the minutes of a June 1984 meeting of the Jerusalem municipality.] | 1984-06-?? | Source |
| Theodor "Teddy" Katz | Israeli post-graduate researcher, University of Haifa | "To find out more about what happened [during the war in 1948], I went to the IDF [Israeli military] archive and searched for all the documents that could shed light on what happened. I accidentally came across two or three documents that clearly weren't supposed to reach me. And one was written by the Chief of Staff to Alexandroni." [Katz reads the following quote from the document written by the Chief of Staff to the Israeli military's Alexandroni Brigade.] "'Re: Tantura, I was informed by the Department of Arab Affairs that our soldiers who entered Tantura carried out much sabotage AFTER the occupation, without any reason.' "Another letter from June 8th [1948], from Tantura base to the region commander: 'I checked yesterday the mass grave at Tantura cemetery. I found everything in order.' "It's not me who says 'mass grave.' It's not me who says, 'burial site in Tantura,' and it's not me who says the chilling words: 'Everything in order.'" | 2022 | Source |
| Theodor Herzl | Father of modern Zionism | "We shall try to spirit the penniless population [Palestinians] across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own country. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly." | 1895-06-12 | Source Source |
| Theodor Herzl | Father of modern Zionism | "It goes without saying that we shall respectfully tolerate persons of other faiths and protect their property, their honor, and their freedom with the harshest means of coercion. This is another area in which we shall set the entire old world a wonderful example. At first, incidentally, people will avoid us. We are in [sic] bad odor. By the time the reshaping of world opinion in our favor has been completed, we shall be firmly established in our country, no longer fearing the influx of foreigners, and receiving our visitors with aristocratic benevolence and proud amiability." [The above quote is an entry Theodor Herzl made in his diary on 12 June 1895, in anticipation of the establishment of a Jewish state. It is noteworthy hat Herzl did not use the words "Palestine" or "Arabs" in this diary entry. At the time of writing, Herzl had not yet decided on the location of the future Jewish state. On 13 June 1895, in a letter he wrote to the Rothschild family, he stated, "I am assuming that we shall go to Argentina."] | 1895-06-12 | Source |
| Theodor Herzl | Father of modern Zionism | "The voluntary expropriation [i.e. of property from Indigenous inhabitants] will be accomplished through our secret agents. The Company would pay excessive prices. We shall then sell only to Jews, and all real estate will be traded only among Jews. To be sure, we shall not be able to do this by declaring other sales invalid. Even if this did not run counter to the modern world's sense of justice, our power would not suffice to force it through. Therefore we must safeguard each of our sales of immovables through an option of re-purchase on the part of the Company. That is, if the owner wants to sell the property, we shall have the right to buy it back at our original sale price. However, we shall add a compensation, to be fixed by a board of experts, for any improvements that have been made." [The above quote is an entry Theodor Herzl made in his diary on 12 June 1895, in anticipation of the establishment of a Jewish state and belief that it must be accomplished through expropriation of property belonging to the Indigenous population. It is noteworthy hat Herzl did not use the words "Palestine" or "Arabs" in this diary entry. At the time of writing, Herzl had not yet decided on the location of the future Jewish state. On 13 June 1895, in a letter he wrote to the Rothschild family, he stated, "I am assuming that we shall go to Argentina." In his 1896 book, The Jewish State, Herzl described "The Company" he mentions in his diary: "The Jewish Company is partly modeled on the lines of a great land acquisition company. It might be called a Jewish Chartered Company, though it cannot exercise sovereign power and has other than purely colonial tasks."] | 1895-06-12 | Source |
| Theodor Herzl | Father of modern Zionism | "I am assuming we shall go to Argentina." [When Zionism's founder, Theodor Herzl, was beginning to outline his plans for a Jewish state, he did so without being certain of where the state would be created. The above quote is from a letter Herzl wrote to the Rothschild family in 1895.] | 1895-06-13 | Source |
| Tim Walz | American politician, Democratic Party's nominee for vice-president in the 2024 presidential election | "[... The] expansion of Israel and its proxies is an absolute, fundamental necessity for the United States to have the steady leadership there." [The preceding quote is from the United States Vice Presidential Debate, hosted by CBS News on 1 October 2024. Margaret Brennan, who co-moderated the debate, asked Tim Walz, "[I]f you are the final voice in the situation room, would you support or oppose a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran?"] | 2024-10-01 | Source |
| Tuval Escapa | Kibbutz Be'eri security team, present for 10/7 | "... the commanders in the field made difficult decisions- including shelling houses on their occupants in order to eliminate the terrorists along with the hostages." | 2023-10-20 | Source |
| Tuvia Heller | Israeli Alexandroni Brigade platoon leader present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "In most of the battles I focused on taking over Arab villages there was always an order, and it came from [David] Ben-Gurion: 'Drive the people out of there.' And that's it. So, they were driven out. Lod, Ramie, Tantura, they were driven out. Obviously, people did it. Someone did the job. We'd get to a village, it was standard, automatic. The buses would come and take the people away." [The preceding quote is from an interview with Tuvia Heller about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Tzipi Hotovely | Israeli Ambassador to U.K. | Interviewer: "Given this conflict is clearly going to go on for some time, the television pictures that we see every night show signs of devastation. You will say, 'Well, we are trying to target as much as possible, but those are not the pictures that we see. We see whole streets devastated. Not individual houses or offices. Whole streets. Whole communities devastated. Schools gone. Hospitals gone. How does a community come back from that?" Hotovely: "Well first of all, I really want to mention the fact that Gaza has an underground tunnel-city and, in order to get to this underground tunnel-city, those areas must be destroyed and one of the things we expose to the world after getting into the areas in Gaza that we try to find all those tunnels and underground metro-city that Hamas has built thanks to this great support of Iran, Qatar, international community generosity, everything turned to be this horrible terror city. One of the things we realized, every school, every mosque, every second house has an access to tunnel. So this is-" Interviewer: "But that's an argument for destroying the whole of Gaza. Every single building." Hotovely: "So, do you have another solution? How to destroy the underground tunnel city that this is the place where the terrorists hide, where they have all their ammunition, and this is the rockets that are still fired on Israeli cities." | 2024-01-03 | Source Source |
| Tzipi Hotovely | Israeli Ambassador to U.K. | "We realise every second house [in Gaza] has this entrance to an underground terror city. So they [Hamas] basically turned all the houses in the Gaza Strip into their own facilities. They took over schools, mosques, hospitals, almost everything you can imagine. Think about it as a ghost city that is turning into a terror city" | 2023-11-14 | Source |
| Tzipi Hotovely | Israeli Ambassador to U.K. | I think and believe that if the Palestinians really want to have peace it shouldn't mean Israel has to withdraw from the settlements, because the settlements are part of our Jewish history. The Jews lived in Hebron, in Beit El. These are biblical places. Hebron is the place where King David began his kingdom. I don't think it's something we can let go, because what is Zionism all about? Zionism is really about going back to Zion, going back to Jerusalem, going back to all those biblical places. We need to start talking about the peace process without removing people from the settlements. | 2009-07-01 | Source Source |
| Tzipi Hotovely | Israeli Ambassador to U.K. | [Referring to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Hotovely, Israel's highest-ranking diplomat at the time, made the following statement in a speech delivered in the Israeli parliament (Knesset), aimed at Palestinian-Israeli Members of Knesset, whom Israel refuses to consider Palestinian but rather "Israeli Arabs."] "You [Palestinians] are thieves of history. Your history books are empty, and you are trying to co-opt Jewish history and Islamicize it. [...Palestinians] have no kings, they have no heritage sites. The Palestinians are violating Jewish heritage sites. ... "David, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah are the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish nation. You will not succeed in Islamicizing them, you will not succeed in eradicating the bible. "This land is ours. All of it is ours. We did not come here to apologize for that." | 2017-07-12 | Source |
| Tzipi Navon | Chief-of-Staff for the Israeli Prime Minister's Wife, Sara Netanyahu | "We keep saying to flatten Gaza, to flatten Gaza, and I think that's not enough. It won't calm the storm of emotions, it won't dull the intensity of the rage and pain that find no outlet. Every time I am exposed to a video or picture that illustrates the terrible horror that occurred in our districts, I imagine the IDF capturing all the terrorists and residents of Gaza who participated in the massacre, gathering them in one place, and on live broadcast, so that all of Israel can see, taking them one by one, thoroughly smearing them with pig fat and starting to torture them. First, the pulling out of fingernails and toenails, then the peeling off pieces of skin from different areas of the body, slowly and carefully so as not to cause the vermin's death, he needs to suffer and suffer lengthily. After stripping the scum of its skin, they cut off his genitals and let him watch as they fry his testicles in canola oil and make him eat them, and thus they dismember him slowly and patiently (we have plenty of time). Saving the tongue for last so that he can delight us with his screams, the ears so that he can hear his own screams, and the eyes so that he can see us smiling. Do you think I'm cruel? Tell that to the girls who were raped, to the babies with their heads cut off, to the boys who were burned, and to our battered soldiers. 'He who is merciful to the cruel will eventually be cruel to the merciful...'" | 2023-10-14 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Tzvika Mor | Father of Eitan Mor, a hostage captured on October 7th, co-founder of the Tvika Forum | "Every time I see, in Hebron, a military jeep dirty with paint [thrown by Palestinians at the army vehicles in protest], I cry, I'm telling you. The Arabs learned that in order to disable this jeep operationally, you don't need more than a sandwich bag with paint. Throw it at the jeep, try to hit the windshield, and then everything is smeared with paint, the driver automatically turns on the wiper and aggravates the problem, and the jeep can't drive. ... The Arabs don't always hit the windshield so our jeeps are dirty with paint that the Arabs threw. It damages our national honor. Just for that, we should have gone to war. Not over shooting, that's obvious. For one paint bag, we should have erased that village, kill hundreds of people there so they learn not to mess with us. ... For one paint bag, we should have erased a village, and then we wouldn't have gotten to where we are. But don't worry, it will happen. Thanks to all of you. I'm not kidding." | 2023-12-15 | Source Source Source Source |
| United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs | UAE government ministry responsible for overseeing diplomatic relations and foreign policy | "The United Arab Emirates [UAE] denounces the statements of the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about calling on the state [i.e. UAE] to participate in civil administration of the Gaza Strip, which is under Israeli occupation. [Netanyahu made the aforementioned statement during a televised interview with U.S. television personality Dr. Phil McGraw 5/9/2024.] "The UAE stresses that the Israeli Prime Minister does not have any legal capacity to take this step, and the state refuses to be drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip. "The UAE affirms that when a Palestinian government is formed that meets the hopes and aspirations of the brotherly Palestinian people and enjoys integrity, competence and independence, the state will be fully prepared to provide all forms of support to that government." | 2024-05-10 | Source Source |
| United States Department of State | Executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for foreign policy and relations | "We are designating Elor Azaria, a former Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) sergeant, pursuant to Section 7031(c) for his involvement in a gross violation of human rights, namely an extrajudicial killing in the West Bank. As a result of this action, Azaria and any immediate family members are generally ineligible for entry into the United States." "This public designation is made under Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2024 (Div. F, P.L. 118-47). Azaria, as a former IDF sergeant, qualifies as a foreign government official under Section 7031(c)." [Background: In March 2016, Abdel Fattah al-Sharif and another Palestinian moderately injured an Israeli soldier when they stabbed him in the arm and hand at a military post in Hebron – a Palestinian city in the West Bank. In response, Israeli soldiers present fired on the two men, killing one of them and seriously wounding al-Sharif, the other. Elor Azaria, a military medic, was among the military reinforcements who arrived shortly afterward. He approached al-Sharif, lying wounded on the ground, and from a distance of less than two metres, fatally shot him in the head.] | 2024-07-17 | Source Source |
| Unnamed Defense Official | - | "Gaza will eventually turn into a city of tents. There will be no buildings." | 2023-10-11 | Source Source |
| Unnamed female IDF soldier | - | [The following quote is an excerpt taken from the documentary 'To See If I'm Smiling' by ex-Israeli soldier Tamar Yoram. In the excerpt, a female Israeli soldier described how she and at least one other soldier tortured a Palestinian man they had taken captive.] "I started screaming at him. I made him look me in the eyes and confess. He didn't respond. He just lowered his gaze. We undressed him down to his underwear. And we abused him." | 2007 | Source Source |
| Unnamed former Mossad intelligence officer | Eyewitness to 1948 massacres in Palestine | "We witnessed a most horrible and dreadful scene.... [Irgun] men were throwing Arab corpses into a house from the roof, while a huge fire was burning. It was really like a crematorium. Besides that horror, I saw many wood fires along the path on which corpses were burning. The stench in the air was unbearable." [The former Mossad intelligence officer quoted above, arrived in the village of Deir Yassin, Palestine, following the 9 April 1948 massacre there, to the sight of Irgun and Stern Gang (Zionist paramilitary) members incinerating bodies. The Irgun, also known as Etzel, was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine from 1931 to 1948. It has been viewed as a terrorist organization. The Stern Gang, also known as LEHI, was another Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine. The group referred to its members as "terrorists" and admitted to having carried out acts of terrorism. Mossad was formed in 1949 as Israel's Central Institute for Coordination. Today it is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel.] | 1993-04-25 | Source Source |
| Unnamed former Stern Gang intelligence officer | Eyewitness to 1948 massacres in Palestine | "I saw terrible things taking place, I cannot tell everything. [One Zionist soldier] took two men back-to-back and placed a dynamite 'finger' between their heads and shot at the dynamite and their heads exploded." "[We] did not want to bury [the several dozen Arab corpses] because it was too much work, and therefore we burned them...We threw all the bodies into a well, poured gasoline on them and burned them." [The Stern Gang, to which the person quoted belonged, was also known as LEHI. It was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine. The group referred to its members as "terrorists" and admitted to having carried out acts of terrorism.] | 1993-04-25 | Source |
| Unnamed i24 reporter | i24 - Israeli News Channel | "Walking through the small pathways of the kibbutz [Be'eri] feels like entering a warzone. Small and quaint homes [were] bombarded or destroyed. Children's toys lying around, while maintained lawns of grass [were] ripped up by the tracks of an armored vehicle, perhaps a tank? The smell of death fills the air." | 2023-10-26 | Source |
| Unnamed IDF Officer | - | "This is not about surgical strikes and military infrastructure anymore ... This means we will obliterate civilian infrastructure as well. Apartment buildings will be toppled. Hezbollah feeds off our apprehension to land a decisive strike, which means we will exhibit the exact opposite to avoid opening a northern front." | 2023-10-09 | Source |
| Unnamed IDF Officer | - | "[In a classroom in Gaza] Well, cute children, we finished the lesson in Arabic. Today, we will learn a new lesson. A new lesson. Today we will learn about the people of Israel. The people of Israel are not afraid of a long journey... of a long journey... and here we are witnessing Gush Katif, the lands in Gaza, [we] are painting it back in orange, we are here!" | 2023-11-16 | Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Official | - | [When the war ends, there will be a 3km wide strip within Gaza that will be completely sterile, full of landmines, under threat of sniper fire, and completely clean of any life form]. "Even a cat won't be able to go there." | 2023-11-03 | Source |
| Unnamed IDF Reserve Soldiers | - | "We will yet return to Gush Katif! We'll kick out the Arabs..." [Gush Katif was the formal (illegal) Israeli settlement block within the Gaza Strip, evacuated by the Israeli military in 2005. The partial lyrics in the above quote are from "The Protective Edge Anthem," which refers to the military operation launched by Israel on 7/8/2014 in the Gaza Strip. While awaiting their opportunity to assist in a ground invasion of Gaza, Israeli reserve soldiers stationed on the Gaza border in July 2014, recorded themselves, in uniform, singing this anthem. While Israel reportedly discourages soldiers from expressing political opinions while in uniform, these soldiers disregarded that directive. They posted their politically-charged performance to YouTube, but the video was subsequently removed for violating YouTube's Terms of Service.] | 2014-07-16 | Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldier | - | Soldier: "I wish IDF kill more children and I wish the IDF will find you [Interviewer] and kill you." Interviewer: "Why?" Soldier: "It's only Israel, no Palestine. ... I will fuck you in your ass, motherfucker. ... I kill every Palestinian I see." | 2023-10-13 | Source Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldier | - | "We have planted this tree here [in what appears to be Gaza], for the rise of the people of Israel. With god's help, all the prisoners of Zion will be released, Ariel Danino, and Amiram Ben Uliel [convicted in the murder of the Dawabsheh family in the village of Duma in 2015]. We don't forget you. It is a part of this struggle. We will not forget anyone behind, they will all get to the end. The people of Israel live." | 2023-11-07 | Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldier | - | Soldier: "We are looking for babies, but there is no babies left." Interviewer: "What babies? Say that again." Soldier: "Huh?" Interviewer: "Say it again." Soldier: "No, maybe I kill[ed] a girl, she was 12, but I [am] looking for a baby." | 2023-12-27 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldier | - | "The people of Israel, we are in a historic and fateful event that has not happened since 1967, the Six Day War. We have two options here: either we elect to choose life, to establish Gush Katif and Nova beach, to choose settling, or we want to return and find ourselves on 7-10-2023 in exactly the same situation, and with that ruins of this place that you saw-" | 2023-12-06 | Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldier | - | "Noa, your boyfriend brought you a necklace from Gaza. Made in Gaza. It has a love heart on it. Luxury. It has 'forever' written on it. Let's check if it's original. [The soldier bites the silver necklace.] It's original." [This video is one of many IDF soldiers have filmed and posted online of them looting houses in Gaza. According to International Humanitarian Law, pillage, reprisals against protected persons and their property, and pillage of a town or place, even when taken by assault, are war crimes: 1949 Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Article 33; 1907 Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, Article 28; and Customary International Humanitarian Law, Rule 52. According to Israel's Military Justice Law 5715–1955, Article 74, "A soldier who loots or who breaks into a house or another place in order to loot is liable to imprisonment for a term of ten years."] | 2024-02-14 | Source Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldier | - | "[An Israeli soldier is filmed holding a flag in Gaza - next to the bodies of executed civilians - advertising a barber shop in Yehud, Israel the flag says:] THE EXCITING BARBER SHOP: WE ARE THE EXCITING ONES." | 2024-02-07 | Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldier | - | [The unnamed Israeli military soldier makes the following statements while standing over a captive he claims is a Hamas member.] "Here, from a battalion present, currently in the Rafah area in Gaza, this is a terrorist from Hamas. [The soldier kicks the handcuffed, blindfolded man kneeling in the sand in front of him, then yanks his head backward.] We will fight these cockroaches, and we will rape them. This one [pointing to the man kneeling in front of him] and those two sons of [...]" [pointing to two other kneeling, blindfolded, handcuffed men]. | 2024-07-09 | Source |
| Unnamed IDF soldier from 601st Combat Engineering Battalion | Posted evidence of IDF blowing up key water source in Gaza | "Destruction of the Tal Sultan water reservoir in honor of Shabbat." [According to journalist Younis Tirawi, in late July 2024 an Israeli soldier from the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion posted a video to Instagram showing the demolition of a primary water facility in Rafah. In the video, Israeli soldiers were shown planting explosives inside and around the water pumps of the "Canada Well." The Canadian International Development Agency funded the construction of the solar-powered water facility in 1999. Canada Well is the main water facility in the city of Rafah and provides services to 50 percent of the city's residents. The video shows the water facility being blown up. The soundtrack is a song produced by soldiers of the 51st Golani Brigade with lyrics like, "We will burn Gaza... shake all of Gaza... for every house you destroy we will destroy ten."] | 2024-07-06 | Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldiers | - | "[Written on the bottom of an Israeli flag the soldiers are holding up, with the color of orange symbolizing the color of settlers protesting disengagement from Gaza] Returning home." | 2023-11-01 | Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldiers | - | "Explosions every week. We've made kebab (ground meat) from you! Don't play with Israel! Hide, you animals!" [Soldiers singing, at a celebration, about what they have done to Gazans.] | 2023-11-14 | Source Source Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldiers | - | [The September 2009 "Report of the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission in the Gaza Conflict", a.k.a. the Goldstone Report, reported evidence obtained through Israeli soldier testimony and from Israeli military actions that the Israeli armed forces moving into Gaza had a low threshold for the use of lethal fire against civilians. There seemed to exist a policy to "shoot in cases of doubt."] Soldier A: "If we see something suspect and shoot, better hit an innocent [civilian] than hesitate to target an enemy." Soldier B: "[My battalion commander told us],"If you are not sure - shoot. If there is doubt then there is no doubt.'" Soldier A: "[My battalion commander said], the enemy was hiding behind civilian population. [...] if we suspect someone, we should not give him the benefit of the doubt. Eventually, this could be an enemy, even if it's some old woman approaching the house. It could be an old woman carrying an explosive charge." Soldier C: "You don't only shoot when threatened. The assumption is that you constantly feel threatened, so anything there threatens you, and you shoot. No one actually said 'shoot regardless' or 'shoot anything that moves.' But we were not ordered to open fire only if there was a real threat." | 2009-09-?? | Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldiers | - | [The September 2009 "Report of the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission in the Gaza Conflict", a.k.a. the Goldstone Report, reported evidence obtained through Israeli soldier testimony and from Israeli military actions that the Israeli armed forces engaged in an unprecedented level of destruction of Gazan residences, and the destruction seemed to fall under three categories: destruction incidental to actual combat, destruction for "operational" reasons (houses where the enemy had opened fire from, or were suspected of being booby-trapped, containing weapons arsenals, or containing tunnel access; or houses that obstructed the Israeli military's vision. The third phase of destruction, according to the fact-finding mission in the Gaza conflict, related to a vision of "the day after" the Israeli military withdrew from Gaza.] Soldier D: "Sometimes you know the house is empty. You know as far as you can know. Now if the house disrupts your Defense line, you take it down with a tank or bulldozer. We took an eight-storey house and the instruction was not to enter any doorway because it would be booby-trapped." Soldier E: "We were to raze as much as possible of the area. Such razing is a euphemism for intentional, systematic destruction, enabling total visibility. Razing was meant to give us the advantage of full control over fire and field of view, to see exactly what was happening throughout the zone. So that no one could hide anything." Soldier F: [Our commander said], "In case of any doubt, takedown houses. You don't need confirmation for anything, if you want." Soldier G: "[...] then we were told there are houses to be demolished for the sake of 'the day after.' The day after is actually a thought that obviously we're going in for a limited period of time which could be a week and it might also be a few months. But it's not a longer span of time without defining what it is. And the rationale was that we want to come out with the area remaining sterile as far as we're concerned. And the best way to do this is by razing. That way we have good firing capacity, good visibility for observation, we can see anything, we control a very large part of the area and very effectively. This was the meaning of demolition for the sake of the day after. In practical terms this meant taking a house that is not implicated in any way, that its single sin is the fact that it is situated on top of a hill in the Gaza Strip." | 2009-09-?? | Source |
