Israel’s Right-Wing Press Urges “Removing the Gloves” as War Becomes Permanent
by Jaffa Levy
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JERUSALEM —
In the Hebrew press, the calls are growing louder, sharper, and more extreme. The country’s most widely read right-wing daily, Israel Hayom, published an opinion piece this week that made plain what many in the ruling coalition already believe: Israel must escalate the war in Gaza without hesitation, regardless of political consequences.
Shachar Kleinman, writing on August 11, set out the argument bluntly:
“While the terror organization exploits our weaknesses, the leadership wastes time and reinforces the thesis that the campaign is dragging on for political calculations… Hamas continues to cling to power in Gaza. They are prepared for a technocratic illusion toward the outside, while the military branch rules behind the scenes… The cabinet should have convened immediately to make decisions. Instead, the hesitation strengthens the perception that the fight in Gaza is protracted due to political, not security, motives.”
The language—“no immunity on the table,” “remove the gloves”—is not marginal. It reflects the dominant mood of a Jewish Israeli public that polls show overwhelmingly supports measures once considered extreme. In June, a Haaretz survey found 82 percent of Jewish Israelis favored expelling Gazans from the Strip.
From Rhetoric to Policy
The op-ed mirrors the maximalist rhetoric already championed by senior ministers. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has advanced a “victory plan” that calls for permanent Israeli control of Gaza and “voluntary emigration” of its population. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has openly pressed for the re-establishment of Jewish settlement inside Gaza and insists only “occupation and emigration” will deliver security.
What once read like radical manifestos are now recurring talking points in mainstream Hebrew media. Israel Hayom, a paper founded with close ties to Netanyahu, is amplifying those voices as though they represent the nation’s center.
A Nation Numb to the Abyss
To outside observers, the normalization of mass displacement and indefinite military rule appears shocking. Inside Israel, it is increasingly treated as ordinary debate. A government under siege from corruption charges and coalition fissures finds in war a means of survival. The press, reflecting its audience, calls not for restraint but for escalation.
Israelis have long prided themselves on resilience. But the question now is whether resilience has blurred into numbness. When a leading daily can editorialize that prolonging the war is acceptable—and when the overwhelming majority of Jewish Israelis support expelling Gaza’s population—the country risks redefining the extraordinary as normal.
Conclusion
Israel’s right-wing media is not an outlier; it is a mirror. What it reflects is a society sliding into perpetual conflict, where maximalist solutions are mainstreamed, and the abyss becomes routine.
