29 May 2025
Social media users have slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he insisted that international accusations that Israel is using food as a weapon of war in Gaza are “a lie”, and suggested that Palestinians in the besieged enclave were overweight.
Speaking at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Palestinians in Gaza were not experiencing mass starvation “at all”.
“We take thousands of prisoners, sort them out into civilians and combatants, and we photograph them… The first thing you do is you tell them, ‘Take your shirt off. We want to see that there is no suicide vest.’.. and you don’t see one, not one emaciated from the beginning of the war to the present,” he said.
“In fact, you see quite the opposite because you don’t get that much exercise, certainly not in tunnels, but you get food.”
Clips from the premier’s speech spread rapidly online.
“Netanyahu’s claims are a shocking denial of reality,” one person said. “While Palestinians in Gaza are dying from hunger due to Israel’s blockade, he absurdly talks about detainees being overweight.”
“Netanyahu speaks with the callousness of someone who sees suffering as a spectacle,” posted another social media user. “To deny starvation while orchestrating a siege is not just inhuman, it’s diabolical.”
Another said:“The only thing that’s new here is the admission. This has been the Israeli MO forever”.
Others highlighted what they termed Netanyahu’s “boasting” of imprisoning thousands of Palestinian civilians and photographing them after making them remove their clothing.
Source: MEE
