How a Teen, Not a Journalist, Debunked Israel’s Gaza ‘Voluntary Emigration’ Plan

Gideon Levy

There hasn’t been an interview like this in years, perhaps never, on Israeli television. A ray of light flashed through the dark screen, which has become more propagandistic than ever over the past three years.

Palestinians flock to the area where the humanitarian aid packages land over western Gaza City, in August 2025. Credit: Mahmoud Abu Hamda/Reuters

It wasn’t on “Uvda,” the bold “investigative” program. Nor was it on “Meet the Press,” the program full of idle chatter. And it wasn’t on any stupid panel full of idiots. A star was born in the most unexpected place, on the most far-flung program on the Knesset channel.

Eitan Newman, a 17-year-old boy from Ra’anana, schooled Israel’s top talent. Yonit Levy and Danny Kushmaro, Ben Caspit and Amit Segel, Raviv Drucker and Ayala Hasson, you’ve gotta see this. Maybe this way you’ll finally learn how to conduct interviews and what journalism is. You have a lot to learn from this kid.

The program is “First Vote.” The interviewee was Moshe Feiglin. Here’s the full text, edited as needed.

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Newman: Call it what you want, ethnic cleansing, transfer, voluntary emigration, fine. So, I want to ask you, what will happen to the Gazan who won’t want to emigrate? Will IDF soldiers pile him onto a truck and expel him? Where will they take him? What will you do to him?

Feiglin: First of all, the vast majority of them want to leave, okay?

Newman: I asked about those who don’t want to leave.

Feiglin: We need to encourage them to leave, because whoever doesn’t leave will murder you.

Newman: That’s not what I asked. I asked, what will you do to someone you wanted to leave and doesn’t leave.

Feiglin: You’ll make him leave.

Newman: What does “make” mean?

Feiglin: Every way possible. We’ll shut off his water pipes, for example. Just an example.

Newman: And whoever doesn’t leave can die, as far as you’re concerned?

Feiglin: Then he’ll be thirsty. He’ll have to leave to drink a cup of water. Just an example.

Newman: So, for example, kind of kill off everyone?

Silence.

Newman: Yes? Like everyone should die? Either they go or they die? Are they not human?

Feiglin: It’s pretty stunning, excuse me, that after October 7, you treat us like murderers and that Islamo-Nazi terror entity like it’s under attack. Forgive me.

Newman: I’m asking about your policy. I’m trying to understand what will happen if you’re elected to the Knesset.

Feiglin: You know, I have a grandson your age, okay? His brother lies right now beneath a grave marker because of such questions.

Newman: So, I’m like responsible for his killing? Is that what you’re saying?

Feiglin: No, I’m saying that your twisted worldview, which pursues the human rights of that murderous entity, led in the end to that disaster.

Newman: So, everyone should die. Two million people will die. However many you say are there, they should die.

Feiglin: I’m suggesting to you that you also listen to the person you’re asking, not only to yourself.

The eloquent and experienced Feiglin was shocked. He didn’t expect such an interview. You don’t need to expect such an interview in Israel, because there are no such interviewers on television.

The journalistic value is clear: The boy revealed Feiglin’s true face. And more importantly, he revealed the despicable lie of “voluntary emigration.” No one is leaving voluntarily. It’s just putting them on trucks and shipping them out. Newman didn’t let him get away with evading, fudging or blurring anything. The interviewee was forced to admit a full-blown, Nazi-type of solution. “Let him be thirsty,” he said with a devilish cynicism and blood-chilling coldness.

It isn’t hard to imagine how a similar interview on the major networks would look like. Feiglin would say, “voluntary emigration,” and we’d move on to the next topic: Who you’re going to vote for in the election, all the usual crap. Israeli interviewers do well to distinguish between what’s of secondary importance and what’s the main thing; they will always choose the less important item. They are afraid of asking the real questions.

Source: HAARETZ

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