Giora Eiland is one of the thinking officers in the Israeli Defence Forces. He has an idea - epidemics in Gaza are good for Israel. After all, severe epidemics in the southern Strip will bring victory closer and reduce fatalities among IDF soldiers. One only has to wait for the daughters of Hamas leaders to contract the plague, and weve won.

He had an impressive military career, was head of the militarys Operations and Planning Division and head of the National Security Council. He is constantly being interviewed and hailed by the Labor movement. He isnt inarticulate and ignorant like Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi and isnt bloodthirsty like Itamar Ben Gvir. Middle of the road, moderate right.

Eiland, not a well man, who has even written a book about his suffering, has an idea: Epidemics in Gaza are good for Israel. After all, severe epidemics in the southern Strip will bring victory closer and reduce fatalities among IDF soldiers, he wrote this week in Yedioth Ahronoth. One only has to wait for the daughters of Hamas leaders to contract the plague, and weve won.

Eiland didnt detail which plagues he recommends pestilence, boils or cholera, maybe a cocktail of smallpox and AIDS; perhaps also starvation for two million people. A promise of Israeli victory at rock bottom prices. And no, its not cruelty for its own sake, he stressed, as though anyone thought otherwise. In fact, its rare kindness and humaneness, which would only save human lives.

Eiland, in the role of Mother Theresa, an officer and a gentleman in the worlds most moral army, made a Nazi proposal and no storm broke out. Anyone who attributes genocide to Israel is anti-Semitic, after all. Just imagine a European general proposing to starve a nation, or to kill it with an epidemic the Jews, for instance. Imagine spreading a plague because it would promote the war effort. All is fair in war, and now its ok to suggest anything and everything youve dreamed of and never dared to bring up. Political correctness has been turned upside down. Anyone can be Meir Kahane, nobody may be human. Its ok to propose genocide, but wrong to pity the children of Gaza. Its ok to propose ethnic cleansing, but it’s wrong to be shocked by Gazas punishment.

Its no longer only the right. Its the mainstream. Yesh Atid’s MK Ram Ben Barak supports voluntary transfer, the moderate minister Gila Gamliel is also in favor. The Foreign Ministry said she doesnt represent the government. Yes, she does, and not only the government.

Monstrousness has become correct, diabolism has penetrated the centre and even left of centre. Another war or two, and everyone will be Kahane.

We havent yet recovered from Hamas brutality, and already we are being inundated with all this goodness not only from the extreme right and the settlers, but from the heart of the Israeli centre. Apparently, there is horrific cruelty and correct cruelty. Hamas are animals, but the proposal to spread disease is legitimate. One of the most dangerous occurrences to be born in this war is unfolding before our eyes: the standardisation, legalisation and normalisation of evil.

This evil grew out of the ground of the unbelievable disregard and pathological indifference in Israel to whats happening now in Gaza. Foreign journalists who come here cant believe their eyes: Gazas suffering doesnt exist. Israel hasnt killed thousands of children and didnt evict a million people from their homes. Gazas sacrifice is totally out of the picture, gone not only from public discourse but even from the daily news. On Israeli television, alone in the world, we didnt kill children. According to the Israeli media, the IDF hasnt committed in this war even one tiny little war crime.

A society that so disregards reality and is so indifferent to the suffering of the nation it declared war on raises moral mutations like Eiland. You can be sure he thinks his suggestion isnt in any way tainted, all he did was make a reasonable suggestion that serves Israels interest. What other consideration is there, anyway, except Israels interest? International law is for the weak, morality for the philosophers, humanism for the bleeding hearts. And really, whats wrong with a plague in Gaza? Only one thing: it could infect Israel too. In fact, it already has.

Republished from HAARETZ on November 23, 2023.