Tali Gottlieb (Photo: Screenshot, X, @PalestineChron
An Israeli Knesset member, Tali Gottlieb, has stirred controversy with her recent comments regarding the Gaza Strip. These remarks have ignited a firestorm of criticism and condemnation from various quarters.
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus, with the exception of checks and balances from the courts and local governments, has total control over the entirety of the Israeli government.
Gottlieb, a member of the right-wing Likud party in the Israeli Knesset, said that essential supplies, including food, water, medicine, and fuel, should be cut off from Gaza in an effort to “subdue the enemy,” Middle East Monitor reported.
Gottlieb said the “introduction of food, introduction of water, introduction of fuel for the people of Gaza,” saying “How can I subdue the enemy, as long as I provide them with living conditions…with everything they need?”
She said providing them with even the basics will “give them the strength to fight us.”
She questioned the reasoning of providing Gazans with living conditions and everything they need, arguing that doing so would give them the strength to fight against Israel.
“And (as long as) they have the fuel to fight us, I will fight against this enemy. I will stand against this matter,” she added.
Moreover, Gottlieb expressed her dissatisfaction with any reduction in the pace of aerial bombardment in southern Gaza, going so far as to question whether pity for Gazans who refuse to leave their homes is justified. She controversially asserted that those who refuse to evacuate their homes “deserve death.”
She said that she “does not accept a reduction in the pace of aerial bombardment in southern Gaza. Why? Because we pity the people of Gaza who refuse to leave their homes?” Gottlieb blasted what she felt is a “decrease in the pace of aerial bombardment,” saying “I do not accept” it. “There is no need for wide-scale ground operations. And with all due respect, you see in the last three weeks… a decrease in the pace of aerial bombardment,” The Palestine Chronicle reported.
These statements have generated major backlash, with critics condemning her views as inhumane and advocating for a more compassionate approach.
Israeli air strikes have killed over 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza, many of them women and children, Middle East Monitor reported. Nearly two million civilians are displaced, facing starvation, water contamination, and disease due to the lack of medical and essential supplies.
Tali Gottlieb (Photo: Screenshot, X, @PalestineChron, https://twitter.com/PalestineChron/status/1740384501015163222)
