Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich believes that “to have security”, the Jewish state “needs a civilian presence on site” in the Palestinian enclave.
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The war between Israel and Hamas will continue “all along” of the year, the spokesperson for the Israeli army warned on Monday January 1, 2024. The fighting continues on this first day of the year in the Gaza Strip, but also on the Lebanese border. However, the Jewish State is already considering the post-conflict period, as evidenced by the controversial remarks of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
On Sunday, the minister of a far-right party advocated the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the war. “To have security, he explains, we need to control the territory and for that we need a civilian presence on site.”. Implied, this would have made it possible to avoid the Hamas attacks on October 7, and its 1,140 deaths in Israel.
Pushing Gazans to emigrate
The Minister of Finance goes even further. Because anyone who denies the existence of a Palestinian people even encourages Gazans to emigrate to other countries. He says he is ready to help them settle elsewhere with the help of the international community. According to International mailwhich cites the foreign press, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of a plan to “voluntary migration” during a meeting with his party.
“If there were 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza compared to two million today, the discourse would not be the same”, added Bezalel Smotrich, also head of the far-right “Religious Zionism” party, which is part of the ruling government coalition. Comments which raise numerous international criticism since they call into question what former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided in 2005. After 38 years of occupation, nearly 8,000 settlers left that year the Palestinian enclave.
