In Israel, concern grows that hard right is undermining war effort

Amihai Eliyahu, a far-right politician from Israel’s Jewish Power party and a junior minister in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, gave his strategy for the ongoing Gaza war when interviewed on local radio earlier this week.

“There’s no such thing as uninvolved [noncombatants] in Gaza,” he said, arguing against the entry of humanitarian aid to the besieged coastal enclave.

Then he took it a stunning step further, surmising that the use of a nuclear weapon was “one of the options” for destroying Hamas, the militant group behind the devastating Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

The condemnation from inside and outside Israel was immediate and overwhelming, and Mr. Eliyahu’s later clarification that he was speaking “metaphorically” did little to lessen the uproar – not least his cavalier disregard for the survival of some 240 hostages held