| Unnamed IDF Soldiers from Unit 9208 in Gaza | - | "Today is Monday, the month of Kislev, the month of light. We add light here after the black Saturday [referring to 10/7/2023] that took place for the people of Israel. Unit 9208 under the command of Israel Ben Faiz will not stop. We will continue until we complete the mission. We conquer, we destroy, and we settle. Did you hear that, Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu]. We conquer, we destroy, and we settle." [While being filmed, four soldiers holding weapons stood in front of bombed out buildings as one made the above statement. Although the Middle East Eye translated the last words on the video as, "We conquer, we destroy, and we settle," Google translated the phrase as, "We conquer, evict, and settle," and CNN translated it as, "We are occupying, deporting, and settling."] | 2023-11-13 | Source Source |
| Unnamed IDF Spokesperson | Member of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit | "Yesterday we saw 30,000 people; we arrived prepared and with precise reinforcements. Nothing was carried out uncontrolled; everything was accurate and measured, and we know where every bullet landed." [In this attack on a reportedly peaceful protest, the IDF shot 773 Gazan protestors and killed at least 16 people. In the IDF attack, 1,400 people were injured in the IDF's attack, according to Palestinian medical officials. The IDF deleted the social media post quoted above, and several others on the same topic, from its Twitter account after posting it, but a number of journalists and human rights advocates captured it before it was deleted.] | 2018-03-30 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Unnamed ISF Sniper Squad | During the 2018 Great March of Return Protest | Sniper Commander: "You're on him?" Sniper 1: "Yes." Sniper Commander: "He stopped." [Indistinct, brief radio chatter] Sniper 1: "I can't shoot because of the rolls [of barbed wire]." Sniper Cameraman: "Come here, come here, come here." Sniper Commander: "There's a little kid over there." Sniper 1: "Give it to him?" Voice Commander: "No." Sniper 1: "But he's ducking all the time!" Sniper Commander: "Take out the one in the pink." Sniper 1: "Not pink, I'm on the one in blue." [A gunshot rings out, not from Sniper 1's rifle it seems... and the person falls to the floor, shot in the head.] Sniper Cameraman: "Wow, what a video! YES! That son of a bitch." Scared Voice: [Untranslated comments from Scared Voice, presuming from context clues in the next line, "Did you film it?"] Sniper Cameraman: "What a video! They're running to evacuate him. Yeah of course I filmed it" Sniper 2: "Wow. Hit him in the head." Sniper 3: "Film that. Film that." Sniper Cameraman: "What a legendary video." Sniper 1:"What? I didn't see it." Sniper Cameraman: "He flew into the air and his leg was like... Sons of bitches." [The above is an estimation of who said what. Since the video accompanying the audio only shows the view from Sniper Cameraman's camera, it was a best guess to determine how many distinct people were speaking and who said what.] | 2018 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Defense Source | Informed about IDF operations in Gaza 2024 | "It's frustrating. We [the Israeli military] are trying our hardest to accurately hit terrorists [in Gaza], and utilizing every thread of intelligence, and in the end the units in the field decide to launch attacks without any preparation, in cases that have nothing to do with protecting our forces." [The Israel Defense source quoted was referring to an Israeli military attack (4/1/2024) on a three-vehicle convoy - of World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers - with three separate missile strikes, several kilometres apart, from a drone that was following them. The WCK vehicles were clearly marked on sides and rooftops with identification (one missile was aimed directly at the organization's logo on the vehicle's roof) and WCK's movements in Gaza were coordinated with the Israeli military. Before the convoy was targeted it had accompanied an aid truck to a warehouse, where tonnes of humanitarian aid were unloaded. The Israel war room of the unit responsible for security of the route that the convoy travelled claimed to have identified an armed man on the aid truck and suspected he was a terrorist. But, according to Israeli Defense sources, the man under suspicion remained with the truck at the warehouse and was not with the convoy when it was blown up. Instead, seven civilians following the Israeli military's rules to the letter were targeted for death. They included one Palestinian, one dual-national (Canadian-American), one Australian, one Polish citizen, and three British citizens.] | 2024-04-02 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli doctor | Worked at a field hospital for Palestinian hostages at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp | [The person quoted below worked as a doctor at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp, where abducted Palestinians were held hostage during Israel's invasion of Gaza following 7 October 2023. He described his experiences in a letter to Israel's attorney general, and defense and health ministers, obtained by Haaretz newspaper.] "Just this week, two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event." [The doctor reported that inappropriate care at the concentration camp field hospital has resulted in] "complications and sometimes even in the patient's death. This makes all of us – the medical teams and you, those in charge of us in the health and defense ministries, complicit in the violation of Israeli law." "Inmates [at the field hospital] are fed through straws, defecate in diapers and are held [in] constant restraints, which violate medical ethics and the law." [The field hospital] "is staffed most of the day by a single doctor, accompanied by a nursing team, some with no more than medic training." | 2024-04-06 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli First Sergeant | Former Israeli military member who witnessed Israel's use of Palestinians as human shields | [An unnamed former First Sergeant in the Israeli military's Paratroopers Unit shared with the organization Breaking the Silence that, in 2005, when he was stationed in the area of Tulkhum, West Bank, Palestine, he had experience with the use of human shields.] "'Neighbor procedure' is when during an arrest mission, you usually order a neighbor to leave his home and ask him to go into a house and call everyone that's inside to come out, everyone in the house where we believe the wanted man is staying. (...)" [The soldier said the orders to carry out the "neighbor procedure" came from the unit commander.] "Anyway, you order a neighbor to come out of his house, ask him to go to the house of the wanted man and to call all the residents in there to come out. In other instances, the neighbor was also asked to enter the house after they had gone out, in order to check that no one was left inside. Just to check that no one's there. Now, there was a lot wrong with this, beyond the fact that, on the most basic level, the 'neighbor procedure' was outlawed by the High Court of Justice in November 2002 or a bit before that. I remember this because it was outlawed just a bit before I enlisted, and there was a mess because, I think the General Staff recon unit carried out some arrest mission and the neighbor got killed, they killed him – the Palestinians in the wanted man's house killed their neighbor – so it was outlawed altogether. And that's it. Now, besides the fact that it was altogether outlawed, sometimes women and children were used for this purpose. Children. "[It] was in Tul Karm [Tulkhum] or maybe Qalqilya. I think it was Tul Karm. It was a complex of several houses, several floors high. We got all the people out. There was no one there, the guy we were after wasn't there. There was concern that he was still inside, etc. So at first, neighbors were used, and later they used some kid. Bilal. I even remember his name, Bilal. I remember because I was very angry about it, they kept sending him in to check whether there really wasn't any one inside, to open all the doors, turn on all the lights, open all the windows." [This former soldier said he refused an order to use the "neighbor procedure" because he was opposed to it personally and because it was illegal. He spoke with the unit commander and the battalion commander and described their responses to him.] "[T]hey know it's illegal but even so, they're still willing – I'm quoting my unit commander here: I know it's illegal, but I'm willing for that neighbor, or that mother, that woman, to be killed so that none of my own combatants will be killed entering a house." "Sometime they [i.e. the people the Israeli military wanted to use as human shields] were forced with threats, etc. [...] Not threats of physical violence. Arrests, that kind of stuff. Harassment, basically. "No one said they didn't want to do it [i.e., be used as a human shield]. When you bang on someone's door in the middle of the night, put a gun in his face and light, and tell him to take his clothes off and turn around, check that he hasn't got a weapon and then begin to ask him: Who lives here, who lives here, go there – he doesn't say, I don't want to." "[T]he battalion commander said it was legal [to use people as human shields without their permission]. That battalion commander has a degree in law. He claimed it was legal and we started arguing about the reservations etc., and he said: In certain cases, you're right and we do need to improve them. [...] I know that after [I left the Israeli military in October 2005] there were instances of using 'neighbor procedure'. I don't know whether children were used then. I'm sure that this procedure is still in use today." | 2005 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Hostage Negotiator | Involved in campaign to release IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, held in captivity by Hamas 2006-2011. Shalit was exchanged for the release of 1,027 prisoners held in Israeli detention. | "We are experiencing the flip side of the Shalit case. Hamas expected this to be a repeat of the [Gilad] Shalit case. They thought that they would kidnap Israelis and that we would cave in. I believe that it will not happen quickly- if at all. The State of Israel has implemented the Hannibal Directive on the whole of the Gaza Strip [since the current conflict began], based on the understanding that the moment we release prisoners, we are opening the door for countless more abductions." | 2023-10-10 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Intelligence Source | Spoke on condition of anonimity to journalists at +927 Magazine and The Cradle prior to 12/17/2023 | "It's very hard for me that there is no goal, and no political vision of what will happen the day after the war. There is no strategic plan. There are endless, bombastic, motivational statements about toppling Hamas and how we'll drink a mojito on the beach in Gaza next year. Statements without logic backed by a lot of irrational commanders, who are still acting to carry out revenge. When the military objective is so vague, I feel that I am here for only one reason: to try to press for a political agreement and a prisoner exchange. This is more important than anything." | 2023-12-17 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Intelligence Source B | Current or former member of Israel's intelligence community; spoke to investigative journalists on condition of anonymity | [According to Israeli intelligence sources who spoke investigative journalists at +972 and Local Call in late 2023, the Israeli military intelligence is able to calculate in advance of a military strike on a target how many civilians are likely to be killed.] One Israeli intelligence source said in "Operation Iron Swords," that began on 7 October 2023, the "numbers increased from dozens of civilian deaths [permitted] as collateral damage as part of an attack on a senior [Hamas] official in previous operations, to hundreds of civilian deaths as collateral damage." | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Intelligence Source C | Current or former member of Israel's intelligence community; spoke to investigative journalists on condition of anonymity | [According to Israeli intelligence sources who spoke investigative journalists at +972 and Local Call in late 2023, the Israeli military intelligence is able to calculate in advance of a military strike on a target how many civilians are likely to be killed.] "Nothing happens by accident. When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it's because someone in the army decided it wasn't a big deal for her to be killed - that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home." | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Intelligence Source D | Current or former member of Israel's intelligence community; spoke to investigative journalists on condition of anonymity | [According to Israeli intelligence sources who spoke investigative journalists at +972 and Local Call in late 2023, in Israel's "Operation Iron Swords" in Gaza (which began 7 October 2023), the Israeli military has not restricted its attacks to military targets, but has attacked residential homes of individual members of militant groups where, in the majority of cases, intelligence sources said, no military activity is conducted from.] "I remember thinking that it was like if [Palestinian militants] would bomb all the private residences of our families when [Israeli soldiers] go back to sleep at home on the weekend." | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Intelligence Source E | Current or former member of Israel's intelligence community; spoke to investigative journalists on condition of anonymity | [According to an Israeli intelligence source who spoke to investigative journalists at +972 and Local Call in late 2023, in Israel's "Operation Iron Swords" in Gaza (which began 7 October 2023), a senior intelligence officer told other intelligence officers that the Israeli military's goal in the invasion was to "kill as many Hamas operatives as possible."] "[There are] cases in which we shell based on a wide cellular pinpointing of where the target [i.e., Palestinian militant] is, killing civilians. This is often done to save time, instead of doing a little more work to get a more accurate pinpointing." | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Intelligence Source F | Current or former member of Israel's intelligence community; spoke to investigative journalists on condition of anonymity | [According to Israeli intelligence sources who spoke to investigative journalists at +972 and Local Call in late 2023, the Israeli military has four types of targets that are struck by military aircraft in Gaza. One category is "power targets." One intelligence source who had taken part in previous Israeli military assaults on Gaza explained how and why power targets were chosen.] "We are asked to look for high-rise buildings with half a floor that can be attributed to Hamas. Sometimes it is a militant group's spokesperson's office, or a point where operatives meet. I understood that the floor is an excuse that allows the army to cause a lot of destruction in Gaza. That is what they told us. "If they would tell the whole world that the [Islamic Jihad] offices on the 10th floor are not important as a target, but that its existence is a justification to bring down the entire high-rise with the aim of pressuring civilian families who live in it in order to put pressure on terrorist organizations, this would itself be seen as terrorism. So they do not say it." | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Journalist | Condoned Israel's starvation of Gaza's children | "What our enemy should know is when they kidnap one person of ours – and they've kidnapped 200 – if they do not receive a message from us that kidnapping our citizens will cost them so much, and that the children of Gaza will starve to death (we don't want that but there is a humanitarian crisis – that is 136 Israelis are in the hands of Nazi monsters), the enemy must understand that this is not feasible to them, because next time they will kidnap 400. Therefore, the children of Gaza are forced to starve, and to live in sewage pipes, and to eat moldy bread. Yes, you know what I mean. I don't care. Let this happen. Give us back our hostages and everything will be over." | 2024-01-?? | Source Source Source Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Prosecutor | Involved in prosecution of Israeli military reservists, 2024 | "As of yesterday, all the suspects are distancing themselves [from the act] and aren't providing an explanation that sits with the objective evidence collected by the investigating body. This [i.e., the gang rape by soldiers] was a complex and long incident, not a short event. It lasted over ten minutes. The evidence collected shows the suspects exchanged places and roles throughout the incident, and so we assume the deeds were done together." [On 29 July 2024, Israeli military police stormed the Sde Teiman concentration camp - known as "Israel's Guantanamo Bay" – and arrested nine soldiers believed to be responsible for the rape of a Palestinian hostage from Gaza. The hostage's injuries were so severe he required hospitalization. An investigation into the attack was opened. One of the detained soldiers held the rank of Major, a commander of Force 100 Unit, which guards Palestinian hostages at the Sde Teiman concentration camp. On 1 August 2024, Haaretz reported that the soldiers, upon their detention, were suspected of abuse under aggravating circumstances, of committing an act of sodomy under the circumstances of rape, and violation of authority and inappropriate behavior. On 7 August 2024, Israel's Channel 12 released leaked footage from the camp's surveillance camera's which showed the soldiers picking their victim out from a group of hostages lying face-down and blindfolded on the ground, then taking him to a corner and crowding around him. On 1 August 2024, Haaretz also reported that upon his release from hospital, the victim was sent back to the Sde Teiman facility, where he had been brutally raped.] | 2024-08-06 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist A | Student, reservist in Israeli military police, served at Sde Teiman concentration camp | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "A" served in the military police at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities.] "I served in the unit that received the detainees at Sde Teiman during the war's first months. They arrived almost every day, at night too. Generally straight from the field, escorted by fighters or MPs [i.e., military police]." "They came to us with hands bound, sometimes wearing clothes and sometimes only in underpants, or something that hid their private parts [- a] cloth or some rag, something they found there. [...] "I enlisted believing, and I still believe, that the army knows how to achieve its goals, even if it's not always understood by the ordinary soldier. Even if it looks bad from the outside. I have met many principled people in the reserves, but there were also some who were not. Some of each. "At first, because not enough reservists showed up, they brought in girls from the military police's Gahelet unit to receive the detainees. They are mostly in the regular army and work with prisoners [in rehabilitation], but they weren't prepared for the Nukhbas. [Nukhba is, according to Israel, a Hamas special forces unit.] At first people arrived here, some of whom were wounded from the fighting. Not a pretty sight, especially those who were caught in Israel and arrived after having undergone a tough interrogation in the field. It was apparently hard for the Gahelet soldiers to cope mentally, so they brought in a mental health officer, who spoke with them. Afterward they went back to their mission. Some of them sometimes cracked. "You also have to remember the period. This base was a reflection of the atmosphere in the country. In the initial months, someone is standing facing you and you don't know what he did. If he's Nukhba, if he raped, if he murdered, if he even deserves to live. And you're filled with rage. Everyone is filled with rage. There's a desire for revenge. Of course, no one thinks they have to be coddled or anything [...] But to say that there were no people who took a little bit of force into their hands? Sure there were. [...]" "I remember a story with a tiyulit [i.e., an open truck with benches for transporting people]. There were soldiers who threw Palestinians off it. Instead of taking them down by the steps, they simply pushed them off, from the height of the vehicle's floor. Down to the ground. [Blindfolded.] Handcuffed. Maybe also by the legs. They just fell, like a stone." "I came [to Sde Teiman] to do the work without thinking too much about it. I relied on the idea that the bigger system knows what it needs to do and why it needed me there. I trust the army. And everything I saw at Sde Teiman looked to me, all in all, very logical, under the circumstances." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist A | Student, reservist in Israeli military police, served at Sde Teiman concentration camp | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "A" was a student and reservist from Tel Aviv. In April 2024, A's battalion began serving at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities.] "When you come to the camp, the first thing that hits you is the smell. The place really stinks, in an extreme way. When there's a little wind, maybe it's possible to shift your position a little so you can avoid [the smell]. But nearby it was intolerable. It smells like dozens of people who have been sitting in close quarters for more than a month in the same clothes and in insane heat. They let them shower for a few minutes around twice a week, but I don't remember ever seeing that they gave them a change of clothes, in any case not on my shifts. "I came there with the mindset of a soldier. Let us do our time, without asking anything, and then go home. But two incidents happened in the wake of which I couldn't continue there any longer. "The first was in one of the pens. Guys came from the escort force, who in my opinion were military police reservists. They came in like big shots, with ski masks, and led three or four detainees out. They made them walk bent over, handcuffed and with flannelette on their faces. Each of them held the shirt of the person in front of him. And then suddenly I saw one of the police officers, right at the entrance to the pen, take the head of the first detainee and 'boom,' smash him with force into some iron part of the door. And then he smashed him again and said 'Yalla.' ["Yalla" is a slang term that means "let's go" or "hurry up."] The moment I saw that I went into total shock. [...] I saw someone with the thought going through his head that, 'Fine, this is not a human being. I can simply bash his head against the door. Just because I feel like it.' The nonchalant way he did it stunned me. He didn't look angry or full of hatred, he even laughed at it." "The second incident that knocked me for a loop was during a night shift in the hospital. I was sitting, bored, with a military police officer outside there, when one of the detainees inside asked for something, or cried. The officer was a Druze. I asked him if he knew what the story was with this detainee. He said he didn't and asked whether I was interested. I said I was. So he went into the tent. [...] You're not allowed to talk to them [i.e., the hostages] at all, not under any circumstances and not about anything. We were told all the time, 'Be careful what you say next to them. Don't talk about anything having to do with the news, about people killed, Rafah... They listen and collect intelligence.' You can't even mention names next to them. You call one another by your first initial. "But when there are no officers in the vicinity, everyone does what they feel like doing. [...] "Anyway, the [Druze] officer spoke with him for a few minutes in Arabic, and at the end the Palestinian began to cry. Weeping frantically. Then the officer came out, half guffawing, trying not to laugh. He said the guy talked about his life in Gaza, about his job, his family. He said he had gone to visit his brother, who was hospitalized in Shifa [Hospital], and that he was arrested there. When I asked, 'So why is he crying?' the officer said, 'Ah... he misses his wife, children, the family. He has no idea what's happening with them.' "I don't know why the officer laughed. Maybe it was embarrassment, maybe he was contemptuous of the story, like he didn't believe it. But at the end of the shift, when I was about to go to sleep... Boom! The thoughts started to race. I sat on my bed and for hours I googled laws related to the incarceration of unlawful combatants. I did a session on ChatGPT and asked about crimes and rules of war. The next day I realized that I couldn't continue there any longer." "The detainee's story [was powerful], and the fact that he started to cry in the end. It was a very human and surprising display after all the preparation and the things they tell you there. They keep pumping it into your brain that you have to disconnect. That they're not people. That they're not human beings." "[...] You know, there was a female officer who gave us a briefing on the day we arrived. She said, 'It will be hard for you. You'll want to pity them, but it's forbidden. Remember that they aren't people. From your point of view, they are not human beings. The best thing is to remember who they are and what they did in October.' "[...When] you're in it [i.e., Sde Teiman], they become real people. You notice how easy it is to lose your humanity in a second, how easy it is to come up with justifications for treating people as if they're not people. It's like in the movie 'The Wave' [a 1981 film about a high-school teacher who does a simulation experiment with his students how easily they can be made to lose their humanity]. Only in your face, and live. It was insane to see how that happens." