Architect of plan to starve Gaza invited to Israeli left-wing conference

The architect of the controversial Generals' Plan, retired Israeli general Giora Eiland, is expected to participate in a conference organised by the left-wing Israeli party The Democrats to mark the 30th anniversary of the assassination of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The conference is expected to take place on Friday at a teacher training seminar in Tel Aviv.

According to the conference programme, Yair Golan, head of The Democrats, will deliver a speech after a recorded message by President Isaac Herzog.

Afterwards, a discussion will be held on the subject of "Responsibility and Leadership" with Eiland, alongside former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former mayor of Beit Shemesh Aliza Bloch.

According to Uri Weltmann, an activist in the left-wing Jewish-Palestinian group Standing Together, Eiland's participation in the conference "at the very least indicates that there are people in the leadership of the party who do not feel the need to distance themselves from statements that support starvation or support a sweeping attack on civilian population".

"A left-wing position, a peace-seeking position, which I think should be supported, are positions that deny harming an innocent civilian population," Weltmann told Middle East Eye.

Eiland headed a group of former Israeli security officers who called in September 2024 for the implementation of a military plan in the northern Gaza Strip known as the Generals' Plan.

The plan called on the Israeli military to prevent food, water, aid and fuel from entering the north of the war-torn territory by imposing a total blockade.

According to the plan, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents north of the Netzarim Corridor - an Israeli-created military zone cutting the Gaza Strip in half - were supposed to be evacuated from the area.

‘It is permissible and even recommended to starve an enemy to death’

- Retired Israeli general Giora Eiland

Those left behind would be considered and treated as Hamas fighters.

According to Israeli and international media reports, the plan has been implemented to some extent in various parts of Gaza, although the Israeli military has denied this.

Hamas called the plan one of the most "depraved" and "Nazi" military strategies in modern history.

Eiland has made several public statements supporting the ideas stipulated in the plan.

On 7 October 2023, the retired general said: "If we ever want to see the hostages alive, the only way is to create a critical humanitarian crisis in Gaza."

About two months later, Eiland said that Israel should not be deterred by the international community's warnings about the spread of epidemics in Gaza.

"Serious epidemics in the southern Gaza Strip will bring victory closer and reduce casualties among IDF soldiers," he said.

Eiland, who is considered a critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stood behind his plan in an interview with Haaretz in September 2024.

"It is permissible and even recommended to starve an enemy to death," Eiland said in the interview, in which he denied that there was famine in the enclave.

‘Problematic on a moral level’

"The statements made by Giora Eiland during the war that tried to normalise the use of starvation as a war tactic are problematic not only on a moral level, but probably also on a legal level," Weltmann told MEE.

Depriving civilians of food is banned under international law, and starvation is the centrepiece in the case against Israeli leaders currently before the International Criminal Court.

"The fact that Giora Eiland sided with the government makes him unsuitable to be in spaces that are committed to human rights," Weltmann added.

The Democrats party, which currently holds four seats out of 120 in the Knesset, has been described by its leader Golan as being part of the "Zionist left".

‘Either you support peace or you support starvation, you can't support both’

- Uri Weltmann, Standing Together activist

Golan’s statements regarding Gaza changed during the war, Weltmann noted. "He is holding the stick at both ends: he has said an opinion and the opposite, contradictory messages.

"He has to condition his participation in the conference on Giora Eiland not participating in it. There are other conferences of the Religious Zionism, Jewish Power and Likud parties, where the prevailing opinion is that the Palestinians in Gaza should be starved."

Before being elected to lead The Democrats, Golan, a former general in the Israeli army, said in early October 2023 that until the hostages were released, "as far as we are concerned you will starve to death, it's completely legitimate".

'The two things don't fit together'

Golan recently caused a stir in Israel after saying that "a sane country does not kill babies as a hobby", referring to Israel's actions in Gaza.

"Anyone who is looking for real security must understand that there is no existence for a state that lives by the sword alone - and peace is the only way to ensure that young men and women in Israel will no longer have to pay the price of its absence," Golan said in a speech at Rabin's memorial rally on Saturday.

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Eiland's inclusion at the left-wing party conference signifies, according to Weltmann, "that parts of the left have the perception that it is possible to accept right-wing positions to our agenda, positions like it's okay to starve Gazans.

"Politicians and public figures who express such positions should find other conferences to speak at.

"The two things don't fit together. Either you support peace or you support starvation, you can't support both," Weltmann told MEE.

"Either you're in favour of war or you're in favour of peace. If you're at a conference of people who support starving children to death, then you're on the side of war and not on the side of peace," the activist added.

According to Weltmann, Israel is at a historic crossroads from which two paths emerge. One is led by far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, and the other is leading towards an Israeli-Palestinian peace and an end to the occupation.

"Let's hope that The Democrats party, with its activists and supporters, will choose the path of peace and not the path of government."