An MP in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government called for Israel to engage in a decisive war against Palestinians to avoid the semi-annual conflicts that end with a tense peace agreement. 

Zvika Fogel, a member of Itamar Ben-Gvir’s ultra-nationalist Jewish Power party, told an Israeli news station that there should be a “final war” that “subdues them [Palestinians] once and for all.”

“It would be worth it because this will be the final war,” he said. “And after that, we can sit and raise doves and all the other beautiful birds that exist.”

News website Middle East Eye reported that the Jewish Power Party has emerged in Netanyahu’s coalition to be “kingmakers.” 

The report noted an interview that Fogel gave to a British news program in December when he was asked about the issue of proportionality during clashes with the Palestinians. He brushed off criticism that the Palestinians suffer far more casualties than Israelis during these conflicts. He said Israel has been too merciful in these clashes. 

“As far as I’m concerned, the concept of proportionality must cease to exist,” he lamented. 

“So, I will tell you something that is very unpleasant to say,” he said, according to the report. “If it is one Israeli mother crying, or 1,000 Palestinian mothers crying, then 1,000 Palestinian mothers will cry.”

TRENDPOST: The Trends Journal has reported extensively on how Netanyahu scrambled to form a coalition government that has been called by the Western media as “right-wing extremists.” (See “PROTESTS BREAK OUT IN ISRAEL OVER NETANYAHU’S NEW COALITION GOVERNMENT,” 20 Dec 2022, and “NETANYAHU’S COALITION MAKES DEAL WITH CONVICTED RACIST TO STAMP DOWN PALESTINIANS,” 29 Nov 2022.)

Ben-Gvir, the head of the Jewish Power party, was named the country’s national security minister under a deal worked out with Netanyahu. He was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism and belonging to a terrorist organization. He has said that all Arabs—a group that makes up about 20 percent of the country—should be deported. 

His task in the role will be to oversee the police force and the Border Police’s West Bank Division. 

Benny Gantz, the former defense minister, warned that Netanyahu’s decision to tap Ben-Gvir for the security role means the leader of the Jewish Power party is the country’s de facto prime minister. 

“Netanyahu’s conduct is an admission that the real prime minister is going to be Ben-Gvir,” he said.

Fogel, who was a brigadier-general in 2018, gave an interview that discussed how Palestinian children were frequently killed by Israeli forces that Electronic Intifada said could be “used as evidence of intent if Israeli leaders are ever tried for war crimes at the International Criminal Court.”

“At the tactical level, any person who gets close to the fence [in Gaza], anyone who could be a future threat to the border of the State of Israel and its residents, should bear a price for that violation,” he said.

He declared if a child enters the area his punishment is death.

“As far as I’m concerned then yes, if you can only shoot him to stop him, in the leg or arm—great. But if it’s more than that then, yes, you want to check with me whose blood is thicker, ours or theirs.”

“I know how these orders are given. I know how a sniper does the shooting. I know how many authorizations he needs before he receives an authorization to open fire. It is not the whim of one or the other sniper who identifies the small body of a child now and decides he’ll shoot. Someone marks the target for him very well and tells him exactly why one has to shoot and what the threat is from that individual. And to my great sorrow, sometimes when you shoot at a small body and you intended to hit his arm or shoulder, it goes even higher,” he said.