Israeli podcasters fantasise over 'erasing every living being in Gaza'

A clip from an Israeli podcast has gone viral on social media, in which the hosts discuss eliminating the entire Palestinian population of Gaza and the West Bank.

The excerpt, taken from an August episode of the English-language 'Two Nice Jewish Boys' podcast, shows hosts Naor Meningher and Eytan Weinstein discussing Israel's latest war on Gaza.

"If you gave me a button to just erase Gaza, every single living being in Gaza would no longer be living tomorrow. I would press it in a second,” Weinstein says.

"Most Israelis would probably agree," he adds.

He goes on to say that he would "press it right now", while gesturing to press a button, to which Meningher replies: "The same with the territories", in reference to the West Bank.

"Full-scale war wouldn’t mean that we’re just in Gaza," Weinstein says. "And it also wouldn’t mean what we’re doing in Gaza, because in Gaza, maybe there's mass destruction but there's not massive death."

"Forgive us if we don’t give a sh*t if everybody there dies. It’s just the way we feel. It’s just the way Israelis feel."

In another episode, the hosts suggest that Israel should invade Lebanon and question why polio vaccinations were being given to children in Gaza.

"The baby that’s born in Gaza is technically innocent, I could give zero f**ks, I don’t care if he gets polio," Weinstein said.

According to Meningher's website, he has worked on five political campaigns for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and two campaigns for former Haifa mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem.

i had to play this TWICE, to make sure I didn’t misunderstand

Omgggggod!!!!!!

The “Two Nice Jewish Boys” podcast imagine a genocide “button” and just how hard most (Jewish) Israelis would SMASH it if they had the chance. If it would kill “ALL Palestinians” in Gaza and W Bank… pic.twitter.com/gnMhzzgqRz

— Abier (@abierkhatib) September 3, 2024

The podcast's website, which describes itself as the "longest-running English podcast in Israel", says Weinstein is an interactive screenwriter who grew up in the US state of Alabama.

The pair's comments drew widespread criticism online, with calls for their podcast to be pulled from platforms.

On X, the podcasters appear to have doubled down on their words, posting GIFs of red buttons to posts criticising their statements.

In a heated exchange with pro-Israel activist David Lange, the podcasters denied calling for a genocide of the Palestinians, but rather had "entertained the hypothetical".

In the same post, the podcasters doubled down on the assertion that most Israelis agree with them on destroying Gaza, citing two polls by pollster Mano Geva, as well as a statement from a Kibbutz Be'eri resident who said: "I will come back to Beeri only after the very last Palestinian (in Gaza) is dead".

The podcast's X account also posted a picture of one of its posts that had been removed by X, which read: " Gaza should be wiped off the face of the plant. Not Hamas. Gaza."

The remarks by Weinstein and Meiningher are the latest by Israeli public figures that discuss the total destruction of the Palestinian people, amid Israel's war on Gaza which has killed over 40,000 Palestinians and wounded tens of thousands more since October.

Top Israeli officials have also made statements perceived as calling for genocide.

In January, South Africa presented statements of Israeli leaders to support its filing against Israel, which accuses Tel Aviv of committing genocide against the Palestinians.

At the time, the South African legal team was able to draw on a database set up by Law for Palestine, which contained over 500 statements of genocidal intent and incitement since 7 October.