Zehut Leader Moshe Feiglin Calls Killing of Palestinian Infants 'Moral' in Jerusalem Post Interview

"The baby that will be born tomorrow in Gaza will do exactly the same." That is how Moshe Feiglin, a former Likud lawmaker and current leader of the Zehut party, explained to The Jerusalem Post on Monday why he believes Israel should have killed Palestinian infants after the October 7 attacks.

Asked about remarks he made previously, Feiglin told the paper:

"Because I'm Jewish and I guess I'm a little bit weak morally, I don't want to see babies killed. Morally, that's what should have been done."

When the interviewer asked whether wiping out Gaza and annexing the West Bank reflected a Jewish point of view, Feiglin answered, "100 percent." He also told the paper "the enemy is Gaza, not Hamas."

This was not a one-off. In 2025, according to The New Arab, Feiglin told Israel's Channel 14 that "every child, every baby in Gaza is an enemy" and that "not a single Gazan child will be left." The Jerusalem Post interview revisited that statement directly.

A rising position on the ballot

Feiglin leads Zehut, which has joined a common electoral list with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party ahead of Israel's general election on October 27. He is running in the number-two slot behind Smotrich. Recent polling cited by The New Arab projects the joint list could win five to seven Knesset seats, a result that would give Feiglin a parliamentary platform.

In the same interview, Feiglin said he was disappointed that Jewish settlements had not already been rebuilt in Gaza, telling the Jerusalem Post, "We should have seen by now the Gush Katif villages built already. We should have seen now the new Israeli international airport almost finished."

Context: casualties and prior findings

The Gaza Health Ministry has reported more than 20,000 children killed over three years of Israeli military operations in the territory, a figure that is widely cited though not independently audited. A United Nations inquiry last year found that Israeli forces had targeted Palestinian children using precision weapons, including quadcopters and snipers, and through strikes on schools, displacement camps and residential areas, according to The New Arab's reporting on the findings.

Feiglin's record includes a 2008 decision by the British government to bar him from entering the country, which cited his views as "not conducive to the public good." The New Arab also reports that in 2024 he favorably quoted Adolf Hitler to justify Israel's campaign in Gaza, a claim Occupation Watch has not independently verified with a primary transcript.