Far-right National Security Minister Terror Itamar Ben Gvir said Tuesday that he would be “very happy to live in Gaza” following the war against Hamas, musing that a mass exodus of Palestinians could create room for a significant influx of Israeli settlers.
If ‘hundreds of thousands’ of Palestinians leave the Strip, ‘we will be able to bring in more and more people,’ minister says
In an interview with ultra-Orthodox news site Kikar Hashabat, Ben Gvir said that he would like to see the war prosecuted until the end in the southern city of Rafah, followed by a full-on Israeli military rule in which Jerusalem would control the coastal territory “unequivocally.”
This would entail the reestablishment of Jewish settlement, “but that’s not enough,” he continued, reiterating his call to encourage the “voluntary emigration” of Gazans — although he stipulated that he was “not saying everyone” should leave.
Israelis should return to the settlements evacuated during the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza, Ben Gvir added, stating that if “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians leave the Strip, “we will be able to bring in more and more people.”
“I would be very happy to live in Gaza,” Ben Gvir said.
Ben Gvir is a follower of the late rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the far-right Kach party, which was banned in the 1980s and which advocated for the expulsion of Palestinians and Arab Israelis. He has sought to somewhat distance himself from Kahane in recent years and, speaking at a commemoration for Kahane in 2022, declared that he did “not support the deportation of all Arabs.”
תוכנית בן גביר ליום שאחרי גנץ נחשפת:
– להצטרף לקבינט המלחמה: "נתניהו מבין היטב מה אני רוצה ממנו".
– מלחמה ברפיח עד הסוף. עוצר את הדלק.
– ב'יום שאחרי' המלחמה: כיבוש עזה. ישראל שולטת. יישוב יהודי בעזה, לא רק ביישובים שפונו בהתנתקות.
– אשמח לגור בעזה, אעשה זאת אם תהיה אפשרות.
– לא… pic.twitter.com/k3JWi9NL0s— ישי כהן (@ishaycoen) May 21, 2024
In Sderot last week, Ben Gvir declared that Israel needed to do two things, “return to Gaza” and “encourage the voluntary departure of Gaza’s residents.”
“It is ethical! It is rational! It is right! It is the truth! It is the Torah and it is the only way! And yes, it is humane,” he argued.
Israel’s position since the start of the campaign has been that it will not take control of Gaza but rather will seek a replacement regime to take over from the Hamas terror group.
According to a Hebrew University poll released last December, more than half of Israelis oppose annexing the Gaza Strip and reestablishing settlements uprooted during the 2005 Disengagement.
Speaking with Kikar Hashabat, the terror minister Ben Gvir also said that he “expects” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to appoint him to the small war cabinet that has been managing the war, and that he would have run the war very differently from how it has been managed thus far, including cutting off fuel and pushing forward in Rafah “until the end.”
Ben Gvir also called for a ground operation in Lebanon.
“We will not be able to end this campaign without a war in the north,” he asserted, a day after he said such a war should entail invading Lebanon and seeking to fully dismantle the Hezbollah terror group.
Note: This is an edited version of the original Post.