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist A2 | Student, reservist from Be'er Sheva, served at Sde Teiman concentration camp | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "A2" was a student and reservist from Be'er Sheva who fought in Gaza and later served at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities.] "[...] I went, mainly for the pay. I also wanted to be there a little. Friends of mine died at Nova [i.e., the Nova music festival where many attendees were killed on 7 October 2023] and I was curious to see up-close the people who did it. "I arrived there with a lot of apprehension. I'd read things in the newspapers, and there was also fear of the place itself. After all, you're guarding terrorists, murderers, from a meter away; and they also know how to fight. But that was just during the initial shifts. Over time you get used to it, and in general I didn't sense a feeling of true fear on the ground. "I did guard duty in the pens and in the hospitals. No complaints about the medical team. They are angels. Do you know what it is to change a diaper for a terrorist and wipe his bottom? And they do it with relative dignity and without humiliation. Sometimes there were a few laughs about patients, or they would call them names, maybe insulting ones. But overall they were doing sacred work." [...] Because of the pressure from outside there was a constant fear of leaks, of the media. All the time they told us to talk as little as possible. Like, what happens in Sde Teiman, stays in Sde Teiman. That's the atmosphere. Photographing was taboo. They said that was very serious and that if pictures leaked out, they would bring in the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division. "They [the detainees] sit only within the area of the mattress and all the time with manacles and blindfolded. And you grasp what this does to them. You absolutely see the difference between the new arrivals and the ones who have been there for weeks. People lose it under such conditions. I did an experiment at home, with an air conditioner, on the carpet. I wanted to check. I sat with a kerchief on my head, without handcuffs and not hungry. Just with a blindfold and a watch that would buzz in an hour. After 10 minutes I felt like I wanted to die. After another 10 minutes I cracked. "Imagine that, day after day, a week, a month. I have the feeling that because the state is afraid they [the Palestinian hostages] will return to Gaza one day, they decided to turn them into zombies. They took these people and decided to screw them to the point where, in another 50 years, when they're walking on the street in Gaza, people will point at them and say, 'You see him, that poor guy... many years ago, he decided to attack Israel.' "I believe that most of the people who were there are not good people. It's not for no reason that the army comes and takes them. But here's also just the Hamas quartermaster, or some clerk. And there were also innocent people, especially at the start, when classification in the field was less meticulous. I don't understand the logic of keeping people in conditions like these. It's not punishment; life there... is day-to-day torture. "In the briefings it's explained that everything has a reason. For example, speaking is forbidden so they won't pass information and won't coordinate between them. The mattress is thin so they won't hide weapons. The punishment – for deterrence. Handcuffs – because they are very dangerous." [More testimony from this soldier is catalogued on this website under the name "Unnamed Israeli Reservist A2." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist A2 | Student, reservist from Be'er Sheva, served at Sde Teiman concentration camp | "[...] I went through one event there [i.e., Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp] that changed my whole attitude to the place. It was in one of the first shifts. I was sitting in the gazebo of the prison camp, in a break between shifts, when a military police officer with a rubber club came over and said, 'Come with me, we have to deal with someone who's making trouble.' I went with him and with another soldier and we removed a detainee, who was about 40 or so. He had a bandaged leg and he limped a little. We took him to the side of the lockup, to an area that you don't really see, and the military police officer hit him four times on the back with the club and while doing it shouted at him, 'Be quiet! From now on – uskut ["keep quiet" in Arabic]!'' "The Palestinian raised his hands and tried to protect the back of his neck, even though the club didn't land there. And then, while he was being beaten, he shifted the blindfold by mistake and it fell to his neck. That set off the officer and he started to beat him even harder. The Palestinian fell to the ground, it looked as though he was giving up, that he had no more strength to stand and he was simply collapsing. And then he started to shout, in Arabic, "Laish? Laish?' – like, 'Why? Why?'... And from the ground, while he was maybe trying to protect himself with his hands, he suddenly looked at me. "He looked me in the eyes and begged, 'Laish? Laish?' His eyes were brown and large, and bulging from the sockets from all the pain. His veins swelled up, he was red and obviously suffering. I stood there, shocked. Never in my life had I seen a look like that. The shouts stressed out the military police officer a bit, so he cursed him and spat on him. And then he was taken back to the pen. "The event really shook me up. I stayed on at Sde Teiman after it, true, but a lot less enthusiastic, a lot less happy. "[...] But it wasn't irregular for the place. Sometimes a soldier wallops someone for no reason. Many more things happen. People allow themselves [to do things], especially in places where there is no supervision. Or there were cases in which people came to give someone a beating in order to take revenge [for October 7]. Or... that... I don't know whether to call it that... people are sadistic. "If the definition of a sadist is someone who enjoys causing another to suffer, then I can give examples from all parts of the scale. One evening I was doing guard duty in the prison camp. There was a reserve battalion there, veteran guys who did a lot of barbecues and listened to music in the rest compound. The tent was pretty far from the camp, but the smell wafts there sometimes, and also the music. So I smelled the meat while I was at my guard post; I could see that the detainees were smelling it in the air, too. I think they were pretty tormented by that. When I finished my shift, I passed by the tent and one of the guys asked if I wanted pita with kebab. I told him I didn't feel comfortable with that, there were hungry people so close. He made a face. Like I was being self-righteous, a moralist. And then he smiled and said, 'Why? For me, it's a lot tastier like this, when they're suffering.' "It's clear to me that they don't deserve meat. And if I'd known that they get enough food, even shitty food, but that they're not hungry, it would be different. Like, how is it possible to enjoy food when you know that someone else is hungry? Even if it's your worst enemy. "At the other end of the scale, there were people there who came to vent their anger. Who volunteers to serve there? Only those who really enjoy beating up Arabs. I saw them removing people from vehicles, always with violence, curses, spitting. They wear tactical uniforms, gloves, face masks and all that – all kinds of macho swaggering of gung-ho types. There too there's a thing of looking frightening and threatening in the face of the detainees. Actually, we're talking about frustrated people. With all the bluster, it's not that they're fighting in tunnels or blowing up buildings in Rafah. They're coping with manacled, hungry people. It's not very hard to be strong against them. So I'm not an expert in the field, and I didn't study psychology, but yes, I saw sadists there. People who enjoy causing suffering to others. "[...] In hindsight, it was slightly naïve to think that if I went to do guard duty in Sde Teiman, I would be able to understand something about the Nukhbas and about what they did in October. [Nukhba is, according to Israel, a Hamas special forces unit.] I didn't actually imagine them having horns, but I thought I would encounter extreme hatred, ideology. In the end, they're just plain despicable people, but still, human beings. "It takes time to digest things. The more distance I have from the place, the more my eyes have opened up. What most disturbed me was to see how easily and how quickly ordinary people can disconnect themselves and not see the reality right in front of their eyes, when they're in the midst of a shocking human situation." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist H | Student, military reservist (female), served at Sde Teiman concentration camp | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "H" was a student and female military reservist who served at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities.] "[In June 2024], I arrived [... at Sde Teiman] and was given a number. I sat myself down in the waiting compound [...]. There were a lot of people and it was horribly hot. In the meantime, I heard conversations around me. Some people said they intended to beat the detainees or spit in their food. Good people whom I know talked about being cruel and abusive to people, like they were talking about something routine. No one around protested or squirmed uncomfortably. No one talked about the law or about the role of the authorities. "The dehumanization frightened me. I couldn't understand how a group of young people who were around me every day underwent such a dangerous process in such a short time. Of course I understand the pain and the fear, which have also accompanied me since October [2023], but I didn't believe to what extent they'd succeeded to distort the concept of reality of the people living around me. I felt an obligation to document what I heard. I took out my phone and began transcribing everything I heard [the following text is an excerpt from her transcript, which she titled]: '2 June 2024 testimony: reserve call-up of female squad commanders to military police. Conversations around: "We'll beat them with clubs." "I will just spit on them." "How do you plan to beat terrorists?" "I think this is a mission, the task." "Why do they even deserve conditions like these?" "The truth is that I'm between jobs and a tenner actually suited me." "Do you really want to do this?" – "Yes, I want money," with a wink.' "So, we sat down for the briefing. An amiable military police officer entered and started talking: 'You are probably asking what you're doing here. We are the military police. Our task in [this] emergency is enemy detainees.' [...] He emphasized: 'It's important for you to understand, for the return of the hostages we need to return prisoners, so we're holding them for the deals. At the moment, they are a strategic asset of the IDF.' "When the questions and objections started, he got tough. 'You're all here under an emergency order. You have to serve in the job. I'm here to mediate [reality] for you. [...]' "One of the participants said: 'What bothers me is that morally, I don't see myself bringing them food. I can't imagine myself seeing to their needs.' "The officer replied: 'Under international law we are obligated to bring them a certain amount of food. After all, the army could simply kill them. But the army needs them. And don't worry, it's not like they're being pampered there. '"I returned home scared. The kind of talk I heard in informal conversations was being given an official military platform. It scared me that the officer didn't respond clearly to the dehumanizing talk. The encounter with such dangerous concepts, which had become normal in our society, was traumatic for me. It was clear to me that I would not be able to take part in it, and I got out of reserve duty with the help of a psychiatrist." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist N | Student from northern Israel, served as a guard in Sde Teiman concentration camp | "I saw on the [military] company's WhatsApp group announcements that we had another mission – something new: guard duty at Sde Teiman." [Sde Teiman was/is an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities.] "When I got back to my company people were already whispering about the place. Someone asked if I'd heard about what was happening there. Someone else said, 'You know you have to hit people there,' as though he was taunting me and wanted to test my reaction, whether I was a leftist or something like that. There was also a soldier in the company who boasted that he'd beaten people at the facility. He told us that he had gone with a shift officer from the military police and they had beaten one of the detainees with clubs. [...] "In Sde Teiman we guarded the detainees' lockup. We did 12-hour shifts during the day or night. The battalion's doctors and medics did 24-hour shifts at the field hospital. [...] "The detainees were in a large hangar with a roof and walls on three sides. Instead of a fourth wall, facing us, there was a fence with a double gate and two locks, like in dog parks. A barbed-wire fence surrounded everything. [...] "The inmates sat in eight rows on the ground, with about eight people in each. One hangar held 70 people and the second around 100. The military police told us that they [i.e., the hostages] had to sit.They were not allowed to peek out from their blindfolds. They were not allowed to move. They were not allowed to talk. And that if [...] they broke the rules, it was permitted to punish them." "For minor things, you could force them to stand in place [for about 30 minutes]. If the person continued to make trouble, or for more serious violations, the military police officer could also take him aside... and beat him with a club." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist N | Student from northern Israel, served as a guard in Sde Teiman concentration camp | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "N," served with his company as guards at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities.] "One time someone took a peek at a female soldier – at least, that's what she claimed... She said he peeked at her from under the blindfold and was doing something under his blanket. The thing is that it was winter and they had 'scabies blankets'... like army issue [rough, coarse blankets]. And they were always scratching underneath. [...] Then she called the officer and told him. The detainee was sitting in the first row and he was like... well, sort of a problematic guy. After all, they're not allowed to talk. It seemed to me that over time, some of them became on edge... unstable. Sometimes they would start to cry, or begin to lose it. He was also one of those, who didn't look very stable. "When the military police officer arrived, the shawish [a derogatory term with many connotations in Arabic, but used to describe an inmate put in charge of other inmates here] tried to explain to him, 'Listen, it's tough. He's been here for 20 days. He doesn't change clothes and barely ever showers.' Like, the guy tried to mediate for him. But the female soldier said again that he had looked at her. The officer told the shawish to bring the guy to the double gate and to take him outside. In the meantime he [the officer] called another soldier from his company [...] who was always talking about how he wanted to beat the detainees. "The soldier grabbed a club and they removed the detainee from the pen and took him to this kind of hidden place behind the chemical toilets near our rest area. I stayed at my post but I heard the sounds, a sort of knocking. About a minute, a minute and a half, went by, and they came back with the guy. You could see red marks on his arms, around the wrists. When they brought him into the lockup he shouted in Arabic, 'I swear I didn't look [at her].' He lifted his shirt and you could see there were bruises and a little blood around the ribs. "I did a few more shifts there, it was enough for me. And then we were discharged. [...] "The thought that the place was going to continue operating after I left depressed me, that a lot more soldiers would end up manning this concrete post. Even though I was only there for a short time, I came out with a heavy feeling of guilt." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist T | Israeli, aged 37, served as a guard in Sde Teiman concentration camp | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "T," served with his battalion as guards at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities.] "During the winter [my battalion was] called up again for reserve duty, but suddenly they said we would also be doing guarding tasks at Sde Teiman. [...] "I was there for 20 days. The place was divided then into four main pens, with two hangars in each. One of the pens also had an additional small hangar, for minors. All in all there were nine hangars and in each one there were between 50 and 100 detainees, except for the one with the minors, where there were maybe between 10 and 20. "In each hangar everyone had the same clothing, blue, and a sort of orangish-yellow blindfold. They wore flip-flops and each had a yoga mat, only thinner, and they weren't allowed to budge from it. During the day they were not allowed to lie down; at night they're not allowed to sit. Standing was not allowed at all without authorization. And they're not allowed to talk. Most of the time they would sit with arms shackled, and blindfolded. Actually, not most – they're like that all the time, day and night." "[...] Anyone who violates the instructions, whispers or tries to move his blindfold gets a punishment. The easiest punishment was to [be made to] stand up. The next stage was to stand with arms raised. The next is they're taken out of the facility and given something like four or five blows with a club. Somewhere in the upper body, not the face." [The interviewer asked reservist "T" who did the hitting.] "Usually the military police officers." "[There] were actually cases of soldiers who were really gung-ho to hit, so they would ask... and they [the military police] would sometimes agree to let them. But usually it was the officers themselves." "[...] I would say... once every two hours there was a case of beating. There were more punishments of being forced to stand up. Most of the time someone was standing." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist T | Israeli, aged 37, served as a guard in Sde Teiman concentration camp | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "T" served with his battalion as guards at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities.] "The punishments involved relatively minor violence. The more extreme violence was in the body searches of all inmates in the pen. A search was really something very, very... a lot more violent. Mostly, it was done by Force 100. At first it wasn't clear to us if that was something official or if these were just people who call themselves Force 100 [a unit of IDF reservists that is under the command of the military police] and have this kind of tag attached to their uniform. Afterward it became more institutionalized. They are reservists but they have the whole wassah [soldiers' arrogant pretense] thing that's big in the army now, the whole facade. They have a tactical uniform and walk around in ski masks with special gear, and there also an air of secrecy about them. "Usually for a search, a Force 100 team of about 10 fighters showed up. They made the detainees lie on their stomachs, hands behind their head. During the first search I saw, after they were lying down, five inmates were taken out each time, according to some sort of order. They took them out violently, stood them up outside, faces to the fence, and searched them. Usually they pulled one of them out – I don't know whether randomly or not – and threw him onto the ground. They searched him there and also beat him a little. It looked like an excuse to sow terror. It wasn't an ordinary search. It was very violent, certainly for the guys they threw on the ground, who were beaten badly. They kept going, [taking] five at a time, until they searched them all and brought them back in." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist T | Israeli, aged 37, served as a guard in Sde Teiman concentration camp | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "T" served with his battalion as guards at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities. In another quotation, T mentioned "Force 100," that worked at the camp, and described its members as arrogant reservists with attitude who were especially violent.] "Force 100 would take something like 10 people from each lockup. They came with lists and knew who the people were. They took those guys aside and really laid into them. I know that this list was prepared by the military police and not by Military Intelligence or the Shin Bet [security service]. In other words, it wasn't in order to extract intelligence from them. They came with a list of names and beat them viciously. It was blows at a level that... I think that each time teeth were broken, bones were broken. Because there were really powerful blows." "[...] I saw those beatings: Six or 7 men, from Force 100, stand around one guy and kick him. Blows, slaps, punches, everything. Two or three of them stood to the side with weapons as guards. And there was also a dog." "[...] There were also times when they invited regular soldiers to take part in the beatings, from the guard units or from the military police. [... It] was a type of gesture to certain soldiers, who were in the loop. "There were instances when I didn't see the beatings, but I did hear the punches or the shouts. They were very intense, the shouts. They were more intense than what I sometimes heard in other interrogations. Now, all this time, the dogs were also coming and barking and jumping on them. With a muzzle, yes, but scratching them and really scary. Ah... at the beginning there was also a stun grenade. Yes, every time a search like that started, Force 100 threw a stun grenade into the pen." "[...] The second search I saw was almost the same as the first, only it took place inside – the detainees weren't led out. After they threw the stun grenade and everyone was lying down, Force 100 entered and took five people each time, stuck them in some corner of the pen and did the same thing: a very violent search. And then, when they returned the detainees, they simply threw them back into their places. [...] Like, they threw the guy and he falls down, on other people. He's blindfolded and shackled and he can't even brace himself for the fall." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist T | Israeli, aged 37, served as a guard in Sde Teiman concentration camp | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "T" served with his battalion as guards at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities. In another quotation, T mentioned "Force 100," that worked at the camp, and described its members as arrogant reservists with attitude who were especially violent. It was Force 100 that carried out brutal "searches" on the hostages at Sde Teiman, according to T.] "There were soldiers, mainly female soldiers, who went into a kind of panic attack when they saw a search. But there were plenty who were enthusiastic about doing those shifts, who wanted to be there. [...] "Most of the guys were just fine with what was happening. There were some who were a little bothered by it, and there were others who were bothered by it at the start and then they toed the line with the system. The excuses were that 'it's wartime,' 'they are terrible' and 'there's no other way to impose discipline on them.' "One of the hardest things for me wasn't necessarily the beatings, but that they were shackled all the time, without being able to see or move. That's the toughest torture there is. [...] I also cared less as time went on. The first shifts were very hard. But afterward it doesn't create the same level of tension anymore. There's nothing you can do. There's the same stimulus, all the time. The brain gets used to it." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Reservist, Dr. L | Physician in a public hospital in Israel, served as a doctor in Sde Teiman concentration camp's field hospital | [Unnamed Israeli military reservist referred to as "Dr. L," served as a doctor in the field hospital at Sde Teiman - an Israeli-operated concentration camp where Israel held hostage Palestinians who, it claimed, were involved in terrorist activities.] "I arrived in the medical facility at Sde Teiman during the winter. In one hospitalization tent there were no more than 20 patients. All had their four limbs shackled to old steel beds, like the ones used in our hospitals years ago. All were conscious and all were blindfolded all the time. "There were patients there in different conditions. Some had arrived a very short time after major surgery. There were many with gunshot wounds. There was one who'd been shot in his home in Gaza just a few hours earlier. Every physician knows that what such a person needs is a day or two in intensive care and then to be moved to a ward; it's only there that recovery will actually start. But the person was sent to a pen in Sde Teiman two hours after surgery. To a tent. "There was another patient suffering from a systemic infection – sepsis. He was in critical condition, and even according to the protocol, he should not have been there. Only patients who are completely stable are supposed to be hospitalized at Sde Teiman. But he was there and they said there was no alternative. "Other than the fact that there was no surgeon there, which is inconceivable at a place like that, the medical team was very professional. Everyone really tried – if you ignore the fact, that in my eyes, at least... to hold a person without letting them move any of their limbs, blindfolded, naked, under treatment, in the middle of the desert... in the end it's no less than torture. There are ways to administer even poor treatment, or even to torture a person, without crushing cigarettes on them. And to hold them like that, unable to see, move or talk, for a week, 10 days, a month... that is no less than torture. Especially when it's clear that there is no medical reason. Why shackle the legs of a person with a two-day-old stomach wound? The hands aren't enough? "The thing is that when I was there, it all somehow looked normal to me, because there are excuses [for sending them to the camp's hospital], and the medical work takes place in a normal, familiar space. But in the end, what's happening there is total dehumanization. You don't really relate to them as if they're real human beings. It's easy to forget that when they don't move and you don't have to talk to them. You just have to check off that some medical procedure was done, and along the way you remove the whole human dimension of medicine." | 2024-08-16 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Security Source | Anonymous source, privy to information about the IDF assassination attempts on Al-Qassam Northern Brigades commander Ahmed Al-Ghandour | "[Al-Qassam Brigades Northern commander Ahmed Al-Ghandour] was under a very large building. We [the IDF] bombed knowing that the entire building would collapse. Many civilians were killed. But Ghandour wasn't there. They missed. It took a second strike to kill him, also with a lot of collateral damage." [In January 2023, the Israeli military reported that it had found the bodies of three Israeli hostages (an Israeli civilian and two soldiers - Ron Sherman and Nik Beizer). The bodies were discovered near the site of an underground tunnel in Gaza in which the commander of the Al-Qassam (Hamas) Brigades Northern, Ahmed Al-Ghandour, was killed in an IDF airstrike in November 2023. Maayan Sherman, Ron Sherman's mother, accused the IDF of pre-meditatively murdering her son in the airstrike that killed Ghandour. Quotes from Maayan Sherman are catalogued under her name | 2024-01-31 | Source Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Security Source B | Current or former member of Israel's security community; spoke to investigative journalists on condition of anonymity | [According to Israeli intelligence and security sources who spoke to investigative journalists at +972 and Local Call in late 2023, the Israeli military has four types of targets that are struck by military aircraft in Gaza. One category is "power targets." One Israeli security source told investigative journalists that in 2021, during Israel-named "Operation Guardian of the Walls" in Gaza, the Israeli military bombed nine "power targets," all of them high-rise buildings.] "The goal was to collapse the high-rises in order to put pressure on Hamas, and also so that the [Israeli] public would see a victory image. It didn't work. As someone who has followed Hamas, I heard firsthand how much they did not care about the civilians and the buildings that were taken down. Sometimes the army found something in a high-rise building that was related to Hamas, but it was also possible to hit that specific target with more accurate weaponry. The bottom line is that they knocked down a high-rise for the sake of knocking down a high-rise." | 2023-11-30 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Soldier A | Involved in 1956 Kfar Qasem massacre | [The following quote is from the transcript of a trial that took place in Israel in 1957. The defendants were Israeli border policemen who shot and killed almost 50 Israeli Arabs (including elderly, children, and a pregnant woman) after the civilians unknowingly violated a curfew. On 29 October 1956, the Israeli Border Police Commander decided to change the curfew time, without notifying the many villagers who were out working in the fields. In the trial, it was noted that Israel had devised a plan to deport the Arabs of the Little Triangle area (which included Kafr Qasem) in central Israel to Jordan. This plan was code-named Hafarperet (Mole).] [When asked whether the platoon in the sector that included Kfar Qasem had been told of the intention to leave several people dead in each village, Unnamed Soldier A responded in the affirmative.] "The major general said that it would be desirable to have a few casualties, meaning dead... I said it would be best to knock out a few people... so that in the future there would be quiet, and we would not need to have this much manpower overseeing these villages." [The transcript from this trial remained classified for 66 years, but photos from the scene of the massacre were not declassified when the court transcripts were.] | 1957 | Source |
