An Israeli Knesset candidate said openly that the goal is to empty Gaza of all Palestinians and annex the West Bank — bad for Palestinians, and bad for Israel's standing abroad.

• Moshe Feiglin, running on a slate with finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, said the enemy is Gaza itself, not Hamas, and that he wants Gaza empty.
• Asked about dead babies in Gaza, he did not back away, and compared the approach to the US bombing of Nagasaki.
• Smotrich has said similar things about southern Lebanon, where villages are being leveled and residents told they have nowhere to return — framing it as taking land, not fighting Hamas.
• Polling shows most Jewish Americans think Israel has committed war crimes, and a large share call it genocide, a split rarely shown on US television.
• The open admissions appear aimed at two audiences: Palestinians, to push them to flee, and Americans, to signal that protest will change nothing.

Outlook: Expect the "our fight is with Gaza, not Hamas" line to start appearing from American politicians, with little pushback from US media.