Ariel Sharon's Son: 'Flatten All of Gaza'

Jerusalem Post slammed for extremist op-ed
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 19, 2012 1:36 AM CST
Ariel Sharon Son: 'Flatten All of Gaza'
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Monday, Nov. 19, 2012.    (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

As Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and Palestinian rocket fire continue, the son of comatose former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has sparked outrage with an extremist op-ed in the Jerusalem Post. Israel must step up its assault on Gaza without worrying about civilian casualties, Gilad Sharon writes, arguing that the "residents of Gaza are not innocent, they elected Hamas. The Gazans aren’t hostages; they chose this freely, and must live with the consequences."

To prevent rocket strike, Israel needs to either reoccupy Gaza or completely destroy its infrastructure, Sharon argues. "We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza," he writes. "The Americans didn’t stop with Hiroshima—the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too." The view in Sharon's piece has been echoed by some other prominent Israelis, though the Post has been criticized for printing it. "I'm semi-surprised the Jerusalem Post published such dreck," tweeted Atlantic correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg. (More Gilad Sharon stories.)

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