| Unnamed Israeli Soldier B | Involved in 1956 Kfar Qasem massacre | [The following quote is from the transcript of a trial that took place in Israel in 1957. The defendants were Israeli border policemen who shot and killed almost 50 Israeli Arabs (including elderly, children, and a pregnant woman) after the civilians unknowingly violated a curfew. On 29 October 1956, the Israeli Border Police Commander decided to change the curfew time, without notifying the many villagers who were out working in the fields. In the trial, it was noted that Israel had devised a plan to deport the Arabs of the Little Triangle area (which included Kafr Qasem) in central Israel to Jordan. This plan was code-named Hafarperet (Mole).] [Unnamed Soldier B was asked what the rationale was behind killing villagers who had been unaware of the change made to the curfew.] Unnamed Soldier B: "[The method was to] seriously frighten them with a curfew. There was a tendency to leave a few dead in each village so that tomorrow the borders would be opened and the Arabs would divide into two: those who escape through the border; and those who remain and will be like innocent sheep and not do anything." [The transcript from this trial remained classified for 66 years, but photos from the scene of the massacre were not declassified when the court transcript was.] | 1957 | Source |
| Unnamed Released Hostage A | Israeli citizen, taken hostage on 10/7/2023, released with her children, her husband remained in captivity | [From a leaked audio recording of a 2023 meeting between Israel's war cabinet, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, and released Israelis taken captive to Gaza 10/7/2023, as well as hostages' family members. Translated from Hebrew to English by Reverso.] "You put politics above the return of the kidnapped. Do you think men are strong? My husband would beat himself every day, punch him in the face until he bled because he was too hard to bear, and now he's alone, and God knows what conditions. [...] I saw Aria Zalmanowicz [hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz] die next to me. And you want to topple the Hamas regime, show that you have bigger balls? There is no life more important than others. None of us there deserve the least treatment from any resident of Israel. Bring them all back, not in a month, two months, or a year." [While unidentified in the leaked audio recording, the details of her testimony suggest this hostage is Sharon Aloni Cunio. Quotes in which she is explicitly identified are catalogued under her name.] | 2023-12-04 | Source Source Source |
| Unnamed Released Hostage A | Israeli citizen, taken hostage on 10/7/2023, released with her children, her husband remained in captivity | "The feeling we had there [in captivity in Gaza] was that nobody was doing anything for us. The fact is that I was in a hiding place that was bombed [by Israel], and we had to be refugees and wounded. Not to mention the [Israeli Apache attack] helicopter shooting at us on the way to Gaza. You claim there is intelligence, but the fact is that we are being bombed. My husband was separated from us three days before we returned to Israel and was taken to the tunnels. And you talk about flushing the tunnels with seawater? You're bombing the tunnel routes exactly where they are. My daughters ask me where is dad? And I have to tell them that the bad guys still don't want to release him." | 2023-12-05 | Source |
| Unnamed Released Hostage B | Israeli citizen, taken hostage on 10/7/2023 with her husband, who remained in captivity after her release | [From a leaked audio recording of a 2023 meeting between Israel's war cabinet, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, and released Israelis taken captive to Gaza 10/7/2023, as well as hostages' family members.] "I see you're bombing there, and you have no idea where the hostages are. I was at a house when there were bombings all around. I know a family that miraculously survived after a shell hit the house [they were being held in]. We sat in the tunnels, and we were terrified that it wouldn't be Hamas but Israel that would kill us." | 2023-12-04 | Source |
| Unnamed Released Hostage C | Israeli citizen taken hostage from Kibbutz Kfar Aza on10/7/2023, released from Gaza before 12/5/2023 | [From a leaked audio recording of a 2023 meeting between Israel's war cabinet, including Prime Minister Netanyahu, and released Israelis taken captive to Gaza 10/7/2023, as well as hostages' family members. The elderly hostage quoted here, described to the war cabinet how on one occasion during captivity in Gaza, the blast of a bomb caused a closet to fall on her and others.] "I thought I was going to be blown up any second. I told myself I couldn't understand how Israel wanted to blow us up." | 2023-12-04 | Source |
| Unnamed Released Hostage D | Israeli citizen taken hostage from Israel on 10/7/2023, released from Gaza before 12/5/2023 | "What I see on TV scares me a lot. I see [Israeli] bombings there and you have no idea where the captives are. I was in a house [i.e. as a hostage in Gaza] surrounded by explosions. We slept in tunnels, and we feared not Hamas, but Israel might kill us and then it would have been said, 'Hamas killed you.'" [A former Israeli hostage made this statement in a private meeting between Israel's security cabinet, hostage's families, and released hostages.] | 2023-12-05 | Source Source |
| Unnamed Senior Israeli Security Source | Source's testimony revealed for the first time to journalists from +972 and Local Call | "We bombed Palestinians suspected of being kidnappers. We found such suspects and we bombed them. And it was surreal, because you see in the identification of the person you are bombing that he is a 'suspected kidnapper' of Israelis, meaning that there is a chance there are hostages next to him. In retrospect, we know that many Israelis were held underground. But for sure, mistakes happened, and we bombed hostages. [...] We bombed a lot of kidnappers. More than a few dozen, and less than a hundred. Absurdly, Israeli and Palestinian civilians were equal there - both of their lives were disregarded. [...] At the start of the war [... there] was no protocol about the hostages. They weren't taken into account. [...At] the start of the war [the] atmosphere was very painful and vengeful. We would bomb any Palestinian kidnapper." | 2024-01-31 | Source |
| Unnamed Whistleblower A | Worked at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp, where Palestinian hostages were held | [The person quoted below worked at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp and saw Palestinians held hostage there during Israel's invasion of Gaza.] "We were told they [i.e., the Palestinian hostages] were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They're not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold." [Guards were instructed] "to scream uskot" [shut up in Arabic, and to] "pick people out that were problematic and punish them." [The Israeli informant (Whistleblower A) said the detainees wore grey sweatsuits and were sitting on thin mattresses, under floodlights, in an area surrounded by barbed wire fencing. All of the men appeared to be wearing blindfolds, their heads hanging down as some of them murmured to themselves. The air was filled with a foul odor.] | 2024-05-11 | Source |
| Unnamed Whistleblower B | Worked as a medic at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp, where Palestinian hostages were held | "[W]ounded detainees are strapped to their beds, wearing diapers, and fed through straws." [The person quoted above worked at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp and saw Palestinians held hostage during Israel's invasion of Gaza. Informants described the concentration camp as being 18 miles from Gaza and divided in two. One part held enclosures where roughly 70 Palestinians from Gaza were held in extreme physical restraint. The second part was comprised of a field hospital.] "What I felt when I was dealing with those [detained Palestinian] patients is an idea of total vulnerability. If you imagine yourself being unable to move, being unable to see what's going on, and being completely naked, that leaves you completely exposed. I think that's something that borders on, if not crosses to, psychological torture." | 2024-05-11 | Source |
| Unnamed Whistleblower C | Worked as a guard at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp, where Palestinian hostages were held | [The person quoted below worked as a guard at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp and saw Palestinians held hostage there during Israel's invasion of Gaza.] "(The beatings) were not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge. It was punishment for what they (the Palestinians) did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp." | 2024-05-11 | Source |
| Unnamed Zionist Settler | Intends to settle in Gaza, participated in a 2024 march in Sderot with 500 Zionist families | [...] this march here in Sderot [an Israeli city located less than one mile from Gaza] is to show one thing: We will all return and settle in Gaza. We are demanding that because so many Israeli people died on October 7th, we are not willing to return the situation as it was. This is the greatest revenge that can be – for us to return to the Gaza Strip, control it, and settle there. | 2024-03-21 | Source |
| Unnamed Zionist settler from New York, U.S.A. | Intends to settle in Gaza, participated in a 2024 march in Sderot with 500 Zionist families | Unnamed Settler: "We love the Gaza Strip! They can't just take a whole strip of land and say Israelis can't live there. This Is our sovereign state." Interviewer: "Would you live there?" Settler: "Of course!" Interviewer: "By the beach?" Settler: "Oh, for sure. Yes, my husband's also talking about a building, he has a yeshiva - Talmudic Institute - here, so building a branch, yes, in Gaza. We have lists already of about 500 families that are willing, on the drop of a hat, to move into - we have North, central, and south Gaza, and people are going to start building towns. We have names of the towns; we have where we're building them - it's already being planned. And we have people signed up." Settler: "You can't keep it without Jews in the Gaza Strip. It's too big a piece of land, it's too important for us to let It become 'Hamas Town,' as we call it, filled with terrorists." | 2024-03-21 | Source Source |
| Unnamed Zionist young man | Member of a training group for youth movement graduates (18-19-year-olds) to establish a kibbutz, while also training to be soldiers | From day to day I see the devastation caused by this war to our generation, and to the next. From day to day my fear grows that this generation will not be able to carry upon its shoulders the burden of building the state and fulfilling the dream. I am all anxiety and concern. When I think of the thefts, the looting, the robberies and recklessness, I realize that these are not merely separate incidents. Together they add up to a period of corruption. The question is earnest and deep, really of historic dimensions. We will all be held accountable for this era. We shall face judgment. And I fear that justice will not be on our side. There is an impression that the quick transition to a state, and to a state of Hebrew power, drove people mad. Otherwise it is impossible to explain the behavior, the state of mind, the actions of the Hebrew youth, especially the elite youth. The moral code of the nation, forged during thousands of years of weakness, is rapidly degenerating, deteriorating, disintegrating. | 1948 | Source Source |
| Unnamed Zionist young woman | Member of a training group for youth movement graduates (18-19-year-olds) to establish a kibbutz, while also training to be soldiers | [The following quote is from a letter written after the Battle of Safed and the ethnic cleansing of Safed that followed.] "Our yard is like the yard of an Arab village. There is much commotion. Hens are everywhere, clucking away. The cattle break into the yard now and then ... but even in all the excitement, I see the wrong in all these looted possessions, and at the end of the day, it disgusts me, sickens me. I cannot recognize the guys anymore. All of them are drunk with victory and driven by the lust for loot. Each one of them took all that he could and in the joy of triumph they broke loose, expressing feelings of hatred and revenge, turning into real animals. They smashed, destroyed, and killed anything in their path. The thirst for revenge found its fountain and the comrades lost all humanity. I can't believe that human beings are capable of such things: to kill dozens of people in cold blood. No, I cannot say in cold blood. With passion. Day by day, the human feelings in us become duller and duller." | 1948 | Source Source |
| Uri Pinkerfeld | Served in the Zionist Palmach's Third Battalion | [Uri Pinkerfeld was interviewed about his experience as a Zionist soldier in the 1940s by Ami Asher and Raneen Jeries, filmed with Uri's wife Geula, in Kibbutz Revadim.] Uri: "Look, you have to realize, it was a fight to the death, and that's how it felt, and this was also the historic reality [...] it was a battle for life. So, this was felt also in the Galilee, and it was certainly felt [to be this way] in Gush Etzion. So, there was no question – it was a question of surviving and building the State [of Israel] or this whole [Zionist] story would end." Raneen: "What orders did you have during the fighting; you said you didn't fight?" Uri: "I wasn't in battles where they took villages." Raneen: "But your other friends who were... How was that state of mind articulated in the orders given at the time?" Uri: "The orders were to take this or that hill, or that village, capture the village. What do you mean how?" Raneen: "What did they do? How did they capture?" Uri: "They shot them until they surrendered or fled, what do you mean, how? Like you fight." Ami: "[...] One village called Khirbet Zakkariah, rings a bell?" Uri: "Sure, this was a village located right at the heart of the Gush [...]. They ran off after the Convoy of the Ten." [On 11 December 1947 a convoy of armed vehicles delivering supplies to Zionist settler outposts was attacked by militias from neighboring Palestinian villages. Four vehicles were ambushed, and ten convoy personnel were killed.] Ami: "Why did they run?" Uri: "They feared revenge. There was a huge battle on January 14 [1948]. The attackers were under the command of Abd al-Qadir al-Husayni, who was the commander of what we used to call the gangs of the entire Jerusalem and Judea area. They were - experts estimate the number of the attackers at about a thousand. They cut through the Gush, arriving up to the first houses of Khirbet Zakkariah..." Ami: "Who were abandoned?" Uri: "No, not abandoned, it was held by the student reinforcement unit from Jerusalem, it was the Gush's strongpoint – it was a key strategic location." Ami: "But the villagers were no longer there?" Uri: "No, they weren't." Geula: "When I was in Safed I used to work in the product warehouse, so now and then they would bring products, I asked from where, so now I can't remember too well what they answered me, but now that you're asking this, that they plundered it from the homes of the Arab inhabitants." Uri: "Of course we looted, here too. Sure, we were, there was this team, we called it the Dismantling Team. We used to dismantle roofs, sure – from whatever was useful we took [...]. In most cases, they [Palestinian villagers] fled due to fear, which intensified after the Dir Yassin incident." [The Deir Yassin massacre took place 9 April 1948, carried out by Zionist soldiers against Palestinian residents of the village.] "Clearly Dir Yassin is a watershed! Indeed, when our prisoners were driven from the Gush to Hebron, what did they shout at them [the Palestinians] on the way? Dir Yassin! That is Dir Yassin intensified their fear. In talks with Etzel [Irgun] and Lehi [Stern Gang] people, they told me it was right to do this. That is, I believe they do not justify the Dir Yassin Massacre, but they believe Dir Yassin was instrumental in intensifying their [Palestinians'] fear and having them run away." Raneen: "Do you know what happened there?" Uri: "They [Zionist military forces] got tangled up in this... They didn't intend to commit murder there, they got tangled up in the fighting and in order to extricate themselves from the mess they got into and save themselves, so they slaughtered anyone they could." Uri: "A friend of mine who was in the movement with me started talking to me once and he told me that [this other friend] was in Lehi. We got to talk about that Dov Berman, this friend who was with me in HaShomer HaTzair [a Zionist youth movement] and then left the movement. We knew he was in Lehi and he got killed. The commemorative plaque for Lehi's casualties in the Independence War reads: 'Dov Berman – killed on this-and-that date in Ein Karem.' And he told me a story, he said: 'Dov and I went to reconnoiter the village of Ein Karem, when it was still populated by Arabs. At one point... we had been ordered to provide information in preparation for an attack planned by Lehi against Ein Karem. At one point we split up and said, each will cover a sector and we will meet here again, and Dov did not return. I heard some shots and Dov did not return. There was no battle and no skirmish, no incident.' He thinks [Dov] took his own life, that Dov, and he thinks, this was not too long after Dir Yassin. To remember what happened and not deny it. This is why I appreciate your work. Not to deny and see what happened and then move forward. I will not leave the areas to enable the villagers of Kheime to return here." Ami: "What is Kheime?" Uri: "A small village most of which land we now occupy." [El-Kheime (also Al-Khayma or El-Kheima) was a Palestinian village which, according to Israel's Department of Statistics, had a population of 190 people in 1945 – all Muslims. This village was "depopulated" on 9 July 1948, by the Israeli Givati Brigade of Operation An-Far, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Following the war, the land was incorporated into the state of Israel and in November 1948, the Israeli government passed a motion to establish the settlement of Revadim on Al-Khayma's land.] | 2012-12-23 | Source Source |
| USAID | United States Agency for International Development | USAID (United States Agency for International Development), in its 17-page April 2024 memo to senior U.S. government officials, concluded the foretold famine in Gaza was the result of Israel's "arbitrary denial, restriction, and impediments of U.S. humanitarian assistance." In its memo, USAID also stated that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was "one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the world." [The U.S. government's two foremost authorities on humanitarian assistance concluded in the spring of 2024 that Israel had deliberately blocked deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza. USAID submitted its conclusions in memo, in April 2024, to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (a pro-Israel American Jew). Separately, the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration also determined that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid and that the Foreign Assistance Act should be triggered to freeze almost $830 million in taxpayer dollars set aside to provide weapons and bombs to Israel, according to emails obtained by ProPublica. (U.S. law requires the government to cut off weapons shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed humanitarian aid.) However, the Secretary of State and U.S. President Joe Biden rejected the findings of both federal agencies. On 10 May 2024, Blinken told U.S. Congress, "We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance."] [ProPublica, the source of the preceding quotes, gained access to a copy of USAID's April memo and a list of evidence used to support their conclusions. ProPublica reported that USAID's memo "described instances of Israeli interference with aid efforts, including killing aid workers, razing agricultural structures, bombing ambulances and hospitals, sitting on supply depots and routinely turning away trucks full of food and medicine." According to ProPublica, the memo also reported that "lifesaving food was stockpiled less than 30 miles across the border in an Israeli port, including enough flour to feed about 1.5 million Palestinians for five months. But in February the Israeli government had prohibited the transfer of flour [...]." | 2024-04-?? | Source Source |
| Victor Ostrovsky | Former Mossad Case Officer | "I had a record with my second book ["The Other Side of Deception"]. I think my first book sold something, around the world, close to 8 million copies. My second book was not reviewed in any newspaper in North America. Now that's a record. None! No- I'm sorry, I think the guy in the Phoenix Gazette... and the people from B'nai B'rith walked in and asked for him to resign. Yeah, 'cause he's an anti-Semite. Now I know what they do because I used to ask them to do it. I mean, when I was in the Mossad and we had a guy that gave us problems in the U.S. and he was speaking out and he was talking like Pete talked once and said, 'Israel is bombing Lebanon with cluster bombs.' We say hey who's that guy? You know. 'Peke McCucky' we used to call him, yeah, which is 'Pete the cockroach' because he makes a lot of noise and you can't get rid of him. So what you do is you get in touch with a guy in the station in New York or in the station in Washington and you say, 'Tell the guys at B'nai B'rith to label him. And of course, the campaign starts, and before you know it, they guy is labeled. And he's an anti-Semite because that's what we say he is. And that's one stain you cannot wash. Now, it shames me as a Jew to tell you that, but that's the fact, and it's wrong. And the people who are perpetrating this don't really understand what they're doing." | 1995-09-12 | Source Source Source Source |
| William Zukerman | Russian-American Jew, editor of the Jewish Newsletter (1948-1961) | [The late William Zukerman, editor of the Jewish Newsletter, answered the question of why and how thousands of Palestinians fled Palestine in 1948 to take refuge in neighbouring Arab countries, when he wrote the following in the Jewish Newsletter, 3 October 1960.] "The flight of the Palestine Arabs which created the Arab refugee problem was not a spontaneous act nor due to the propaganda call of the Arab leaders as the Zionists have claimed all along. It was a coldly calculated plan executed by the Irgun but with the knowledge of the Hagana of the Jewish Agency of the time." [The Irgun was a Zionist paramilitary organization and the Haganah was the main Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Jewish community in the British Mandate for Palestine.] | 1960-10-03 | Source Source |
| Writing on an Israeli artillery shell | Israeli Defense Force artillery shells | "God willing, it will hit innocent people." | 2023-12-19 | Source |
| Ya'acov Nagal | Former Acting Head of the Israeli National Security Council | "Everyone forgets that there were actually two surprises at Pearl Harbour, one in which the Americans were surprised and thousands of soldiers were killed, and the other, which is forgotten, in which the Japanese were surprised by the might of the American response. After two years of watching from the sidelines, the Americans entered with all their strength into involvement in the World War, which began [sic] with a crushing and decisive victory over the Japanese- using doomsday weapons. Israel's responsibility and obligation, after the Hamas surprise, is to fundamentally change the rules of the game, to surprise with the strength of the overall response, and of course to humiliate and defeat Hamas definitively" | 2023-10-27 | Source |
| Yaakov "Kobi" Shabtai | 19th Commissioner of Israel Police, Former Cmdr. of Israeli Border Police | "We are in a state of war. For us, the orders are clear. Zero tolerance for any instance of incitement. By a nurse, or a doctor, or a singer. There will be no authorization for protests. The major general here has proven he is upholding this with an iron fist. We're not in a situation where we will allow all sorts of people to come and test us. And this means we must fix the problem in a serious manner without being lenient." | 2023-10-17 | Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yaakov "Kobi" Shabtai | 19th Commissioner of Israel Police, Former Cmdr. of Israeli Border Police | "Whoever wants to become an Israeli citizen, ahlan wa sahlan [Arabic colloquial welcome]. Anyone who wants to identify with Gaza is welcome. I will put him on buses headed there now." | 2023-10-17 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yaakov (Kobi) Sharett | Israeli former Zionist; son of Moshe Sharett, Israel's second prime minister | "The State of Israel and the Zionist enterprise were born in sin. That's the way it is. This original sin pursues and will pursue us and hang over us. We justify it, and it has become an existential fear, which expresses itself in all sorts of ways. There is a storm beneath the surface of the water. "I'm 94 years old. I reached my age in peace. Financially, my situation is reasonable. But I fear for the future and fate of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren." [Yaakov Sharett was the son of Moshe Sharett, one of the signatories of Israel's 1948 declaration of independence. Yaakov Sharett served in the pre-state Palmach (the elite fighting unit of the Haganah, which was the underground army of the Jewish community during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine). He co-founded a kibbutz in the Negev, served in Israel's Shin Bet "security service," and served in Nativ, Israel's bureau for immigration from Eastern Europe to Israel. Later, he became a journalist, author, editor, and translator. By age 94, when the interview quoted from above was conducted, Sharett had been transformed. He no longer supported immigration to Israel; he encouraged emigration from Israel. He had become an anti-Zionist, and believed Israel was facing dark days ahead.] | 2021-09-19 | Source Source |
