State attorney seeks probe into pop singer Eyal Golan for calling to ‘erase Gaza’
State Attorney Amit Aisman is seeking to open a criminal probe against pop singer Eyal Golan on suspicion of incitement to violence, after the musician called for the killing of all Gazans shortly following the October 7 Hamas attack, multiple Hebrew media reported Sunday.
According to the Kan public broadcaster that first reported the story, Golan phoned a few days after the attack to “erase Gaza” and “not leave a single person there. While it was not immediately clear when Golan made the exact comments being inquired about, he said almost the same words during an October 15 interview with Channel 14, as he was performing for soldiers in the field.
On October 7, 2023, some 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, starting the ongoing war. Asked for comment about the potential charges, the singer responded with a terse statement saying “The nation of Israel lives” (Am Yisrael Chai) — a traditional rallying cry for Jewish survival that is also the title of Golan’s wartime anthem released after October 7.The singer has previously run into legal trouble for tax evasion and fraud – which he was found guilty of in 2014 — and has been dogged by allegations of sex offenses against minors, for which his father was convicted and sent to prison.
The recommendation to open the investigation was taken by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who also received a similar recommendation from Aisman to open an investigation into National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for incitement following statements he made at the start of the war.
None of those involved believe an investigation against the minister would end with an indictment, let alone a conviction, not least because of Ben Gvir’s parliamentary immunity, the Kan public broadcaster reported last month. Rather, such an investigation would be intended to demonstrate to the International Court of Justice — where South Africa has alleged that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza — that Israel is abiding by the ICJ’s orders to investigate and punish anyone who violates the clause of the Genocide Convention prohibiting incitement to genocide.
Golan is a hero to many right-wing Israelis, and he got the support of Ben Gvir Sunday night. The far-right minister expressed himself in brief tweets, littered with heart emojis, saying that Aisman was acting for the people of Gaza while Israelis were on the side of Golan.
