War crimes mounting as ‘Subjugation Plan’ is rolled out

Monday, 2 June 2025

A Palestinian mother and daughter hunt through garbage for food in the street in Gaza City, as desperation takes hold following an Israeli blockade of aid deliveries.

Donna Miles is an Iranian-Kiwi columnist and writer based in Christchurch, and a regular opinion contributor.

OPINION: It is now indisputable that Palestinian children are starving under Israeli blockade. It is also clear that Israel intends to capture and annex Palestinian land.

Even Germany, whose leader, Merz, has been a staunch supporter of Israel, has said that he could “frankly no longer understand the goal of what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza strip”, admitting that harming the civilian population “can no longer be justified by a fight against Hamas terrorism”.

Israel claims that Hamas bears the responsibility for the suffering of people in Gaza. But for Israel's allies, who rightly rushed to show solidarity after the horrific October 7, 2023 attacks, it is clear that it is Israel that stopped food and aid trucks going into Gaza, causing starvation and severe malnutrition of Palestinian babies and children.

It is against international law to use starvation as a weapon of war, and yet this is exactly what Israel is doing to Gaza's besieged population.

Prominent political figures in Israel, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, former prime ministers from the centre-left and centre-right, have used strong and clear language to condemn the current Israeli government. Olmert wrote: ”What we are doing in Gaza is a war of annihilation; the indiscriminate, unrestrained, brutal, and criminal killing of civilians…Yes we are committing war crimes”.

Hardly any Western government, including our own in New Zealand, would dare to be that outspoken for fear of being accused of anti-semitism, an accusation far too readily directed at anyone who criticises Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reacted aggressively to criticism from his country’s traditional allies and major trading partners in Europe and the UK.

Americans, the British and most Europeans, for decades, have been strong supporters of Israel, supplying it with arms and defending it when at war. Many European and British leaders now say they cannot defend the indefensible.

The UK has suspended trade talks with Israel, describing Israeli cabinet ministers' calls to “purify Gaza” by expelling Palestinians as “repellent, monstrous and extremist”.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy described the further planned major military incursion into Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force as “morally unjustifiable, wholly disproportionate, and utterly counterproductive”.

The EU is reviewing its trade agreement with Israel, following a request by the Dutch foreign minister. The EU is Israel's biggest trading partner, accounting for 32% of its total trading last year.

In response to the mounting pressure from the EU and the UK, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Britain and Europe of supporting mass murderers, rapists and baby killers.

Netanyahu's aim is clearly to use strong counter-offensive language to discourage criticism of its new offensive in Gaza.

But, the aim could not be clearer. Netanyahu said it was to “conquer Gaza” and seize territory.

Israeli minister of finance Bezalel Smotrich openly claims that Gaza will be “entirely destroyed”.

This has been the plan all along. Smotrich formulated it in 2017. It is called the Subjugation Plan (sometimes translated as Decisive Plan).

Smotrich's vision demanded the annexation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank, treating its population as colonial subjects with no civil, political or national rights of their own. Those who would not accept their status as second-class subjects would be physically removed from their homes and lands and expelled from their homelands. Those determined to resist and fight back would be hunted and killed.

At the time, the plan was directed mostly towards the West Bank. A member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, Ofer Cassif, a member of Israel’s Knesset (parliament) in the left-wing Hadash coalition, believes the October 7 attack brought the opportunity of implementing the Subjugation Plan in Gaza.

Writing in The Guardian, Cassif said that “this kind of genocidal ideology has been evident, in Somtrich's case, since long before October 7”. And opposition voices - including his - have been warning of the government's intentions in Gaza since October 2023.

Families of Israeli hostages are terrified at what is happening in Gaza. “They have accused Smotrich of promoting his messianic vision on the graves of their loved ones, and Benjamin Netanyahu of hiding information and lying to them about the number of living hostages”. Cassif explains.

So next time someone says to you that the war will be over as soon as Israeli hostages are released, be sure to remind them that only eight hostages were rescued militarily. The rest of the 140 hostages were released by Hamas or as part of a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.

Anyone who genuinely cares about Israeli hostages should listen to their families who are telling Netanyahu that he failed them on October 7, when they screamed for help that never came, and he is failing them again by refusing to establish a state commission of inquiry into the horrific events of that day.

Polls are now showing the majority of Israelis want an end to the war so hostages can be united with their loved ones. And the entire world surely wants Israel to stop so Palestinian children can be spared death from starvation, or from burning alive in the hellfire caused by Israeli bombs.