| Yaakov (Kobi) Sharett | Israeli former Zionist; son of Moshe Sharett, Israel's second prime minister | Interviewer: "It is hard to doubt your father's [i.e., Moshe Sharett's] Zionism and love of the land. Today he has great-grandchildren in New York. How would he feel if he knew about it? Yaakov Sharett: "It's impossible to discount yerida [i.e., leaving Israel] as a curse. There are almost no Israelis who don't have relatives overseas. I'm happy that I have granddaughters, great-granddaughters and a great-grandson in New York. I'm not ashamed to say it. [Moshe] Sharett had a yored father too. My grandfather. If he hadn't left Israel, I wouldn't have been born, because after he made yerida he established a family. As opposed to the false mantra 'I have no other country,' the facts show that there are other countries. There is more than one land. Over a million Israelis live abroad. The ideological Zionist commitment evaporates the more the generations pass. People understand that there are better places where to raise children and live. Everywhere has problems, life itself is a problem, but Israel has existential problems." [Yaakov Sharett was the son of Moshe Sharett, one of the signatories of Israel's 1948 declaration of independence. Yaakov Sharett served in the pre-state Palmach (the elite fighting unit of the Haganah, which was the underground army of the Jewish community during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine). He co-founded a kibbutz in the Negev, served in Israel's Shin Bet "security service," and served in Nativ, Israel's bureau for immigration from Eastern Europe to Israel. Later, he became a journalist, author, editor, and translator. By age 94, when the interview quoted from above was conducted, Sharett had been transformed. He no longer supported immigration to Israel; he encouraged emigration from Israel. He had become an anti-Zionist, and believed Israel was facing dark days ahead.] | 2021-09-19 | Source |
| Yaakov (Kobi) Sharett | Israeli former Zionist; son of Moshe Sharett, Israel's second prime minister | "The moment Zionism called for the Jews to immigrate to Israel, in order to establish here one home for the Jewish people, which will be a sovereign state, a conflict was created. The Zionist idea was to come to a place where there were people, members of another people, members of another religion, completely different. "Have you seen anywhere in the world where the majority would agree to give in to a foreign invader, who says, 'our forefathers were here,' and demands to enter the land and take control? The conflict was inherent and Zionism denied this, ignored it... as the proportion of Jews to Arabs changed in favor of the Jews, the Arabs realized that they were losing the majority. Who would agree to such a thing? "So violent conflict began, the riots of 1920, 1921, 1929, 1936–1939, and war and another war and another war. Many say that we 'deserve' the land because the Arabs could have accepted us as we were and then everything would have been alright. But they started the war, so they shouldn't complain. I see in this whole transformation of the majority [Arab] to a minority and the minority [Jewish] into a majority as immoral." [Yaakov Sharett was the son of Moshe Sharett, one of the signatories of Israel's 1948 declaration of independence. Yaakov Sharett served in the pre-state Palmach (the elite fighting unit of the Haganah, which was the underground army of the Jewish community during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine). He co-founded a kibbutz in the Negev, served in Israel's Shin Bet "security service," and served in Nativ, Israel's bureau for immigration from Eastern Europe to Israel. Later, he became a journalist, author, editor, and translator. By age 94, when the interview quoted from above was conducted, Sharett had been transformed. He no longer supported immigration to Israel; he encouraged emigration from Israel. He had become an anti-Zionist, and believed Israel was facing dark days ahead.] | 2021-09-19 | Source |
| Yaakov (Kobi) Sharett | Israeli former Zionist; son of Moshe Sharett, Israel's second prime minister | "I describe myself as a collaborator against my will. I'm a forced collaborator with a criminal country. I'm here, I have nowhere to go. Because of my age I can't go anywhere. And that bothers me. Every day. This recognition won't leave me. The recognition that in the end Israel is a country occupying and abusing another people.""[...] For a certain period there was great hope here [i.e., in the State of Israel] that something new had been created. I was a part of that. But now, Zionism, from my point of view, has disappeared. All the promises we made disappeared. I am not comfortable with this. Our national agenda is blood, death and violence. This flag files to this day in our country as a vision. Israel lives on the sword and sharpens it. I am completely alienated from this." [Yaakov Sharett was the son of Moshe Sharett, one of the signatories of Israel's 1948 declaration of independence. Yaakov Sharett served in the pre-state Palmach (the elite fighting unit of the Haganah, which was the underground army of the Jewish community during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine). He co-founded a kibbutz in the Negev, served in Israel's Shin Bet "security service," and served in Nativ, Israel's bureau for immigration from Eastern Europe to Israel. Later, he became a journalist author, editor, and translator. By age 94, when the interview quoted from above was conducted, Sharett had been transformed. He no longer supported immigration to Israel; he encouraged emigration from Israel. He had become an anti-Zionist, and believed Israel was facing dark days ahead.] | 2021-09-19 | Source Source |
| Yaakov Erez | Israeli Alexandroni Brigade soldier, present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "We were turned into murders that we lined up the Arabs [at Tantura] and shot them for no reason." [The preceding quote was from an interview with Yaakov Erez about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Yaakov Fauci | Israeli settler from Long Island, New York, stole the home of the el-Kurd family in 2021 in Sheikh Jarrah | Mona el-Kurd: "Yaakov, you know this is not your house" Fauci: "Yes, but if I go, you don't go back [to your home], so what's the problem? Why are you yelling at me? I didn't do this. I didn't do this!" Mona el-Kurd: "But you're s-" Fauci: "It's easy to yell at me, but I didn't do this!" Mona el-Kurd: "You are stealing my house!" Fauci: "And if I don't steal it, someone else is gonna steal it." Mona el-Kurd: "No! No one is allowed to steal it ya 3ami!" | 2021-04-30 | Source Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yaakov Fauci | Israeli settler from Long Island, New York, stole the home of the el-Kurd family in 2021 in Sheikh Jarrah | "Whatever the situation is, and that's what I was trying to explain in that viral video, they're [the al-Kurds] not coming back here... So whether I'm here, whether I'm not here, whether it's me, whether it's someone else, whether it's a monkey, whether it's a giraffe, they're not coming back into this house ever. I understand why they're angry at me, I understand why they dislike me, but I did not do this to them, I am not doing this to them, and as I said, if I leave, I'll be replaced immediately. And I venture to think that if I leave whoever comes here is not going to be as easy going as I am." | 2021-05-19 | Source Source |
| Yaakov Haleli | Israeli Alexandroni Brigade soldier present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "There were many Arab casualties, and they were scattered, like garbage. No consideration, no nothing. On the roads, the paths, between the houses. They were scattered everywhere. I don't even know if they were buried or not, but they were taken away." Interviewer: "What about the burial? Who took care of this issue?" Haleli: "Of the Arabs? We didn't wait around for it. They gathered them [the bodies] and we didn't wait around." [The preceding quote is from an interview with Yaakov Haleli about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source |
| Yagil Levy (Levi) | Professor Emeritus at the Open University, researcher of military-society relations in Israel | [Some Israeli analysts believe the military may be deliberately targeting Israeli hostages in Gaza in order to deny political influence to Hamas.] "The [Israeli] government's decision to attack Gaza despite the presence of abductees at the bombed sites can be considered an extension of the 'Hannibal' procedure – that is, an attempt to thwart the continuation of captivity even at the cost of endangering the lives of the abductees. The obvious explanation is that the [political] right perceives the pressure to stop the fighting as jeopardizing the quest for victory and revenge in Gaza, and therefore the lives of the abductees are another reasonable sacrifice that must be made." [In Shomrin News, 10/10/2023, journalist Chen Shalita described the Hannibal Directive as "a classified IDF order, the full meaning of which is not known, which states that the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers must be avoided at all costs, even if it means harming IDF's own forces. It is worth noting that the directive deals with the case of the kidnapping of soldiers, not civilians as is the current situation."] | 2024-01-01 | Source Source |
| Yair Ben David | IDF commander in the 2908th Battalion | "[The Israeli army has] entered Beit Hanoun and did there as Shimon and Levi did in Nablus. ... The entire Gaza should resemble Beit Hanoun. [A biblical reference to Genesis 25:31, 'On the third day, when they were in pain, Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob's sons, brothers of Dinah, took each his sword, came upon the city unmolested, and slew all the males']" | 2023-12-20 | Source Source |
| Yair Lapid | Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset, Former Prime Minister of Israel | "My argument is that the media can't just claim to bring both sides of the story. If you do that, you are only bringing one: Hamas's side. That's cowardly and it's lazy. It's an insult. Insult to the victims [presumably of October 7], including the Palestinian victims. It's also an insult to the core idea of what journalism is. Believe me, I know I was a journalist for 31 years. I have no problem with criticism of Israel. But when you know that one side lies, and one side makes every effort to verify the facts, the least we can expect is that you don't give a never-ending platform to the lies." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yair Lapid | Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset, Former Prime Minister of Israel | "If the international media is objective, it serves Hamas. If it just shows both sides, it serves Hamas. If it creates symmetry between sufferings without first checking who caused it, it serves Hamas. I know you don't mean to, but that's the result, and it's time for it to change. I'm not telling you how to do your job, but it's got to change. We will be happy to work with you in any way you suggest to make sure the way this conflict is covered changes fundamentally." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yair Lapid | Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset, Former Prime Minister of Israel | "These are not settlements in the West Bank, this is not occupation. We live in our biblical land." | 2023-11-05 | Source Source |
| Yair Lapid | Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset, Former Prime Minister of Israel | "The hilltop youth are turning Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] into a battleground between the terror of Jewish terrorists and the terror of Arab terrorists. It endangers the settlements which are mostly [made up of] law-abiding citizens, endangers our soldiers, and harming innocents is against every Jewish or democratic value. The backing they get from within the most extreme coalition in the history of the state [amounts to] a diplomatic attack. [Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu] should harshly condemn the violence that harms national security, the IDF [i.e. Israeli military] and the settlements." [Note: Yair Lapid described Israeli settlers in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as "law abiding," but their displacement of the local population and presence as settlers contravenes international humanitarian law. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." Article 49 also states: "Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons [i.e. those under occupation] from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive." Rule 51 of Customary International Law (which all countries are obligated to uphold) prohibits the confiscation of private property: "[...] (b) immovable public property must be administered according to the rule of usufruct; and (c) private property must be respected and may not be confiscated; except where destruction or seizure of such property is required by imperative military necessity." An occupying power's unlawful appropriation of property is "pillage" – prohibited by The Hague Regulations and Fourth Geneva Conventions and considered a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and many national laws.] | 2023-08-05 | Source Source |
| Yaniv Kubovich | Military correspondent, journalist for Haaretz (the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel) | "The Israeli army believes that Yossi Sharabi – a resident of Kibbutz Be'eri who was kidnapped by Hamas to Gaza on October 7th and who was pronounced dead last month – was most likely killed in an IDF strike, according to an investigation by the Israeli military. "According to the investigation, Sharabi was held in an apartment in the Nuseirat Refugee Camp in the central Gaza Strip, along with the hostages Itai Svirsky and Noa Argamani. Sharabi was killed after the Israeli Air Force bombed a nearby building. "[...] A fighter jet attacked the building with a heavy bomb, knowing that the explosion would also affect the adjacent building. The destruction of the building led to a partial collapse of several nearby structures, including the one where it is now known the hostages were being held. "Following the bombing of the area, Hamas terrorists who held the hostages emerged from the rubble of the building together with hostages Argamani and Svirsky, according to information the army has received." | 2024-02-09 | Source |
| Yarden Bibas | Israeli hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive with his wife, and 4-year-old and 11-month-old children | "Netanyahu, you bombed and killed my wife and my two children, who were the most important things in my life. Bring them back home so they can be buried in Israel. I beg you to bring me, my wife and my children back home." | 2023-11-30 | Source Source Source |
| Yariv Levin | Israeli lawyer, politician, Deputy Prime Minister (2022- ) | [The following quote is from Yariv Levin's comments at the first reading in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) of the contentious Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, which the Knesset ultimately passed on 7/19/2018.] "[This is] Zionism's flagship bill... it will bring order, clarify what is taken for granted, and put Israel back on the right path. A country that is different from all others in one way, that it is the nation-state of the Jewish people." | 2018-03-12 | Source Source |
| Yarov London | Israeli media personality | "We have failed in our sophisticated attempts to distinguish between innocent individuals and sinning leaders. We have failed in the effort to distinguish between "simple people who also have fathers and children" and those who incite those simple folk. Without saying so explicitly, we reached the conclusion that nations are responsible for their leaders' acts. In practical terms, the Palestinians in Gaza are all Khaled Mashaal, the Lebanese are all Nasrallah, and the Iranians are all Ahmadinejad." | 2008-10-06 | Source |
| Yarov London | Israeli media personality | "We shall pulverize the 160 Shiite villages that have turned into Shiite army bases, and we shall not show mercy when it comes to hitting the national infrastructure of a state that, in practice, is controlled by Hizbullah. This strategy is not a threat uttered by an impassioned officer, but rather, an approved plan." | 2008-10-06 | Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | Porat: "[We are hiding in a safe room on 10/7 in Kibbutz Be'eri. The couple hosting us and protecting us] informs us that the terrorists are right in the house next door. And it seems they will reach us. And in fact not five minutes later the whole house shatters to pieces. And for an hour we manage to prevent them from breaking into our reinforced security room. And for an hour about 10 terrorists are banging on the reinforced safe room. Screams in Arabic. It was a very tense hour. And we felt great indescribable fear. After an hour they managed to break in and they removed the four of us to a nearby house where there were already eight other additional hostages. We joined those eight and we were about 12 hostages with 40 terrorists that were guarding us. I'm keeping the story short." Interviewer: "Did they abuse you?" Porat: "They did not abuse us. They treated us very humanely, meaning..." Interviewer: "Humanely? Really?" Porat: "Yes, by that I mean they guard us. They give us something to drink here and there. When they see we are nervous, they calm us down. It was very frightening but no one treated us violently. Luckily nothing happened to me like what I heard in the media." | 2023-10-15 | Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | "We were the ones who called the police together with the abductors because the abductors wanted the police to arrive. Because their objective was to kidnap us to Gaza. Not to murder us. And after we were there for two hours with the abductors, the police arrive. A gun battle takes place that our police started. A very very difficult gun battle, in terms of the amount of ammunition that flew there. And at the end... no, during [the battle], one of the terrorists decides to surrender, the terrorist I made a connection with. Over the course of those two hours I connected with some of the abductors, those that guarded the hostages. And he decides to use me as a human shield. He decides to surrender. I am not aware of it in those moments, it's in retrospect. He starts to disrobe, he takes - he calls to me and he starts to leave the house with me, under fire. At that time I yelled to the YAMAM [Israeli commandos] when we were already - when they can hear me, to stop firing. And then they hear me and stop firing. | 2023-10-15 | Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | Porat: "I see on the lawn, in the garden of the people from the kibbutz. There are five or six hostages lying on the ground outside, just like sheep to the slaughter, between the shooting of our [fighters] and the terrorists." Interviewer: "The terrorists shot them?" Porat: "No, they were killed by the crossfire. Understand there was very, very heavy crossfire." Interviewer: "So our forces may have shot them?" Porat "Undoubtedly." Interviewer: "When they [the Israeli Defense Force] tried to eliminate the abductors, Hamas?" Porat: "They eliminated everyone, including the hostages. Because there was very, very heavy crossfire. I was freed at approximately 5:30. The fighting apparently ended at 8:30. After insane crossfire, two tank shells were shot into the house. It's a small kibbutz house, nothing big. You saw it on the news." Interviewer: "Yes" Porat: Not a large place. And at that moment everyone was killed. There was quiet, except for one survivor that came out of the garden, Hadas." | 2023-10-15 | Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | Interviewer: "How were they [the victims of the Be'eri massacre on 10/7] all killed?" Porat: "From the crossfire." Interviewer: "Crossfire, so it could also be from our forces?" Porat: "Undoubtedly." Interviewer: "Really?" Porat: "That's what I believe." Interviewer: "Oy it sounds so bad." Porat: "Yes. And everyone died." Interviwer: "And you, thanks to that terrorist who decided to give himself up..." Porat: "Exactly." Interviewer: "And you survived and all the rest were killed there. | 2023-10-15 | Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | Porat: "Except for one other woman who survived, they found her later [trails off]. The person who dealt with the event checked her or something. They found her when she lifted her head, amongst all the bodies. And then, simply ... " Interviewer: "And your partner, who was with you? " Porat: "Killed. " Interviewer: "He was killed too? " Porat: "Yes. Everyone was killed there. Just horrible. " Interviewer: "Have you returned to Kabri? " Porat: "I returned to Kabri and then the chaos started there. " Interviewer: "In the north? " Porat: "Yes. So now I'm a guest. I'm being hosted in a lovely way in Kibbutz Ein Harod. And I'm here for now. " Interviewer: "You're in the [Jezreel] Valley now. Alright, Yasmin, you've undergone a horrific experience. " Porat: "True. " Interviewer: "You lost your partner, you saw people killed alongside you. " Porat: "And I ... " Interviewer: "[INTERRUPTS] What happened to that terrorist who gave himself up? " Porat: "He is still arrested, and he was just called in for interrogation to help ... You know, he will be interrogated about the accused. And sadly dozens more of my friends were killed because ... " Interviewer: "[INTERRUPTS] Dozens of friends? " Porat: "Yes because it's a community, the trance scene, we go to the same parties. It means that besides my partner, I knew dozens and hundreds of friends, and every day I learn that at least 10 of my friends have died. So I don't even know how to digest this situation." | 2023-10-15 | Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | "I sat there with the commander of the unit and I described to him what the house looks like, and where the terrorists are, and where the hostages are. I actually drew it for him: 'Look, here, on the lawn there are four hostages that are lying this way on the lawn. Here are two that are lying under the terrace. And in the living room there is a woman lying like this, and a woman lying like this. I told [the Israeli commander] about the twins (Yanai and Liel Hatzroni) and their great-aunt (Ayala), I didn't see them. You know what, when I left, they were the only ones I didn't see. I heard Liel the whole time, so I know for certain that they were there. I tried to explain to [the commander] that from somewhere near the kitchen, that's where I heard the screams coming from. I didn't see her, but I heard her, and I heard where the screams were coming from. I tried to explain to them where all the hostages were." | 2023-11-15 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | "I thought to myself, 'Why are they shooting tank shells into the house?' And I asked one of the people that was with me, 'Why are they shooting?' So they explained to me that it was to break the walls, in order to help cleanse [or purify, or sterilize, IDF terminology commonly used for eliminating threats inside] the house." | 2023-11-15 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | "[Hadas Dagan, an Israeli woman, the only survivor of the Israeli tank shelling of the house in kibbutz Be'eri, said to me] 'Yasmin, when the two big booms hit, I felt like I flew in the air... It took me 2-3 minutes to open my eyes, I didn't feel my body. I was completely paralyzed. When I opened my eyes, I saw that my Adi [Dagan] is dying... Your Tal also stopped moving at that point.'" | 2023-11-15 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | "[Hadas Dagan, an Israeli woman, the only survivor of the Israeli tank shelling of the house in kibbutz Be'eri, said to me] 'The girl [12-year-old Liel Hetzroni] did not stop screaming for all those hours. She didn't stop screaming... [but] when those two shells hit, [Liel] stopped screaming. There was silence then." | 2023-11-15 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | "So what can you take away from that? That after that very massive incident, the shooting, which concluded with two [Israeli tank] shells, that is pretty much when everyone died." | 2023-11-15 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yasmin Porat | Israeli citizen, taken hostage for a few hours on 10/7 in kibbutz Be'eri, eyewitness to IDF response to kibbutz Be'eri | "I understood that to this day, they had not found any of her [Liel Hetzroni, 12-year-old taken hostage in kibbutz Be'eri] remains. I think that some of the explosives there- they threw grenades and... I don't know much about ammunition. Some of it was bigger than rifle bullets. I know they catch fire... and I also see now in photographs part of the house is torched. The [adjacent] house of Hadas and Adi [Dagan] no longer exists. I don't know how that happened. I can't describe what these houses look like. ... If you ask me, I estimate, based on what happened in other houses, she apparently burnt completely." | 2023-11-15 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yedidya Baruchi | Israeli military soldier in Combat Engineering Corps | In my childhood, I've always dreamed of blowing up my school. Today, I am blowing up a school. [Then Baruchi, inside a tank, is shown smiling while pulling a detonating cord. The tank rocks with the supposed explosion of the school – presumably a United Nations-operated school in Gaza, where displaced Palestinians would have been sheltering.] | 2024-07-19 | Source |
| Yehuda Lopez | Jewish Israeli soldier of Latin origin | [Yehuda Lopez, a 20-year-old Jewish Israeli soldier of Latin origin, is interviewed about his experience fighting with the IDF in Gaza after 10/7/2023.] Narrator: "We also asked him about the civilian victims, about the tens of thousands of Palestinian dead, women, children." Lopez: "There are no innocents there. We have to get that into our heads." Interviewer: "How is this going to end?" Lopez: "Hopefully with a crushing defeat. That no one remains there." | 2024-02-14 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yehuda Shaul | Former Israeli Army Commander | [The following quote is from an interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Global Affairs Editor John Lyons conducted with Yehuda Shaul, former Israeli army commander, for a "Four Corners" report entitled, "The Forever War."] Shaul: "We are told that the IDF is doing everything to avoid civilian casualties is a blunt lie. Straight lie. It's a hard statement to say about my own army, but it's the truth." Lyons: "Yehuda Shaul, a former Israeli army commander, says Israeli military strategy has been driven, for the past 15 years, by a doctrine of deterrence through disproportionate destruction." Shaul: "Theoretically it's possible to bomb thousands of legitimate targets. What matters is the devil is in the details. We don't have enough evidence coming from soldiers coming out of Gaza in this war yet, but we know from past operations from before October 7 in terms of how the IDF fights in Gaza. We are told that every target we strike is a legitimate target under international humanitarian law and is based on clear cut double-check verified intelligence. And when we strike, we do it in a surgical manner in a way while taking all precautions to avoid, to minimise the civilian collateral damage and casualties. But that is not the case. "Then the question is proportionality. But what about a house of a militant? A target that was very common in many operations before in Gaza. Two, 3, 4, 5, 6 story building that you will wipe out with a half one tonne bomb just because on the second floor, the flat to the left Hamas militant lives. There's no way this is a legitimate target under IHL. "I have no doubt that after October 7th, yeah, they've loosened some of the restraints, some of the restrictions they had from previous wars. What exactly we don't really know yet. But all what you need, for example, is to decide that... the amount of civilians you are allowed to take out for each strike goes higher than before. And... you lower the rank of a Hamas operative that you're allowed to strike. So, if before, let's say for a company officer in Hamas, you are allowed to take out five civilians, hypothetically speaking. And now in this war, for every rank-and-file guy in Hamas, you're allowed to take out, ie. to kill 15 civilians. A move like this can explain a lot of what we see. "Was there a viable alternative to all this, to the scale of the killing?" | 2024-03-11 | Source |
