Netanyahu suspends Israeli minister for saying dropping nuclear bomb on Gaza ‘one of the possibilities’ – By Sky News Staff (Sky News) / Nov 5, 2023
Benjamin Netanyahu said the statement by junior minister Amihai Eliyahu was “not based in reality”, while other politicians denounced him as “irresponsible”.
An Israeli junior minister who said dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza was “one of the possibilities” in the Hamas war has been suspended, with Benjamin Netanyahu saying the statement was “not based in reality”.
Junior minister Amihai Eliyahu, of the right-wing Otzma Yehudit party, made the claim in an interview with Kol Beramah radio.
A minister for Jewish heritage, he is not part of the country’s war cabinet, created in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks on 7 October. He holds no sway over government decision-making in the war, The Times of Israel pointed out.
Still, the inflammatory statement was immediately denounced by other cabinet members – and Mr Eliyahu backtracked later by saying that “anyone reasonable would understand that the comment was metaphorical”.
