Israeli Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the father of Heritage Minister Amir Ohana, endorsed his son’s statements regarding dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip, describing it as a “feasible option,” despite the regional and international reactions provoked by his son’s remarks.

In his weekly Torah lecture on Monday, November 13, 2023, Eliyahu, the chief rabbi of the occupied city of Safed, adopted his son’s statements and challenged the authorities in Tel Aviv to punish him, as reported by the Israeli newspaper Times of Israel.

The rabbi, smiling as he spoke, said, “There is now a lot of debate about what should be done with Gaza… What should be done? Should we drop a nuclear bomb on them?” He added, “It’s an option.”

“How to Defeat the Kingdom of Ishmael”

A video clip titled “How to Defeat the Kingdom of Ishmael” was later published on YouTube by the rabbi’s office, where some Orthodox Jews use the name Ishmael mentioned in their holy scriptures to refer to Arabs, often in a derogatory manner.

Eliyahu (the father), a prominent figure on the fringes of the extreme right-wing nationalist movement in Israel, has faced criticism in recent years for various statements and judgments related to Jewish law, including those prohibiting the renting or selling of properties owned by Jews in the Arab-majority city of Safed.

“Nuclear Bomb on Gaza”

On November 5, his son, a member of the far-right “Jewish Power” party led by Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir, was interviewed on the radio, where one of the hosts asked him, “Is your expectation that we will drop a nuclear bomb on the entire Gaza Strip tomorrow morning and level it to the ground, wiping out everyone there?” Eliyahu replied, “That’s an option… The other option is to know what is important to them, what scares them, and what deters them… They are not afraid of death.” He also seemed to defend collective punishment for the residents of Gaza, saying, “There is no such thing as civilians not involved in Gaza.”

The minister later attempted to backtrack on his statement, tweeting, “It is clear to all sensible people that the statement about the nuclear bomb is metaphorical.”

In response to calls for Eliyahu’s dismissal, Netanyahu initially sought to dismiss him but withdrew after Ben-Gvir said he would not agree to such a move.

A Series of Scandals

Despite a series of scandals and calls for his dismissal over the years, Shmuel Eliyahu has remained the chief rabbi of Safed since the late 1980s, despite failing twice in his bid to be elected as the Sephardic chief rabbi in Israel, a position his father held from 1983 to 1996.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ordered disciplinary action against Shmuel Eliyahu for making a series of derogatory comments and taking “explicit” political positions prohibited to him due to his position as a government employee.

In 2007, the former chief Sephardic rabbi, Mordechai Eliyahu (the grandfather of the Heritage Minister), wrote a letter to then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying that all residents of Gaza should be considered guilty of rocket attacks. Shmuel Eliyahu also argued that his father preferred a comprehensive bombing of Gaza rather than risking the lives of soldiers.

Many of Shmuel Eliyahu’s previous comments have been interpreted as supporting or inciting violence against Arabs. In 2011, then-Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein called for a criminal investigation into Eliyahu’s statements on charges of incitement. However, by 2012, the Ministry of Justice, then headed by Yaakov Neeman, halted all proceedings, citing insufficient evidence.