| Yehuda Shaul | Former Israeli Army Commander | "Y'know, the beginning [presumably, following the events of October 7, 2023] ... I was also full of rage. I also had the feeling that these [i.e. Palestinians] are animals, we need to go there and bomb the hell out of them. But then you stop for a second and you think. You say to yourself, 'What did we think is going to happen after 16 years of siege?'" [The preceding quote is from an interview Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Global Affairs Editor John Lyons conducted with Yehuda Shaul, former Israeli army commander, for a "Four Corners" report entitled, "The Forever War."] | 2024-03-11 | Source |
| Yehuda Shimon | Zionist Israeli settler at "Gilad's Farm," an illegal West Bank outpost | We must do it [re-settle Gaza]. It's part of Israel area. This is the land that God gave us, and you couldn't go to God and tell him, 'OK you gave me, and I gave to other people.' No. I believe in the end we will go back to Gaza. [The interviewer asks what Zionist re-settlement of Gaza would mean for Palestinians.] "They have 52 other places to go in the world. 52 Muslim countries. [The new Gaza will be like] another Tel Aviv." | 2024-03-?? | Source |
| Yhuda Fuah | Son of Likud Party Leader Michael Fuah, founder at btsalmo.org.il | "It seems that a nuclear bomb in Gaza is the most correct, just, and moral solution." | 2023-12-16 | Source Source |
| Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi | Israeli military general, chief military advocate (2021- ) | [The following quote is from a letter Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi sent to Israel military commanders on 2/21/2024, warning against illegal acts committed by soldiers in the Gaza Strip.] "[During the current war in Gaza, we] have encountered unacceptable cases of conduct that deviate from IDF values and protocols. [They include] inappropriate statements which encourage unacceptable phenomena; unjustified use of force, including against detainees; looting, which include the use or removal of private property for non-operational purposes; and destruction of civilian property contrary to protocols. Some incidents go beyond the disciplinary domain, and cross the criminal threshold. "These acts and statements, on the part of individuals who do not represent the whole, are contrary to the IDF being a professional, moral, and dignified army, and they have no place in the IDF. [These acts] cause the State of Israel and the IDF strategic damage in the international arena, the seriousness of which is difficult to overstate." | 2024-02-21 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yiftah Ron-Tal | Head of Israel Electric Corporation, Former Maj. Gen. of IDF | "Everyone understands and recognises the clear overarching goal of destroying Hamas. This manoeuvre will eventually lead the forces to take complete control of Gaza, especially Lower Gaza [i.e., the tunnels]. As far as I'm concerned, the Strip can become a plowed area and maybe in the future we will finally rebuild the settlements in Gush Katif, this is the overarching goal." | 2023-11-01 | Source |
| Yigal Allon | Israeli military leader and politician, head of Palmach (elite fighting force of Zionist army in British Mandate Palestine) | "[...] Israel's war aims have been confined to repelling the offensives of the Arab armies as determined by strategic and political circumstances, whether by reactive counteroffensives such as those of 1948 and 1973 or by preemptive counteroffensives as those of 1956 and 1967. Military defeats, indeed, cost the Arab states losses in lives, destruction of equipment, political setbacks, and damage to national prestige-and perhaps even danger to their regimes. However, such defeats have never been, nor ever will be, a threat to their very existence as sovereign states or to the lives of their civilian populations. In contrast, a military defeat of Israel would mean the physical extinction of a large part of its population and the political elimination of the Jewish state. In highly realistic and clear terms, therefore, the Arab states can permit themselves a series of military defeats while Israel cannot afford to lose a single war. Nor does this reflect a historical trauma in any sense. To lose a single war is to lose everything, and this is a most real and stark fact. "As a consequence, as long as the Arab-Israeli conflict is not fully resolved, Israel must exploit to the utmost its military potential in all of its components and on a level that serves two objectives to deter its enemies from waging war and, failing this, to be sufficient to repel the attackers and defeat them with the least cost in casualties for Israel. In essence, that Israel today still exists is due only to its success in maintaining such defensive strength. Without it, Israel would never have seen the light of day or would already have been eliminated in the first years of its existence. Such were the Arab intentions, and it was fortunate that the Arab states had not the strength to realize them." | 1976-10-?? | Source |
| Yigal Allon | Israeli military leader and politician, head of Palmach (elite fighting force of Zionist army in British Mandate Palestine) | [In May 1948, the Zionist military had nearly achieved complete military dominance of all of Palestinen - even beyond the borders of the 1947 UN Partition. In the following quote, Yigal Allon, head of the Palmach (elite fighting force of Zionist underground army), described why the Zionists did not entirely succeed in their plans.] "This stage of the war, which was made possible by the gradual British evacuation and ended with the invasion of the Arab armies into the country, gave Haganah [the main Zionist paramilitary organization] valuable victories. Thanks to the local offensive war [i.e. plans C & D], the continuity of the Jewish territories was accomplished and also the penetrating of our forces into Arab areas. The Arab flight, which reached great numbers, made it easier on our forces to supervise vast areas and was a burden to the enemy, who had to put all of his efforts into the absorption and organization of the refugees.[...] If it wasn't for the Arab invasion there would have been no stop to the expansion of the forces of Haganah who could have, with the same drive, reached the natural borders of western Israel, because in this stage most of the local enemy forces were paralyzed." | 1948-05-?? | Source Source Source |
| Yigal Allon | Israeli military leader and politician, head of Palmach (elite fighting force of Zionist army in British Mandate Palestine) | "There were left before us only five days, before the threatening date, the 15th of May [(1948), when the British would end their mandate and leave Palestine]. We saw a need to clean out the inner Galilee [i.e. kill or expel Palestinians there] and to create a Jewish territorial continuity in the entire area of the upper Galilee. The long battles had weakened our forces, and before us stood great duties of blocking the routes of the Arab invasion (literally plisha or expansion). We therefore looked for means which did not force us into employing force, in order to cause the tens of thousands of sulky Arabs who remained in Galilee to flee, for in case of an Arab invasion these were likely to strike us from the rear. We tried to use a tactic which took advantage of the impression created by the fall of Safad [on 11-12 May 1948] and the (Arab) defeat in the area which was cleaned out by operation Matateh-a tactic which worked miraculously well. "I gathered all of the Jewish Mukhtars [village heads], who have contact with Arabs in different villages, and asked them to whisper in the ears of some Arabs, that a great Jewish reinforcement has arrived in Galilee and that it is going to burn all of the villages of the Huleh. They should suggest to these Arabs, as their friends, to escape while there is still time. And the rumor spread in all the areas of the Huleh that it is time to flee. The flight numbered myriads. The tactic reached its goal completely. The building of the police station at Halsa fell into our hands without a shot. The wide areas were cleaned, the danger was taken away from the transportation routes and we could organize ourselves for the invaders along the borders, without worrying about our rear." | 1948-05-10 | Source Source |
| Yinon Magal | Former Israeli Member of Knesset, Israeli Journalist | "You are confused, we do not need to bring a significant achievement in Gaza - we need to eliminate Gaza. This means that the area needs to be cleaned." | 2023-10-17 | Source |
| Yinon Magal | Former Israeli Member of Knesset, Israeli Journalist | "They slaughtered whole families of us, so I don't care if we hit a hospital and hundreds were killed, and even if it happens because of our hit, move on." | 2023-10-25 | Source |
| Yinon Magal | Former Israeli Member of Knesset, Israeli Journalist | "It's time for Nakba 2." | 2023-10-07 | Source Source |
| Yinon Magal | Former Israeli Member of Knesset, Israeli Journalist | "this [picture of destroyed neighborhood] is how all of Gaza, all of Gaza." | 2023-10-09 | Source Source |
| Yitzhak Gruenbaum | Russian-born noted leader of Zionist movement, journalist and editor | [Near the end of the Arab-Israeli War in late 1948, the Israeli government began to discuss reports of massacres by Israeli forces that had taken place. According to Haaretz's investigative report, the archival records of meetings reveal that Israel's leaders knew atrocities were being committed during the invasions of Arab villages. While minutes of these cabinet meetings have been available for years, the discussions devoted to "the army's behaviour in the Galilee and the Negev" were censored up until a few years ago. In the following quote, Israeli Interior Minister Yitzhak Gruenbaum shared one disturbing event a member of the Israeli military perpetrated.] "I have learned that an order exists to cleanse the territory." [At this point Gruenbaum talked about an officer who transported residents in a bus to enemy lines, where they were expelled.] "But apparently others lack the same intelligence and the same feeling. Apparently the order can be executed by other means." | 1948-11-07 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Kroizer | Israeli Member of Knesset | "The Gaza Strip should be flattened, and there should be one sentence for everyone there- death. We have to wipe the Gaza Strip off the map. There are no innocents there." | 2023-11-05 | Source Source |
| Yitzhak Pinto | An original settler/resident of Kibbutz Nachsholim, Israel, established on Tantura, Palestine | [Kibbutz] Nachsholim is 73 years old. On June 14, 1948, we were here. One month after the establishment of the State [of Israel on 14 May 1948]. The Alexandroni Brigade had captured Tantura. And we were suddenly informed, 'You're not going anywhere. You will build your kibbutz here.' Sixty-three people came to settle here. Of them, only three girls and myself remain. [The first names of the three women are Teresa, Drora, and Rachel. Testimony from Drora is catalogued on this site under that name.] | 2022 | Source |
| Yitzhak Rabin | Former Israeli Prime Minister | "[On the break-their-bones policy] Might, power, and beating." | 1988-01-22 | Source |
| Yitzhak Rabin | Former Israeli Prime Minister | "Our task now is to... put the fear of death into the Arabs of the territories." | 1988-01-25 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Rabin | Former Israeli Prime Minister | "There shouldn't be blows for the sake of blows." | 1988-01-26 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Rabin | Former Israeli Prime Minister | "[The break-their-bones policy calls for] force, including beatings, only while violent action is going on." | 1988-01-26 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Rabin | Former Israeli Prime Minister | [The following quote was originally from The Rabin Memoirs, but an Israeli censorship board compsed of five Cabinet members prohibited former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin from including in his memoirs the following first‐person account of the expulsion of 50,000 Palestinian civilians from their homes near Tel Aviv during the 1948 Arab‐Israeli war. So, while the following passages do not appear in Rabin's memoirs published in Hebrew or in English, a copy of his manuscript was provided to The New York Times by Peretz Kidron, who translated the book from Hebrew to English. Rabin's narrative, quoted below, opens with a meeting that included Rabin, David Ben‐Gurion (the de facto leader of the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine), and Yigal Allon (who led several of the major military operations in 1948).] "While the fighting was still in progress, we had to grapple with a troublesome problem, for whose solution we could not draw upon any previous experience: the fate of the civilian population of Lod and Ramie [also known as Lydda and Ramle/Ramleh], numbering some 50,000. "Not even Ben‐Gurion could offer any solution, and during the discussions at operational headquarters, he remained silent, as was his habit in such situations. Clearly, we could not leave Lod's hostile and armed populace in our rear, where it could endanger the supply route to Yiftach [another Israeli military brigade], which was advancing eastward. "We walked outside, Ben‐Gurion accompanying us. Alton [Allon] repeated his question: 'What is to be done with the population?' B.G. waved his hand in a gesture which said, 'Drive them out!' "Allon and I held a consultation. I agreed that it was essential to drive the inhabitants out. We took them on foot towards the Bet Horon Road, assuming that the legion would be obliged to look after them, thereby shouldering logistic difficulties which would burden its fighting capacity, making things easier for us. "'Driving out' is a term with a harsh ring. Psychologically, this was one of the most difficult actions we undertook. The population of Lod did not leave willingly. There was no way of avoiding the use of force and warning shots in order to make the inhabitants march the 10 to 15 miles to the point where they met up with the legion. "The inhabitants of Ramie watched and learned the lesson. Their leaders agreed to be evacuated voluntarily, on condition that the evacuation was carried out by vehicles. Buses took them to Latrun, and from there, they were evacuated by the legion. "Great suffering was inflicted upon the men taking part in the eviction action. Soldiers of the Yiftach Brigade included youth‐movement graduates, who had been inculcated with values such as international brotherhood and humaneness. The eviction action went beyond the concepts they were used to. "There were some fellows who refused to take part in the expulsion action. Prolonged propaganda activities were required after the action, to remove the bitterness of these youth‐movement groups, and explain why we were obliged to undertake such a harsh and cruel action." | 1979 | Source |
| Yitzhak Rabin | Former Israeli Prime Minister | I wish I could wake up one day and find that Gaza has sunk into the sea. | 1992 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Rabin | Former Israeli Prime Minister | [Lt. Col. Yitzhak Rabin was the operations officer of Operation Dani when he issued the following order to Israeli's military on 12 July 1948.] "I. The inhabitants of Lydda must be expelled quickly without attention to age. They should be directed toward Beit Nabala. [...] 2. Implement immediately." | 1948-07-12 | Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Rabin | Former Israeli Prime Minister | I don't believe that for 2,000 years Jews dreamed and prayed about the return to Zion to create a binational state. | 1995-07-07 | Source Source |
| Yitzhak Shamir | Seventh prime minister of Israel | "Neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat. We are very far from having any moral qualms as far as our national war goes. We have before us the command of the Torah, whose morality surpasses that of any other body of laws in the world: 'Ye shall blot them out to the last man.' We are particularly far from having any qualms with regard to the enemy, whose moral degradation is universally admitted here. But first and foremost, terrorism is for us a part of the political battle being conducted under the present circumstances, and it has a great part to play: Speaking in a clear voice to the whole world, as well as to our wretched brethren outside this land, it proclaims our war against the occupier [Palestinians]. The real terrorist hides behind his stacks of papers and of laws he himself legislated. [Our terrorism] is not aimed at persons, but rather at representatives, and therefore it is effective. If, in addition, it shakes the Jewish population out of its complacency, so much the better. Thus, and only thus, will the battle for liberation commence." | 1943 | Source Source |
| Yitzhak Shamir | Seventh prime minister of Israel | "Neither Jewish ethics nor Jewish tradition can disqualify terrorism as a means of combat. "We are very far from having any moral qualms as far as our national war goes. We have before us the command of the Torah, whose morality surpasses that of any other body of laws in the world: 'Ye shall blot them out to the last man.' ... But first and foremost, terrorism is for us a part of the political battle being conducted under the present circumstances, and it has a great part to play: speaking in a clear voice to the whole world, as well as to our wretched brethren outside this land, it proclaims our war against the occupier." [The preceding quote includes excerpts from an article by Yitzhak Shamir (prime minister of Israel from 1983-1984 and 1986-1992) that first appeared in the LEHI underground organization journal Hehazit (The Front) in the summer of 1943.] | 1943 | Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Shamir | Seventh prime minister of Israel | [In the Israeli parliament on 21 May 1984, Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir denounced Jewish settlers in the West Bank who confessed to carrying out acts of terrorism against Palestinians – killing and maiming dozens of people. Shamir, however, exonerated the Zionist settlement movement.] "They will be brought to trial and will bear the consequences of their actions. But the splendid enterprise of Zionist Jewish settlement of the various parts of the Land of Israel will continue with the support and full encouragement of the Government." "It has become clear that this is a small group of people who were tempted into taking this crooked path. The decisive majority of the settlers of Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and the Gaza sector dissociate themselves from these acts without reservation. There is thus no justification for sullying the entire settlement enterprise with the crime of individuals who went astray." | 1984-05-21 | Source |
| Yitzhak Shapira | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | [Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira encouraged members of Israel's military to use the outlawed "neighbour procedure" when operating in Palestinian areas.] "Anything you do to keep the war tough is permissible, and obligatory according to the torah. According to true Jewish values, your lives come before those of the enemy, whether he is a soldier or a civilian under protection. Therefore, you are forbidden from endangering your own life for the sake of the enemy, not even for a civilian." [In his 2004 article "Neighbours as Human Shields?" Roland Otto, Research Fellow at the Institute of International Law, University of Gottingen, explained the Israeli military's "neighbour procedure" as: "a means employed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to arrest wanted persons in the West Bank and to avoid civilian and military casualties. If the Israeli armed forces have knowledge of a wanted person's presence in a house [...], the forces surround the house but do not enter it themselves. They then obtain the assistance of local Palestinians, i.e. a neighbour who is persuaded to enter the house. That person warns the occupants of the house, asks them to leave it and requests the wanted person to surrender to the Israeli forces. If the wanted person does not obey, the forces enter the house to arrest him."] | 2010-01-20 | Source Source |
| Yitzhak Shapira | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "No one must be excluded when Israel retaliates. All the Palestinians are vulnerable to retaliation. In the face of revenge, no one is innocent, be they old, young, children, men or women, and regardless of their health. Children and adults, men and women, whatever their condition, should be avenged." | 2009 | Source |
| Yitzhak Shapira | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "There is justification for killing [non-Jewish] babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults." | 2009 | Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Shapira | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "If we kill a Gentile [non-Jew] who has sinned or has violated one of the seven commandments – because we care about the commandments – there is nothing wrong with the murder." | 2009 | Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Shapira | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "[In] war between Israel and gentiles [non-Jews], we simply prefer to kill non-Jews in order to save the Jews, because the lives of the Jews are more valuable and better, as we explained in Chapter Four. Moreover, the Jews are the ones who are reforming the world and also delivering the Word of God, especially the Seven Laws, to the whole world." | 2009 | Source |
| Yitzhak Shapira | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "A large part of the malice and evil that exists within these civilian gentiles [non-Jews] stems from their violation of the Seven Laws. Hence, we would enforce the ruling and kill them because of their violation of this. This is why our great sages ruled that the best gentiles during the time of war are 'the dead' - that is, there is no room for reforming the gentiles, given their intensive danger and malice. [As for children from birth through adolescence, who of course do not violate the Seven Laws for not realizing or hearing about them, thyy also can be killed] "because of the future risk they pose if they are allowed to live and grow up and thus become evildoers like their parents. Of course, the children and other civilians, [with] whom the evildoers seek their protection, are allowed to be killed too. Thus, the evildoers must be killed, even if this led to the killing of children and civilians." [In The King's Torah, the authors state that God gave all human beings the invitation to accept his Torah (teachings) but only the "Children of Israel" ("Jews") responded favourably. As a result, God elevated the status of the Children of Israel and degraded the status of all other human beings ("gentiles"), whom the authors call "Noah's sons." The "Seven Laws" the authors refer to are a set of universal moral laws which, according to the Jewish Talmud, God gave to Noah and all of his offspring (all humanity) as a covenant.] | 2009 | Source |
| Yitzhak Shapira | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "In the war on the fate of the land of Israel, the gentiles must be killed. The gentiles [i.e. Palestinians], who claim this land for themselves, are stealing it from us, but it is a legacy from our forefathers." | 2009 | Source |
| Yitzhak Shapira | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "The prohibition 'Thou Shalt Not Murder' [applies only] to a Jew who kills a Jew. Non-Jews [are] uncompassionate by nature [and assaults on them] curb their evil inclination, [while infants and children of Israel's enemies may be killed, since] it is clear that they will grow to harm us." | 2009 | Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Shapira | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "Anywhere where the presence of a gentile [non-Jew] poses a threat to Israel, it is permissible to kill him, even if it is a righteous gentile who is not responsible for the threatening situation." | 2009 | Source Source Source |
| Yitzhak Yosef | Israeli Haredi rabbi, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, son of former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef | "If our hands were firm, if we had the power to rule, then non-Jews must not live in Israel. If a gentile does not agree to take on the seven Noahide Laws, we should send him to Saudi Arabia. [Non-Jews who agree to abide by the laws will be allowed to remain in Israel.] Who, otherwise be the servants? Who will be our helpers? This is why we leave them in Israel." [The seven Noahide Laws are a basic moral code outlined in the Talmud.] | 2018-03-24 | Source Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "The feeling that we will stop soon is incorrect- without a clear victory, we will not be able to live in the Middle East." | 2024-01-02 | Source Source Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "My basic view: We are fighting an axis, not a single enemy. Iran is building up military power around Israel in order to use it. ... They see what is happening in Gaza. They know we can copy-paste to Beirut." | 2024-01-07 | Source Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "This is a war on the existence of Israel, as a prosperous state, as a democratic state, as the homeland of the Jewish people. This is a war on freedom and on our common values and we are on the front line." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "Therefore, we are asking all the civilians in Gaza City to go south of Gaza, and the reason is that because we don't want to harm them. The camoflauge of the terrorist is the civil population, therefore, we need to separate them. So, those who want to save their life, please go south. We are going to destroy Hamas infrastructures, Hamas headquarters, Hamas military establishment and take this phenommena out of Gaza and out of the Earth. They cannot live among human civilized people." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "Israel never and ever will not shoot civilians in purpose [sic]." | 2023-10-13 | Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "Gaza won't return to what it was before. We will eliminate everything. If it doesn't take one day, it will take a week, it will take weeks, or even months. We will reach all places." | 2023-10-09 | Source Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel, everything will be closed. We are fighting against human animals, and we are acting accordingly" | 2023-10-09 | Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "I have released all the restraints, we have [regained] control of the area, and we are moving to a full offense." | 2023-10-09 | Source Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "I am saying here to the citizens of Lebanon, I already see the citizens in Gaza walking with white flags along the coast and moving south ... If it [Hezbollah] makes mistakes of this kind, the ones who will pay the price are first of all the citizens of Lebanon. What we are doing in Gaza we know how to do in Beirut." | 2023-11-11 | Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "We know from interrogations that Hamas came in with detailed plans of their attack, including which commander should rape which soldiers in different places." [NOTE: the day after publication, the Washington Post retracted this quote with the following explanation: "A previous version of this article included a quote from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant that was not authorized for publication. The quote has been removed."] | 2023-11-12 | Source Source Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "[Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar made a mistake and sealed the fate of Hamas and the fate of Gaza." | 2023-11-07 | Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | [After making the northern part of the Gaza strip uninhabitable] "... the campaign will last for months to come and will include the southern area of the strip." | 2023-12-14 | Source |
