Call to burn Gaza by Israeli politician did not violate ethics rules Knesset says

An ethics committee of the Israeli parliament has rejected a complaint against an Israeli politician who called to "burn Gaza", arguing that he was exercising his free speech.

Nissim Vaturi made the call repeatedly after the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas-led Palestinian fighters on southern Israel.

A Knesset committee said it "examined the remarks and believes they are of political nature and accurately reflect the Knesset member’s ideology".

In a statement, it added: "The committee believes the remarks do not add respect to the Knesset as an institution, particularly in light of his being a deputy Knesset speaker, but due to the importance of safeguarding freedom of speech, there is no justification for ruling that he violated the ethics rules."

A complaint was filed by left-leaning Knesset member Ofer Cassif, who has been a critic of the ongoing mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza, which he has called a "genocidal massacre".

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Cassif has himself been suspended from the Knesset for his criticism of the war and is a rare opponent of Israel's treatment of Palestinians within Israel's legislative body.

As recently as February this year, Vaturi, a deputy speaker of the Knesset, called for the killing of "all adults" in Gaza.

During an interview with Kol BaRama radio, Nissim Vaturi called Palestinians "scoundrels" and "subhumans", adding that they were a group of people that cannot be accepted by anyone.

"Who is innocent in Gaza? Civilians went out and slaughtered people in cold blood," Vaturi said on Kol BaRama radio. 

"They are outcasts and no one in the world wants them," he said, adding that Israel needs to "separate the children and women and kill the adults in Gaza - we are being too considerate".

Nearly half of Israeli Jews support similar treatment of Palestinians from Gaza, according to a recent poll by Pennsylvania State University.

The survey, conducted in March and published by Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, found that 82 percent of Israeli Jews support the forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, 47 percent of Israeli Jews answered yes to the question: "Do you support the claim that the [Israeli army] in conquering an enemy city, should act in a manner similar to the way the Israelites did when they conquered Jericho under the leadership of Joshua, ie to kill all its inhabitants?"

The reference is to the biblical account of the conquest of Jericho.

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