The finance minister suggested a plan to expand illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as a sign to “the entire world that a Palestinian state will not be established.”
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for the full annexation of the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip asserting the need to establish illegal Israeli settlements in the heart of Palestinian territories and the expulsion of Palestinian nationalists, the Middle East Monitor (MEMO) reported.
The far-right minister told an American evangelical audience at the Middle East Summit in occupied Jerusalem that Israeli presence must be solidified in Gaza by creating a lasting Israeli civilian and military presence and the establishment of settlements in the enclave.
The leader of the far-right Religious Zionist Party asserted that any military gains in Gaza could not be maintained unless there was an Israeli civilian presence in the Strip.
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“Where there is no civilian presence, there is no long-term military presence, there is no security and there is an existential threat to the State of Israel and its citizens, and we must not allow this,” he said, according to the Israeli newspaper Times of Israel.
Smotrich brushed off the idea of a two-state solution, telling the audience that Israel should be upfront about rejecting a Palestinian state.
The Times of Israel reported that the finance minister suggested instead a plan to expand illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as a sign to “the entire world that a Palestinian state will not be established.”
Smotrich went on to say that Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories should only be granted limited local self-rule “devoid of national characteristics,” while expelling any Palestinian with national aspirations.
“Those who do not want or are unable to put aside their national ambitions will receive assistance from us to emigrate to one of the many Arab countries where the Arabs can realize their national ambitions, or to any other destination in the world,” MEMO reported.
Other far-right speakers at the conference, which was organized by the Orthodox Jewish institution Israel 365, also dismissed the idea of a Palestinian state.
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The head of Israel’s far-right New Hope party, Gideon Sa’ar, was one of those.
He reportedly called on Israel to reject any form of concessions to the Palestinians, encouraging Tel Aviv to adopt instead a “political iron wall” in the face of international pressure on the establishment of a two-state solution.
“There will never be any substitute for full operational Israeli military control of the territory from the sea to Jordan,” Sa’ar was quoted as saying.
For his part, Religious Zionism member, Ohad Tal, stated that there can only be “Jewish sovereignty” from the river to the sea.
“Some will say this is not realistic and we respond that the two-state scenario has itself proven to be a dangerous delusion,” he said.
“Others will say that the world will not permit it and we respond that once the Jewish people is determined that this is the right way, no obstacle is too great to be overcome,” he added.
Israel’s Expansionist Plan
The recent declarations of the controversial finance minister come in line with previous statements he has made along with other far-right Israeli figures.
In a recent interview with the Franco-German Arte Reportage channel, Smotrich called for Israel to expand its borders to the Jordan River as well to the Syrian capital Damascus and other countries as far as Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
His ambitions and that of several others of the current far-right Israeli government to achieve the ‘Greater Israel’ project, came in an interview for the recently released documentary titled ‘Israel: Extremists in Power’ with Arte.
“I want a Jewish state… that operates according to the values of the Jewish people,” the far-right Israeli minister told Arte.
Further Steps towards Annexation – Smotrich Moves to Expel Palestinians from ‘Area B’
At one point in the interview, the journalist asked Smotrich if today’s borders should be expanded “beyond the river in the next stage”.
“Okay, bit by bit,” replied the head of the Religious Zionism party with a smile.
“It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus,” he added.
“Only Jerusalem, until Damascus,” Smotrich stressed.
This exchange between Israel’s finance minister and the reporter is followed by a revelation by the documentary narrator who says that “Bezalel Smotrich has a radical vision for the promised land and it includes all Palestinian lands but also territories in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, even in Saudi Arabia.”
He concludes by stating that it certainly is an extremist vision “but it is an accepted one in Israel’s public discourse.”
‘Greater Israel’
Many Israeli extremist leaders have voiced their ambitions publicly of a ‘Greater Israel’ since the start of the genocide on the besieged Gaza Strip on October 7.
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On September 27, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu displayed at the United Nations General Assembly session a map that included the occupied West Bank and Gaza as part of Israel.
The Israeli prime minister held two maps, which both place Gaza and the West Bank as an integral part of Israel.
A year earlier, Netanyahu spoke at the same forum and displayed a map of what he called “the new Middle East”, which also included the West Bank and Gaza as part of Israel.
Since Israel’s genocide in Gaza, neither Israeli leaders nor soldiers or regular Israeli citizens have been timid about posting footage on the different social media outlets expressing their ambitions of a ‘Greater Israel’ project.
(PC, MEMO)