| Yoav Gallant | Israeli Minister of Defense | "Every person in Lebanon can take the map, the aerial photograph of Gaza, place it on an aerial photograph of Beirut, and ask themselves if this is what they want to happen there." | 2023-12-06 | Source |
| Yoav Kisch | Israeli Minister of Education and Regional Cooperation | "We can certainly bring back the settlements of Gush Katif [evacuated in 2005], there is no status quo and nothing is sacred." | 2023-11-08 | Source Source |
| Yoav Kisch | Israeli Minister of Education and Regional Cooperation | "The time has come to launch a full-scale war against Hezbollah. To move 400,000 residents of southern Lebanon to across the Litani river." [Yoav Kisch made the above declaration in early June 2024. Following a series of terrorist attacks in Lebanon beginning on 17 September 2024 (widely attributed to Israel), Israel launched a ground invasion of the sovereign nation on 30 September 2024. The Litani River is entirely in Lebanon, so a statement to move residents of southern Lebanon (near the border with Israel) across the Litani (further into Lebanon) would be highly controversial and inflammatory, as it suggests a mass displacement of civilians, which could be seen as a form of ethnic cleansing or forced migration, violating international law and human rights. Historical context, including Israel's past occupations of southern Lebanon (especially during the 1978 and 1982 invasions), would make such a comment particularly sensitive.] | 2024-06-03 | Source Source |
| Yoav Kisch | Israeli Minister of Education and Regional Cooperation | "There is no difference between Hezbollah and Lebanon. The way things are progressing at the moment, Lebanon will be annihilated. And I say this even now in a very blunt way. We are in a type of event where Lebanon is going towards annihilation. It will not be the same Lebanon as they know. I am not going to deal with hunting down Hezbollah's rockets. The price of aggression from Lebanon territory will be paid by the state of Lebanon." [As the alarmed interviewer questioned Yoav Kisch about his use of the word, "annihilated," Kisch corrected himself.] "You know what? I'm correcting myself. It will not be annihilated. Lebanon as we know it will not exist. Lebanon will pay the heavy price because of Hezbollah. And I am correcting myself. It will not be annihilated. I'll be more precise." [Kisch smiled as he made the correction.] | 2024-09-21 | Source Source Source |
| Yoav Zitun | Reporter and military correspondent at Yedioth Aharanoth (ynetnews) an Israeli news agency | "The pilots [responding to the October 7 attack] realized that there was tremendous difficulty in distinguishing within the occupied outposts and settlements who was a terrorist and who was a soldier or civilian... The rate of fire against the thousands of terrorists was tremendous at first, and only at a certain point did the pilots begin to slow down the attacks and carefully select the targets." | 2023-10-15 | Source |
| Yoav Zitun | Reporter and military correspondent at Yedioth Aharanoth (ynetnews) an Israeli news agency | "At least 20 soldiers were killed by friendly fire or accidents during the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, representing one-fifth of all fatalities, according to data released by the IDF on Tuesday." | 2023-12-12 | Source Source |
| Yoav Zitun | Reporter and military correspondent at Yedioth Aharanoth (ynetnews) an Israeli news agency | "Casualties fell as a result of friendly fire on October 7, but the IDF believes that beyond the operational investigations of the events, it would not be morally sound to investigate these incidents due to the immense and complex quantity of them that took place in the kibbutzim and southern Israeli communities due to the challenging situations the soldiers were in at the time." | 2023-12-12 | Source Source |
| Yocheved Lifshitz | Israeli peace activist, hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive 10/7/2023, released 10/23/2023 | "We lay on mattresses, they made sure everything was sanitary. They made sure we wouldn't get sick, and we had a doctor with us every two or three days." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source |
| Yocheved Lifshitz | Israeli peace activist, hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive 10/7/2023, released 10/23/2023 | "The paramedic visited [one of the hostages who fell off the motorcycle during capture on 10/7 and wounded his arms and legs] every day and cleaned him up for an hour and a half. The doctor sent him antibiotics, after four or five days he still wasn't better, so the doctor changed his antibiotics. Then he started to get better." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source |
| Yocheved Lifshitz | Israeli peace activist, hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive 10/7/2023, released 10/23/2023 | "There were five of us, and each one of us had someone guarding them. They treated us well, took care of all the details... female hygiene. They cleaned our toilets, they cleaned! They cleaned with Lysol, so we won't get diseases, they were worried of a plague." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source |
| Yocheved Lifshitz | Israeli peace activist, hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive 10/7/2023, released 10/23/2023 | "[When asked if the kidnappers tried to talk with the hostages] We told them - no politics. But they talked about all sorts of stuff. They were very friendly to us." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source |
| Yocheved Lifshitz | Israeli peace activist, hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive 10/7/2023, released 10/23/2023 | "They divided us into groups according to place of residence, took care of all our needs. To their credit, they kept us very clean. They made sure we ate, we ate the same food they did- pitta bread with white cheese, processed cheese and cucumber." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source |
| Yocheved Lifshitz | Israeli peace activist, hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive 10/7/2023, released 10/23/2023 | "[When asked about the documentation of the moment of her release which shows her shaking the hand of one of the Hamas kidnappers] They treated us gently and looked after us. They were ready for this, they had been preparing for a while. They had everything women would need and men would need. Even shampoo and conditioner." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source |
| Yocheved Lifshitz | Israeli peace activist, hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive 10/7/2023, released 10/23/2023 | "They blew up the electronic fence [on October 7], that special fence that cost 2.5 billion dollars to build but didn't help with anything. Masses mobbed our homes. They beat people, took some hostage. They didn't distinguish between young and elderly, it was very painful. They brought us to the entrance to the tunnels. We arrived in the tunnel and walked for kilometers on wet dirt. There is a giant system of tunnels, like spiderwebs." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source Source |
| Yocheved Lifshitz | Israeli peace activist, hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz, taken captive 10/7/2023, released 10/23/2023 | "When we got there they told us that they are believers of the Quran, that they won't harm us, and we will live in the same living conditions as them in the tunnels. We started walking in the tunnels, the dirt is damp and everything is always damp and humid. We reached a hall with 25 people in it, after 2–3 hours they separated five of the people from my kibbutz Nir Oz. They guarded us closely." | 2023-10-24 | Source Source Source |
| Yoel Donchin | Israeli medical doctor, lieutenant colonel in the military reserves | "Why they brought him - I don't know. They take everyone." [Yoel Donchin, a lieutenant colonel in Israel's military reserves, was a medical doctor and served in that capacity in Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp where Palestinians captured in Gaza were held hostage in brutal conditions. (Sde Teiman has been referred to as "Israel's Guantanamo Bay.") Donchin told a New York Times journalist that Israeli soldiers captured Gazan men indiscriminately, as many hostages at Sde Teiman were highly unlikely to have been combatants actively resisting Israeli occupation. One, for example, weighed approximately 300 pounds. Another breathed through a breathing tube in his neck, which he'd had for most of his life. A third man was paraplegic.] | 2024-06-06 | Source |
| Yoel Donchin | Israeli medical doctor, lieutenant colonel in the military reserves | "I couldn't believe that an Israeli prison guard could do such a thing. I was certain this was revenge by the Nukhba against the Nukhba [i.e., a Hamas elite unit]. "If the state and Knesset [i.e., Israeli parliament] members think there's no limit to how much you can abuse prisoners, they should kill them themselves, like the Nazis did, or close the hospitals. If they maintain a hospital only for the sake of defending ourselves at [the International Criminal Court at] the Hague, that's no good." [Yoel Donchin was the doctor who examined a Palestinian from Gaza who was assaulted (including sexually) while being held hostage at Israel's Sde Teiman concentration camp in July 2024. The Palestinian man's injuries were so severe, he was transported to a hospital outside of the camp, after Donchin's examination. Information obtained by Haaretz daily news indicated that as a result of attack by a suspected nine to ten soldiers, the victim had a ruptured bowel, a severe injury to his anus, lung damage, and broken ribs. He underwent surgery in a hospital, and then was returned to Sde Teiman, where he had been critically injured.] | 2024-07-30 | Source |
| Yogev Bar Sheshet | Israeli Deputy Head of the Civil Administration | Reporter: "There are no civilians now in Al-Atatra neighbourhood [Beit Lahiya]." Sheshet: "Whoever harms Jews, whoever harms Israelis, we will destroy his houses. We will kill him wherever he lives. It does not pay off to harm the people of Israel, this is our message. Nothing left. Whoever returns here, if he returns here later, will see here scorched earth. No houses, no agriculture, no nothing. They have no future ... They [Hamas-because they caused the Israeli military to do it] annihilated this place for many years to come" | 2023-11-04 | Source Source Source |
| Yonatan Shapira | Former Israeli Air Force Captain and pilot, resigned in 2003 | "It's important for me to say it here, especially to those who confuse Judaism with Zionism. I am Jewish. I am an Israeli, and my Palestinian comrades who are here protesting with me are not anti-semites. It is not anti-semitic to support justice, equality, and liberation. It is not anti-semitic to resist apartheid and occupation. It is not anti-semitic to call for boycott, divestment, and sanctions as part of a struggle for freedom and for the right of return. It is not anti-semitic to call for equal rights for all 'from the river to the sea.' And it is definitely, definitely, not anti-semitic to want to stop a genocide. Stop the genocide! Stop the genocide! Stop the genocide! Stop the genocide! I am sending from here my love to Jews, Muslims, Christians, and all others, all around the world, who are for freedom and liberation and who are calling to stop the destruction of Gaza. Like me, there are hundreds of thousands of Jews around the world- and even some here in Norway- who are saying, 'Not in our name! Not in our name!'" | 2024-01-14 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yonatan Shapira | Former Israeli Air Force Captain and pilot, resigned in 2003 | "... this occupation is an ongoing criminal act and a war crime, and we are not willing to continue to take part in this war crime." | 2021-05-16 | Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yonatan Shapira | Former Israeli Air Force Captain and pilot, resigned in 2003 | "I was a captain in Israeli Air Force, I was a Blackhawk helicopter pilot, and I realized during the 2nd Intifada that what Israeli Air Force and the Israeli military is doing is a war crime, terrorizing population of millions of Palestinians. And when I realized that, I decided to not just leave but to organize other pilots that will publicly refuse to take part in this crime." | 2021-05-16 | Source Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yonatan Shapira | Former Israeli Air Force Captain and pilot, resigned in 2003 | Shapira: "I was fired from all companies I worked for in Israel and it was hard for me to-" Interviewer: "Why?" Shapira: "Because I support the Palestinian struggle and because I give lectures all around the world, because I am part of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions [BDS] Movement, because I say that Israel is an apartheid state, because I say that my government and my military commanders are war criminals." | 2021-05-16 | Source Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yonatan Shapira | Former Israeli Air Force Captain and pilot, resigned in 2003 | "Slowly, slowly, some of us, the minority, opened their eyes to see the gloom reality and to me, one of the things was when I realized that the Air Force that I am serving in, although I was flying rescue missions but other pilots in other squadrons were engaged in mass killing of civilians, what was called the 'target killing' missions. They were sent to throw missiles and bombs in the centers of Palestinian towns. At some point, I realized that this is an act of terrorism." | 2021-05-16 | Source Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yonatan Shapira | Former Israeli Air Force Captain and pilot, resigned in 2003 | "As a child in Israel, you are being brought up in a very strong Zionist militaristic education. You don't know almost anything about Palestine, you don't know about the Nakba, 1948, you don't know about ongoing oppression." | 2021-05-16 | Source Source Source Source Source Source Source |
| Yoram Dinstein | Professor Emeritus, Israeli specialist on International Law | "The proposition that the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip is over is not the prevalent opinion, and the present writer [self] cannot possibly accept it." | 2009 | Source |
| Yosef "Yossi" Cohen | Former Director of Mossad | "International pressure doesn't understand that civilians from Gaza, civilians, not just Hamas terrorists... took part in the abominable murders of children, babies and women." | 2023-10-16 | Source |
| Yosef "Yossi" Cohen | Former Director of Mossad | "Currently Gaza is under siege. If you've heard my statements on the matter, I said 'don't blink'- I've seen [now] the first blink... -letting in water to the south of Gaza... If this was done due to pressure from the international community, which doesn't understand that Gazan civilians went through the fence- civilians! Not just the Hamas terrorists- you've seen them in the pictures, completely unarmed, they didn't have RPGs, they didn't arrive on motorcycles, looting and participating in the deplorable murder of women and babies." | 2023-10-16 | Source |
| Yosef Dov (Bernard Joseph) | Canadian-born Israeli statesman, appointed Military Governor of Jerusalem on 8/2/1948 | "We suffered a reverse of a different nature on April 9 when combined Etzel and Stern Gang units [underground Zionist paramilitary] mounted a deliberate and unprovoked attack on the Arab village of Deir Yassin on the western edge of Jerusalem. There was no reason for the attack. It was a quiet village, which had denied entry to the volunteer Arab units from across the frontier and which had not been involved in any attacks on Jewish areas. The dissident groups chose it for strictly political reasons. It was a deliberate act of terrorism [...]." "[...] Women and children had not been given time enough to evacuate the village, although warned to do so by loudspeaker, and there were many of them among the 254 persons reported by the Arab Higher Committee as killed. "The event was a disaster in every way. The dissidents [i.e. Zionist paramilitary groups] held the village for two days and then abandoned it. They earned the contempt of most Jews in Jerusalem, and an unequivocal public repudiation by the Jewish Agency. But they gave the Arabs a strong charge against us, and the words 'Deir Yassin' were used over and over again both to justify their own atrocities and to persuade Arab villagers to join the mass flight which was now taking place all over Palestine." [The preceding testimony was from an Israeli statesman – the Military Governor of Jerusalem in 1948.] | 1960 | Source Source |
| Yosef Elizur | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "No one must be excluded when Israel retaliates. All the Palestinians are vulnerable to retaliation. In the face of revenge, no one is innocent, be they old, young, children, men or women, and regardless of their health. Children and adults, men and women, whatever their condition, should be avenged." | 2009 | Source |
| Yosef Elizur | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "There is justification for killing [non-Jewish] babies if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us, and in such a situation they may be harmed deliberately, and not only during combat with adults." | 2009 | Source Source Source |
| Yosef Elizur | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "If we kill a Gentile [non-Jew] who has sinned or has violated one of the seven commandments – because we care about the commandments – there is nothing wrong with the murder." | 2009 | Source Source Source |
| Yosef Elizur | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "[In] war between Israel and gentiles [non-Jews], we simply prefer to kill non-Jews in order to save the Jews, because the lives of the Jews are more valuable and better, as we explained in Chapter Four. Moreover, the Jews are the ones who are reforming the world and also delivering the Word of God, especially the Seven Laws, to the whole world." | 2009 | Source |
| Yosef Elizur | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "A large part of the malice and evil that exists within these civilian gentiles [non-Jews] stems from their violation of the Seven Laws. Hence, we would enforce the ruling and kill them because of their violation of this. This is why our great sages ruled that the best gentiles during the time of war are 'the dead' - that is, there is no room for reforming the gentiles, given their intensive danger and malice. [As for children from birth through adolescence, who of course do not violate the Seven Laws for not realizing or hearing about them, thyy also can be killed] "because of the future risk they pose if they are allowed to live and grow up and thus become evildoers like their parents. Of course, the children and other civilians, [with] whom the evildoers seek their protection, are allowed to be killed too. Thus, the evildoers must be killed, even if this led to the killing of children and civilians." [InThe King's Torah, the authors state that God gave all human beings the invitation to accept his Torah (teachings) but only the "Children of Israel" ("Jews") responded favourably. As a result, God elevated the status of the Children of Israel and degraded the status of all other human beings ("gentiles"), whom the authors call "Noah's sons." The "Seven Laws" the authors refer to are a set of universal moral laws which, according to the Jewish Talmud, God gave to Noah and all of his offspring (all humanity) as a covenant.] | 2009 | Source |
| Yosef Elizur | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "The prohibition 'Thou Shalt Not Murder' [applies only] to a Jew who kills a Jew. Non-Jews [are] uncompassionate by nature [and assaults on them] curb their evil inclination, [while infants and children of Israel's enemies may be killed, since] it is clear that they will grow to harm us." | 2009 | Source Source Source |
| Yosef Elizur | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "In the war on the fate of the land of Israel, the gentiles must be killed. The gentiles [i.e. Palestinians], who claim this land for themselves, are stealing it from us, but it is a legacy from our forefathers." | 2009 | Source |
| Yosef Elizur | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "While no one wants to live in a state of anarchy, there are times when we must live by the rules of the jungle and show evil gentiles [non-Jews] that Jews can also play that game." | 2017-04-03 | Source |
| Yosef Elizur | Israeli rabbi, co-author of book, The King's Torah (Torah Hamelech), which concerned laws relating to life and death between Jews and non-Jews | "[It is a shame that Israel's attorney general, Mendelblit, is] "busy doing deeds that hurt the people of Israel and its Torah. In any case, I shall continue to state with a clear voice that the Torah of Israel supersedes the courts of the gentiles [non-Jews] [and Jews should] "ignore orders and laws that are cruel to compassionate Jews." | 2017-04-03 | Source |
| Yosef Mizrachi | Israeli Rabbi and Public Speaker | "You have 6 billion idol worshipper who makes God angry every second of their life. Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Tibet, Nepal, Thailand, so many! India alone is 500 millions. China is 2 billion. So many! 2 billion Christians, which are idol worshippers. Between Chinese, Indi- Hindus, Buddhists, and Christians, at least 6, 6 and a half, billion people are idol worshippers that, according to the Torah, do not have the right to live. Idol worshipper goy [gentile, non-Jew] it's death penalty. Not only Jews. Even a goy, who bow down to an idol, who believe in J.C. [presumably meaning Jesus Christ] deserve death penalty." | 2022-02-20 | Source Source Source |
| Yosef Weitz | Director of the Jewish National Fund's Lands and Afforestation Department, known as "Architect of Transfer" for his role in expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine | "The transfer of Arab population from the area of the Jewish state does not serve only one aim - to diminish the Arab population. It also serves a second, just important, aim which is to evacuate land presently held and cultivated by the Arabs and thus to release it for the Jewish inhabitants." | 1937-11-?? | Source Source |
| Yosef Weitz | Director of the Jewish National Fund's Lands and Afforestation Department, known as "Architect of Transfer" for his role in expulsion of Palestinians from Palestine | [Yosef Weitz confided the following thoughts to his diary in December 1940.] "It must be clear that there is no room in the country for both peoples...If the Arabs leave it, the country will become wide and spacious for us...The only solution is a Land of Israel...without Arabs...There is no way but to transfer the Arabs from here to the neighboring countries, to transfer all of them, save perhaps for [the Palestinian Arabs of] Bethlehem, Nazareth, and old Jerusalem. Not one village must be left, not one [Bedouin] tribe. The transfer must be directed at Iraq, Syria and even Transjordan. For this goal funds will be found ... And only after this transfer will the country be able to absorb millions of our brothers and the Jewish problem [in Europe] will cease to exist. There is no other solution." | 1940-12-20 | Source Source Source Source |
| Yossef Diamont | Israeli Alexandroni Brigade soldier present at the 1948 Tantura massacre | "People went wild in Tantura. It was awful. Tantura was a rich village. Beautiful houses. And they lived like Europeans, you know? The women were beautifully dressed. This village was real... One guy [i.e. Zionist soldier] raped there a 16-year-old girl, or something of the sort." [Diamont laughs.] "Do you understand? But this was very ugly. "There was one guy [i.e. Zionist soldier], he passed away, but he was a savage. He simply took them [i.e. Palestinians] and murdered them in the enclosures. In the enclosures. They were in enclosures surrounded by barbed wire. All the men were rounded up. They were all sitting on the ground. And someone comes and takes a machine gun and starts [shooting to kill]. And then changes the cartridge. What do you think? But we were not like that. It was out of the ordinary, that guy with what he did. And it was silenced. "And some guys took flamethrowers and ran after people and torched them. It was horrifying. It is forbidden to tell. I'm not going to talk about it...because...it could cause a huge scandal. I don't want to talk about it. That's it. [Diamont smiles and laughs again.] It, it happened. What can you do? It happened." [The preceding quote is from an interview with Yossef Diamont about the 1948 massacre of Palestinians by the Israeli military in the village of Tantura.] | 2022 | Source Source |
| Yossi Dagan | Head of the Shomron Regional Council of settlements in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Territories | After the holocaust we suffered [on October 7], the only ethical and godly decision is to return to the northern Samaria settlements and to return to the Gaza Strip, to Gush Katif [referencing the Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank, which were evacuated in 2005 along with the settlements in Gaza]. We say to the government, take back our land and rebuild settlements in Samaria and the Gaza Strip. | 2024-01-28 | Source |
| Yossi Dagan | Head of the Shomron Regional Council of settlements in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Territories | "After the Passover celebration, the situation of the prisoners is clear to everyone. In areas where there is settlement there is security; conversely, areas lacking settlements are plagued by violence. The entire nation of Israel is being called to action, fighting for its survival and the existence of the State of Israel. We are compelled to act. We must openly address this in every conceivable forum. Oslo is dead. The policy of expulsion and disengagement has led us down this path, with the repercussions yet unfolding. For thirty years, we've endured oppression and abductions. In these times, we've lost parts of our cherished land, suffered terrorism, and even faced challenges akin to a Holocaust, a war on our existence. And what we collectively question is, after signing such a treaty, can we genuinely return to how things once were. The nation of Israel perseveres. What does this indeed mean? The nation of Israel endured, demonstrating remarkable resilience." ["Oslo": The Oslo Accords (interim agreements between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Israel, signed in 1993 and 1995) represent the beginning of the "Oslo Process," with the goal of securing a peace treaty between Israeli and Palestinian peoples.] | 2024-01-28 | Source Source |
| Yossi Dagan | Head of the Shomron Regional Council of settlements in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Territories | "Today, after this thing, everyone understands that [Israeli] settlements [in the Occupied Palestinian Territories] equal security, and where there aren't settlements, there's terror, massacre and Holocaust." | 2023-11-18 | Source Source Source |
| Yossi Dagan | Head of the Shomron Regional Council of settlements in the northern West Bank, Palestinian Territories | I call from here to all the ministers of the government and to their head, the prime minister - make your voices heard now, lift up your heads. Let it be known that you support the appeal to renew Jewish settlement throughout all of the Gaza Strip. The nation is waiting for you. | 2023-11-22 | Source Source |
| Yossi Sharabi | Israeli citizen kidnapped to Gaza, (with his brother, Eli) 10/7/2023 and reportedly killed by an IDF strike while in captivity | [The following testimony is from a video of Sharabi, released by Hamas, while in captivity.] "As the war continues, our situation becomes more difficult and in escalating danger. That is why the war needs to stop now." | 2024-01-14 | Source Source |
