Priyanka Tiwari
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Suspense crime, Digital Desk : In a dramatic and dangerous escalation of rhetoric, a far-right Israeli minister has openly called for the "erasure" of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatening "utter destruction" if Iran were to attack Israel directly.
The shocking statements were made by Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu during a radio interview. In response to recent comments from Khamenei praising the October 7 Hamas attack, Eliyahu declared, "The head of the snake, the man who is working for the destruction of Israel day and night... he can no longer be allowed to exist."
Eliyahu, a member of the ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit party, did not stop there. He drew a parallel between Khamenei and Adolf Hitler, stating that if Iran launched a direct assault, Israel's response must be "disproportionate." He explicitly used the phrase "utter destruction" to describe the necessary retaliation, adding that the "entire concept of Iran" needs to be re-evaluated.
This is not the first time the Heritage Minister has made extreme and controversial remarks. He previously sparked international condemnation for suggesting that using a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was a potential option.
The minister's threat comes amid a long-standing "shadow war" between Israel and Iran, which is fought primarily through covert operations and proxy forces like Hamas and Hezbollah. While Eliyahu is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition, his statements represent a radical viewpoint and are not yet the official declared policy of the Israeli government.
However, such explicit threats against another nation's head of state raise the stakes in the already volatile Middle East, pushing the two regional powers closer to the brink of open, direct conflict. The comments signal a growing impatience and hardening stance within a vocal segment of Israel's political leadership.
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