Ben Gvir's genocidal rhetoric on Lebanon draws international backlash
Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's call for Lebanon to "burn" in response to the killing of four Israeli soldiers while invading southern Lebanon brought a wave of backlash, with figures across the political spectrum condemning the remarks as openly genocidal.
UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper wrote on X that calling for "all of Lebanon to burn" is "a horrendous and abhorrent statement from an Israeli Minister who has rightly been sanctioned by the UK Government." She called on occupier and occupied, both "Israel" and Hezbollah, to "comply with the agreed ceasefire, and ensure that all civilians are protected."
US Republican Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene also condemned the remarks, calling Ben Gvir "a murdering psychopath" and writing, "how about no mother, of any kind, should shed a tear."
Meanwhile, British broadcaster Piers Morgan asked, "How can anyone still support this Israeli govt when psychopathic monsters like Ben Gvir are ministers in it, advocating genocide in Lebanon? Disgusting."
CNN anchor Jake Tapper also weighed in, and described the post as "hideous," writing that "Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir, an anti-Arab racist zealot, says 'all of Lebanon must burn.' That's almost 6 million people."
The backlash also drew commentary on what the remarks revealed about Israeli political discourse itself. Writer and activist Alon Mizrahi who identifies as ex-Israeli wrote that the post "everyone is sharing aghast" is in fact "a perfectly normal and common Israeli view, held by millions," adding that it reflects "the Israeli mainstream, and not extreme in the least," and that he "grew up hearing that endlessly."
Araghchi slams Ben-Gvir
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was among the first to condemn the genocidal remarks by Ben-Gvir. "This is not a rant by a random genocidal lunatic. It's a public post by the national security minister of the Israeli regime," Araghchi posted.
Furthermore, he cited "the genocidal death cult headquartered in Tel Aviv" as proof that "Israel" is "a threat to all of humanity. It threatens all humans."
"Its only interest is permanent war," he concluded.
What Ben-Gvir said
Ben-Gvir's post came on Friday, shortly after reports confirmed that four Israeli soldiers, including a battalion commander, were killed in fierce confrontations with the Lebanese Resistance in southern Lebanon.
"All of Lebanon must burn," he wrote, adding that "for every tear shed by an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers should cry."
"In the Middle East, you don't win with measured responses and restraint; you need to go berserk. To obliterate. To crush the terror," he wrote, explicitly pushing back against international pressure and calls from the United States for restraint.
Vance to 'Israel': You can't just kill your way out
A day earlier, on Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance rebuked Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for undermining the US-Iran deal.
"What is your exact proposal? You're a country of nine million people. You can't just kill your way out of solving every single national security problem," Vance told The New York Times.
He added that "Israel" should "wake up and smell the reality."