| Younis Tirawi | Independent journalist covering politics and security in the Palestinian Territories | "The occupation soldiers bombed the Tamim Al-Dari Mosque in the Al-Amiriya area, west of Beit Lahia. The mosque was empty and destroyed from the inside after it was searched, but the soldiers blew it up completely for fun. The documentation was published by a soldier of Ukrainian origin." [This quote is Younis Tirawi's text accompanying a video he discovered on social media, originally posted by an Israeli military soldier, who overlaid it with high energy music. Israeli military soldiers have been tremendously active in documenting their actions in Gaza on social media since 10/7/2023 – many of them violations of international humanitarian law.] | 2024-02-02 | Source |
| Yuri Averny | German-born Israeli writer, journalist, politician, and activist, who founded the Gush Shalom peace movement | "[In] 1967, when the Israeli army occupied the West Bank, immediately afterwards, I was visited by the author Amos Kenan, who was serving as a soldier in the Latroun area. He placed on my desk a report of what he had seen with his own eyes. (I was then a member of Knesset [Israeli parliament] and editor of the weekly 'Haolam Haze'). "In this terrifying document Kenan described how the residents of the villages in the Latroun area were expelled from their homes. Men and women, children and old people, were forced to march on foot, in heavy heat of over 30 degrees, to Ramallah, a distance about 25 kilometres. Immediately after that, the demolition of their villages [by the Israeli military] began. "I hurried there. The villages of 'Imwas, Yalo, Beit Nouba and Deir Ayoub had already been destroyed almost to their foundations. I still had time to see the bulldozers demolishing the last houses. When I tried to take pictures, I was driven away by the Israeli soldiers. I went from there directly to the Knesset, and pleaded with some high-ranking people to intervene. After they spoke to whoever they spoke to, I was told it was too late. The demolition had been completed. "Why these particular villages? Why in such haste? This area was shaped like a bulge in the West Bank, commanding the old road from Jaffa to Jerusalem which had been cut off since 1948. The government was sure that immediately after the war international pressure would begin to attempt to force Israel to retreat from all the territories it had occupied, as happened in the previous war, in 1956. They thought that if they erased these villages from the face of the earth, then at least that territory would be left in Israel's hands. "Of course there was no such pressure, and all of the occupied Palestinian territories remain controlled by Israel to this day. The displaced villagers are in the refugee camps near Ramallah. On their land was created 'Canada Park,' to the glory of that humane and liberal state, which was grateful for the honour." [More quotes from Yuri Averny are catalogued on this website under his name.] | 2003-03-16 | Source |
| Yuri Averny | German-born Israeli writer, journalist, politician, and activist, who founded the Gush Shalom peace movement | "Only years [after the ethnic cleansing in the Latroun area of the West Bank happened] I learned that in the nearby city of Toulkarem [i.e., a Palestinian city in the West Bank], a transfer had started as well. [Israeli army] officer Ra'anan Luria, a world-renown cartoonist, was present there when the order was received to deport the residents to Jordan. Luria, who is far from being a leftist, refused to carry out the order, it being manifestly illegal. Still, buses were brought, and the residents piled onto them under threat and coercion. They were driven directly to the Jordan bridges and deported to the other side. Luria testified to this long after the events." [More quotes from Yuri Averny are catalogued on this website under his name.] | 2003-03-16 | Source |
| Yuri Averny | German-born Israeli writer, journalist, politician, and activist, who founded the Gush Shalom peace movement | "The main deportation [of Palestinians from villages in the West Bank] that took place during the 1967 war, however, was from Aqabat-Jaber and the rest of the huge camps of 1948 [Palestinian] refugees near Jericho, the largest in the Middle-East. They were completely emptied, to the last man, and all the residents were transferred east of the Jordan. There were at least 100,000 men and women there. Immediately after the war I visited these camps, and they were empty. "After the war, some of these refugees tried to secretly return home by crossing the Jordan by night. One day a soldier came to me in a state of shock, and told me that all these returning refugees were being executed on the spot [by the Israeli military]. "I demanded that he sign a sworn statement and sent it to the Chief-of-Staff, Yitzhak Rabin. His aide answered me in writing that the Chief-of-Staff had read the document. After a couple of days the nightly massacres stopped." [More quotes from Yuri Averny are catalogued on this website under his name.] | 2003-03-16 | Source |
| Yuri Averny | German-born Israeli writer, journalist, politician, and activist, who founded the Gush Shalom peace movement | "I had another shocking experience [during the 1967 war]. After visiting the [refugee] camps [from which at least 100,000 Palestinians had been deported to Jordan] we returned home on the steep road rising from Jericho to Jerusalem. In the awful heat of the Jordan valley hundreds of people were dragging themselves along the shoulders of the road towards Jerusalem. Earlier they had been forced to flee, by threats and horrible rumours, from the Jerusalem/Bethlehem area, but before they had crossed the River Jordan eastwards, they were allowed to return home. There were women carrying loads on their heads and dragging little children, old people struggling with walking-sticks, everything. Most of them were half-unconscious on account of exhaustion and thirst. We did what little we could by bringing water to give them to drink. It was shocking. "According to the various estimates, between 100,000 and 260,000 Palestinians were deported in this 'Little Nakba.' In the Oslo Agreements it was determined that an Israeli-Palestinian-Egyptian-Jordanian committee would be established to discuss their return. The committee was never convened." [More quotes from Yuri Averny are catalogued on this website under his name.] | 2003-03-16 | Source |
| Yuval Abraham | Israeli journalist, film director, Arabic–Hebrew translator, and activist | [The article quoted from, by Yuval Abraham, was partly written about Maayan Sherman, who accused the Israeli military of pre-meditatively murdering her son, Ron, with poison gas in 2023, while he was held hostage in a tunnel under Gaza. (See quotes attributed to Maayan Sherman catalogued under her name.) Sherman believed her son was being used as a human shield for Ahmed Al-Ghandour, a member of the Al-Qassam Brigades Military Council and commander of the Northern Brigade. Ghandour was reportedly killed in Northern Gaza sometime before 11/26/2023. Ron Sherman and fellow soldier Nik Beizer were kidnapped from their IDF military base near Israel's Erez Crossing on 10/7/2023 and taken to Gaza, where they (and an Israeli civilian) were later found dead. When this article was published, no cause of death for either of the three hostages had been revealed to their families.] "Maayan said that three weeks after her son was abducted, intelligence officials informed the family that 'there are indications that he is alive and that they know where he is.' During the shiva (the seven-day Jewish mourning ritual) held after Sherman's body was recovered in December, Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian - the head of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) - told her that he and Nitzan Alon, who is in charge of prisoners of war and missing persons, 'knew at any given moment where Ron and Nik were,' and so was surprised to hear about their deaths. That's why Maayan accuses the military of killing her son for the sake of killing Ghandour. 'Somebody is lying here,' she said. 'It is clear to me that my son was sacrificed. I ask myself how they would act if it was Bibi [Netanyahu]'s son there, and not Ron. We underwent months of torture.'" | 2024-01-31 | Source Source |
| Yuval Abraham | Israeli journalist, film director, Arabic–Hebrew translator, and activist | [The article quoted from, written by Yuval Abraham, is titled, "A hostage's mother says toxic gas from Israeli bombs killed her son. Is she right?" It is partly written about Maayan Sherman, who accused the Israeli military of pre-meditatively murdering her son, Ron, with poison gas in a Gaza tunnel in 2023. See quotes attributed to Maayan Sherman catalogued under her name.] "According to two Israeli security sources who spoke to +972 and Local Call on the condition of anonymity, this wouldn't be the first time that Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas' network of underground tunnels in Gaza have killed people in this way. The army, they say, is well aware that bombs exploding in tunnels can disperse toxic gasses such as carbon monoxide. "In May 2021, for example, amid its broader assault named 'Operation Guardian of the Walls,' the Israeli army launched a specific attack on Hamas' tunnel network which it called 'Operation Lightning Strike.' Gadi Eizenkot, who was the IDF Chief of Staff when the operation was planned and is now a member of Israel's war cabinet, said later the operation was intended to 'turn the tunnels into a death trap' and kill hundreds of Hamas members. During those attacks, which ultimately killed only a few dozen Hamas members, those hiding in tunnels were killed 'not only from a bomb that hit them, but also from the fact that the bombings release gasses inside the tunnels,' a source told +972 and Local Call. The source explained that the army did not use a chemical or biological warhead, but rather discovered that certain bombs penetrating the tunnels could, as a byproduct, spread toxic gas 'over a long distance' in a closed compound. A second source confirmed this, adding that tests have been conducted in the military on the subject which have shown that inhaling these gasses in confined spaces is lethal." | 2024-01-31 | Source Source |
| Yuval Abraham | Israeli journalist, film director, Arabic–Hebrew translator, and activist | "Intelligence sources who spoke to +972 and Local Call on the condition of anonymity, before the shooting of the three abductees on Friday [12/15/2023], affirmed that during the initial stages of the war, the Israeli army's intense bombardment of Gaza was conducted without having a clear picture of where many of the more than 240 hostages were being held. The relentless airstrikes [...] also continued despite concerns that the bombings might endanger the lives of the hostages, according to the sources." "Referring to the first weeks of Israel's onslaught, one intelligence source told +972 and Local Call that 'the IDF shelled extensively, destroying half of Gaza, while having little intelligence.' The source emphasized that the army 'would not have killed hostages deliberately if they knew they were in a certain building,' but that it nonetheless carried out thousands of strikes knowing full well that hostages might be also harmed, especially at a time when 'there were many hostages held in private apartments [above ground].'" | 2023-12-17 | Source |
| Yuval Noah Harari | Israeli author, public intellectual, philosopher, historian | "So Israel now is in the greatest danger that we have been [in] for years, and actually the entire region is in the greatest danger we have been [in] for years. We could theoretically be just 24 hours away from a nuclear war because there is a credible threat that Hezbollah and other Iranian allies will attack Israel with tens of thousands of missiles, in which case, Israel could defend itself with all the weapons it has, including nuclear capabilities. So this is a very dangerous moment." | 2023-10-19 | Source Source Source |
| Ze'ev Jabotinsky | Founded Alliance of Revisionist-Zionists party; author, poet, orator, soldier | "There can be no voluntary agreement between ourselves and the Palestine Arabs. Not now, nor in the prospective future. [...] Except for those who were born blind, [Zionists] realised long ago that it is utterly impossible to obtain the voluntary consent of the Palestine Arabs for converting 'Palestine' from an Arab country into a country with a Jewish majority. "My readers have a general idea of the history of colonisation in other countries. I suggest that they consider all the precedents with which they are acquainted, and see whether there is one solitary instance of any colonisation being carried on with the consent of the native population. There is no such precedent. "[...] Every native population in the world resists colonists as long as it has the slightest hope of being able to rid itself of the danger of being colonised. "That is what the Arabs in Palestine are doing, and what they will persist in doing as long as there remains a solitary spark of hope that they will be able to prevent the transformation of 'Palestine' into the 'Land of Israel.' "[...] We cannot offer any adequate compensation to the Palestinian Arabs in return for Palestine. And therefore, there is no likelihood of any voluntary agreement being reached. "[...] Zionist colonisation must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population. Which means that it can proceed and develop only under the protection of a power that is independent of the native population – behind an iron wall, which the native population cannot breach. "[...] this does not mean that there cannot be any agreement with the Palestine Arabs. What is impossible is a voluntary agreement. As long as the Arabs feel that there is the least hope of getting rid of us, they will refuse to give up this hope in return for either kind words or for bread and butter, because they are not a rabble, but a living people. And when a living people yields in matters of such a vital character it is only when there is no longer any hope of getting rid of us, because they can make no breach in the iron wall." [Original written in Russian.] | 1923-04-11 | Source |
| Zionist Organization | Non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism, founded at Theodor Herzl's initiative in 1897 (now, "World Zionist Organization") | [The following quotes are taken from "Resolutions of the 16th Zionist Congress, Zurich: July 28-August 11, 1929."] B.- 9 Constitution of the Jewish Agency Article 3 (d): "The second sentence shall read: 'In all works and undertakings carried out or furthered by the Agency, it shall be deemed to be a matter of principle that Jewish labour shall be employed.'" C. – Agricultural Colonisation 11. – Colonisation Policy. C.11.1 1. "The Congress declares that it must for all time be the fixed policy of the Jewish Agency to use every effort to ensure the development and expansion of the Jewish agricultural colonisation in Palestine to the furthest possible limit, in accordance with the principles laid down by Congress for co-operation in the Jewish Agency." C.11.4 1. "The Congress recognises that in the interests of a healthy national agriculture it is essential that settlement should be promoted in all regions of the country." "The latest undertakings in the field of colonisation shall be carried out chiefly in the irrigable districts, and the Congress requests the Executive to take in hand at once the preparation of detailed plans for the new settlement of the area recently acquired through the Keren Kayemeth Leisrael in the valley of Sharon and on the bay of Haifa." C.12.7 7. "The most important task of the Keren Kayemeth in the near future is to create land reserves in all parts of the country. Especially is it important in the opinion of the Congress to create a land reserve of irrigable soil as part of a definite scheme of colonisation." [Note: Kerem Kayemeth Leisrael – United Israel Appeal – has become an official fundraising organization for Israel, with branches in 45 countries, and a registered corporation of the State of Israel.] E. – Finance 24.- Acquisition of Land. "The Congress lays stress on the urgent necessity of raising sufficient funds, both through contributions and through loans he Keren Kayemeth, in order to assure the acquisition of the land requisite for close settlement, especially in the districts suitable for plantation, as the inalienable property of the Jewish people." K. – Organisation and Propaganda 45. – Zionist Propaganda 2. "The Congress calls upon Zionists throughout the world to endeavour by every means to strengthen the Organisation in its struggle to secure the acceptance of the Zionist idea in the whole of Jewry. "In particular the Congress calls upon the Zionists of all countries. and all shades of opinion to carry on an intensive propaganda among all sections of the Jewish people with the object of broadening the basis of the Zionist movement and winning ever new circles of Jewry for the idea of the national revival." 3. "The Congress takes note of the decision of the Executive that it intends to extend its propaganda work in the coming working period, and for this purpose to establish a special Department the function of which shall be to stimulate, support and co-ordinate the activities of Zionist Federations and Separate Unions in the sphere of Zionist propaganda." | 1929 | Source |
| Zvi (Tzvi) Sukkot | Member of Israeli Knesset | In the Northern [Gaza] Strip – at least in the Northern Strip – we need to first of all conquer it, annex it, demolish all of the houses, build neighborhoods there, like my friend Limor Son Har Melech said, we need to build big, broad neighborhoods, big settlements right there, which will be named after our heroes, the heroes of our nation who fought there. We will give plots of land for free to the soldiers who fought there, and those who fought and were injured. Most importantly, that image, of Gaza destroyed, of Palestine Square which will turn into 'Israeli Heroism Square,' that image will reverberate in every house around the world, in every country in the world, so no matter what they say today, they'll forever remember what happens to those who mess with the state of Israel. | 2024-01-03 | Source Source Source Source |
| Zvi (Tzvi) Sukkot | Member of Israeli Knesset | "This morning, I sent an appeal to Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant to immediately stop the olive harvest near the towns in Judea and Samaria [i.e., West Bank, Palestinian Territories]. "There is no reason to allow Palestinians, who for the past year were not allowed to reach these areas, (to now) access areas near towns in Judea and Samaria, especially during a time of war and fear of information collection. " | 2023-11-05 | Source |
| Zvi (Tzvi) Sukkot | Member of Israeli Knesset | "Leaving the Knesset now for Sde Teiman. "We must protect our fighters. "We must stop the disgrace now!!" [Translated from Hebrew to English by ChatGPT.] [The preceding quote is a social media post to X made by Zvi Sukkot on 29 July 2024, in response to the news that at least nine Israeli military reservists were detained at the Sde Teiman concentration camp (referred to as "Israel's Guantanamo Bay") in the Negev desert where, according to numerous reports, thousands of Gazans Israel had captured were being held hostage - blindfolded, handcuffed, and held without charge or legal representation.] [According to the Israeli military, the reservists arrested by military police, were being held for questioning as part of an investigation into "suspected substantial abuse of a detainee" there. Articles in several Israeli media outlets reported that the Palestinian hostage had been hospitalized with a serious injury to his anus (at least one report stated the hostage had a ruptured bowel); some news outlets reported that the reservists were accused of sexually abusing the detainee.After the news broke, an angry mob of civilian protesters waving Israeli flags amassed outside the perimeter of the concentration camp, to support the detained reservists and protest the probe into their actions.] [Video evidence exists of Israeli parliamentarian Zvi Sukkot squeezing through a fence, during the protest, and entering the camp after an Israeli military member inside the camp attempted to push him back from the opening. In this invasion of the Israeli camp, Sukkot committed a criminal offense punishable by imprisonment.] | 2024-07-29 | Source |
| Zvi (Tzvi) Sukkot | Member of Israeli Knesset | "Our rarest, most expensive and most important commodity during an existential war is the reserves. "We will protect their rights at all costs. "Of course within the law!" [Zvi Sukkot posted the preceding quote to X social media eight hours after the social media post in which he announced his departure for the Sde Teiman concentration camp to "protect" Israel's "fighters" and "stop the disgrace." There, he broke the law when he breeched the concentration camp's perimeter fence, leading an angry mob of civilian protestors to follow his example. The crowd was protesting the arrest and detention of at least nine military reservists who were being investigated for abuse, and possibly sexual torture, of a Palestinian man being held hostage in the camp. The original post was in Hebrew, translated to English by Google.] | 2024-07-29 | Source |
| Zvi Ankoi | Commander of Haganah (Zionist military) in 1948 | "I saw cut-off genitalia and women's crushed stomachs. It was direct murder. Soldiers shot everyone they saw, including women and children. Parents begged commanders to stop the slaughter, to please stop shooting." [The above testimony, given in 1982, was from the man who, in 1948, was commander of the Haganah forces that occupied the village of Deir Yassin, after the April 1948 massacre by Zionist paramilitaries there. Zvi Ankoi described what he witnessed at the scene of the Deir Yassin massacre in 1948.] | 1982 | Source |
| Zvi Hauser | Former Chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee | "Some of us also contemplate the historical-philosophical necessity for revenge for the bloodbath we suffered because of the enemy on that cursed Shabbat. For those who hold that view, I say that the territorial acquisition, even if its sole purpose is, as mentioned, to secure security and prevent violence, is the most appropriate response in the language of the Middle East to those who raped our women and murdered crushed skulls of our infants near our border. Neither killing the innocent nor extensive property damage will deter them. Our neighbours and enemies must know that an attack on Israel means a loss of their territory." | 2023-11-05 | Source |
| Zvi Steklov | Veteran Zionist Palmach soldier | "I joined the Hashomer Hatzair Youth Movement by accident. Every member of a certain age group went to the Haganah [main Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Jewish community in Palestine (1920-1948)]. And then to the Palmach [elite fighting force for the Haganah (1941-1948)]. We were educated to settle the country, to achieve self-realization, and we looked forward to the day when we could establish our own kibbutz. "One day they came to us and said that they were planning to settle in Gush Etzion. We were thrilled – first of all because this was a new settlement. Secondly, because we were located within a densely populated Arab area in a charming area, beautiful, mountainous, snow every winter. What could be better? We were more than willing to settle there. There was a village nearby called Khirbet Zachariya. It was a small village - two extended families who had been there for generations. And they gave us water, because we had none and they had waterholes. As soon as the Jewish state was declared on November 29 [1947], and the Gush came under siege, they [Palestinian residents] fled the village." Interviewer: "Why did they flee?" Steklov: "Why did they leave? For one very simple reason, which is that this was the first time Gush [Gush Etzion Zionist settlement] had to deal with such casualties. Ten dead settlers, from the [Zionist] settlements. They [Palestinians] were afraid of our revenge – that they would be killed if they didn't get out of there. They had this fear of vengeance, and it was completely natural for them to leave the place. "Yigal Allon [commander of the Palmach] came to visit us after the Nebi Daniel convoy, part of which managed to return to the Gush and part of which fell to the Arabs [3/27/1948]. [...] We held a general assembly and he told us about the ideology – why we had to settle Gush Etzion, because it could be a stepping stone to the Negev and we had to defend it." Interviewer: "Do you think [Yigal Allon] had a transfer ideology [a plan to forcefully displace the Palestinian population]?" Steklov: "Look, I don't know for certain. I can't say that Yigal Allon fought for transfer, but in practice, as a commander, he did it. In Lydd and Rami, for example, they [Zionist soldiers] expelled them from there! They [the Palestinian residents] did not run away, they were expelled from there." | 2013-01-27 | Source Source |
| Zvi Yehezkeli | Israeli television journalist and documentarian, Arab affairs correspondent and head of the Arab desk at Israeli News 13 | Yehezkeli: "In my opinion, the military needed to attack more aggressively by killing 100,000 people from the beginning. There are around 20,000 Hamas men. [Unknown interjection from anchor] I don't know who is involved in the war and who is innocent." Anchor: "Do you really want to kill 100,000 Palestinians?" Yehezkeli: "They killed 1,400 people. We needed to hit Gaza harder. Like we did in Operation Cast Lead [2008]." Anchor: "Dozens of Palestinian men were killed then in 2008. But you want to kill 100,000 Gazans." Yehezkeli: "I believe in this, not you. They killed 1,400 people. You could have gone out on a military campaign. I don't know how many casualties it would cause. But you needed to reach this number from the beginning, and then you do a ceasefire and a hostage exchange. ... We needed to hit even harder than what we see today." | 2023-12-20 | Source Source |
| Zvika Fogel | Israeli Member of Knesset | "Anyone who wants to harm me, I will harm him back. And as far as I'm concerned, the concept of proportionality must cease to exist. ... So I will tell you something that is very unpleasant to say. If it is one Israeli mother crying, or a thousand Palestinian mothers crying, then a thousand Palestinian mothers will cry. ... We are too merciful. It's time for us to stop being so. It has nothing to do with racism." | 2022-12-10 | Source Source Source |
| Zvika Fogel | Israeli Member of Knesset | [Even though the Israeli military and "settlers" had killed dozens of Palestinians in just the first two months of 2023, Zvika Fogel - chairman of Israel's National Security Committee - sharply criticized the Israeli government's response to Palestinian resistance.] "I want to restore security for the residents of the State of Israel. How do we do that? We stop using the word 'proportionality' [a cornerstone of international humanitarian law]. We stop with our objection to collective punishment [just] because it doesn't fly with all sorts of courts. We take the gloves off. A closed, burned Huwara; that's what I want to see. That's the only way to achieve deterrence. After a murder like yesterday's, we need burning villages when the [Israel military forces] don't act." [The murder to which Fogel referred took place on 26 February 2023 when an unidentified person shot and killed two Israelis travelling in a car in Hurwawa – a town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Fogel's "we need burning villages" comment was an endorsement of violence that had already taken place in retaliation to the murder. Late at night on 26 February 2023, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked Huwara and three nearby villages, setting fire to hundreds of Palestinian homes (some occupied), businesses, a school, and numerous vehicles. One Palestinian man was shot dead and several more were injured. The Israeli military was present but watched from the sidelines rather than intervening to protect villagers and stop settler violence.] | 2023-02-27 | Source Source |