[News] Ben Gvir's genocidal rhetoric on Lebanon draws international backlash

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/ben-gvir-s-genocidal-rhetoric-on-lebanon-draws-international>
Ben Gvir's genocidal rhetoric on Lebanon draws international backlash
Al Mayadeen English
June 20, 2026
------------------------------

World figures including Yvette Cooper, Jake Tapper, and Marjorie Taylor
Greene condemn Itamar Ben-Gvir's call for "all of Lebanon to burn."

   - [image: Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir gestures after
   election exit poll results are released at his party's headquarters in
   occupied al-Quds on Nov. 2, 2022. (AP Photo)]
   <https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2026/6/20/e6af7053-f9a6-4b18-b9c4-fc0f9b144d9e.jpg?width=1000>
   Israeli far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir gestures after election exit
   poll results are released at his party's headquarters in occupied al-Quds
   on Nov. 2, 2022. (*AP* Photo)

Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's call for Lebanon to "burn" in
response to the killing of four Israeli soldiers while invading southern
Lebanon brought a wave of backlash, with figures across the political
spectrum condemning the remarks as openly genocidal.

UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper wrote on X that calling for "all of
Lebanon to burn" is "a horrendous and abhorrent statement from an Israeli
Minister who has rightly been sanctioned by the UK Government." She called
on occupier and occupied, both "Israel" and Hezbollah, to "comply with the
agreed ceasefire, and ensure that all civilians are protected."

US Republican Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/vance-slams-israeli--freakout--over-mou--says-will-have-to-c>
also condemned the remarks, calling Ben Gvir "a murdering psychopath" and
writing, "how about no mother, of any kind, should shed a tear."

Meanwhile, British broadcaster Piers Morgan
<https://english.almayadeen.net/videos/west-s-propaganda-machine-parrots-false-narratives-on-iran>
asked, "How can anyone still support this Israeli govt when psychopathic
monsters like Ben Gvir are ministers in it, advocating genocide in Lebanon?
Disgusting."

*CNN* anchor Jake Tapper also weighed in, and described the post as
"hideous," writing that "Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir, an
anti-Arab racist zealot, says 'all of Lebanon must burn.' That's almost 6
million people."

The backlash also drew commentary on what the remarks revealed about
Israeli political discourse itself. Writer and activist Alon Mizrahi who
identifies as ex-Israeli wrote that the post "everyone is sharing aghast"
is in fact "a perfectly normal and common Israeli view, held by millions,"
adding that it reflects "the Israeli mainstream, and not extreme in the
least," and that he "grew up hearing that endlessly."
Araghchi slams Ben-Gvir

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was among the first to condemn
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/araghchi-slams-ben-gvir---genocidal-death-cult--in-tel-aviv>
the genocidal remarks by Ben-Gvir. "This is not a rant by a random
genocidal lunatic. It's a public post by the national security minister of
the Israeli regime," Araghchi posted.

Furthermore, he cited "the genocidal death cult headquartered in Tel Aviv"
as proof that "Israel" is "a threat to all of humanity. It threatens all
humans."

"Its only interest is permanent war," he concluded.
What Ben-Gvir said

Ben-Gvir's post came on Friday, shortly after reports confirmed that four
Israeli soldiers, including a battalion commander, were killed
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-officer-among-four-killed-in-southern-lebanon-hezbol>
in fierce confrontations with the Lebanese Resistance in southern Lebanon.

"All of Lebanon must burn," he wrote, adding that "for every tear shed by
an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers should cry."

"In the Middle East, you don't win with measured responses and restraint;
you need to go berserk. To obliterate. To crush the terror," he wrote,
explicitly pushing back against international pressure and calls from the
United States for restraint.
Vance to 'Israel': You can't just kill your way out

A day earlier, on Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/vance-slams-israeli--freakout--over-mou--says-will-have-to-c>
rebuked Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for undermining the
US-Iran deal.

"What is your exact proposal? You're a country of nine million people. You
can't just kill your way out of solving every single national security
problem," Vance told *The New York Times.*

He added that "Israel" should "wake up and smell the reality."
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