Escalating extremism: Israeli MP vows 1,000 Palestinian mothers will cry

A far-right Israeli lawmaker pledges that the regime will make many Palestinian mothers cry over the death of their children, in shockingly extremist comments that come ahead of the formation of an administration of radical figures to be led by Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv.

Zvika Fogel, a retired general, opined in an interview with the UK’s Channel 4 on Friday that Israel is “too merciful” in dealing with the Palestinians.

“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,” said Fogel. 

“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, ” he said.

Such extremist hate speech, even though not unprecedented, has been on the rise since the right-wing extremists won the Israeli elections.

Earlier on December 3, extremist member of the Knessed (parliament) Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party told an Israeli soldier caught on widely-shared video fatally shooting an unarmed Palestinian that his “swift and rigorous” actions were “honorable.”

In October, he called for killing Palestinians while brandishing his loaded gun in the occupied East al-Quds neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, vowing to strip Palestinians of their citizenship and expel them from occupied Palestine if he gets a post in the new administration.

On Saturday, Betzalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party branded Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups advocating the cessation of crimes against Palestinians as “swarms of mosquitoes,” vowing a crackdown on them.

Israel set for most extremist regime in its history

Israel’s most extremist former PM and his ultra-right coalition are set to be in power.

Stark display of fascism, racism

Last week, an Israeli advocacy group said the regime being formed by Benjamin Netanyahu is a stark display of rising fascism and racism.

“Netanyahu’s coalition government gives power to violent, right-wing extremists who seek to incite political violence and who will put lives at risk…from the top down. Netanyahu and his new coalition endanger both Israelis and Palestinians," the group’s CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs said.

He added that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich who are due to be ministers in the new coalition are extremists who seek to fuel violence. Their presence in the new regime, Jacobs said, may also help push through policies such as annexing large swaths of the occupied West Bank and expanding illegal settlements.

Israel’s policies of using lethal force against Palestinians and extrajudicial killings that go unaccountable, also the vandalism and violence known as price tag attacks which are committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property, have risen in recent years.

Since early 2022, the Israeli regime has stepped up its deadly aggression across Palestinian territories, killing more than 190 people across the West Bank and the al-Quds, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Palestinians have vowed to ramp up their resistance operations in response to Israeli aggression, stressing that the regime's atrocities will not stop their resistance.

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