Financial Minister Smotrich urges expanded Jewish settlements in Judea & Samaria and a return to Gaza

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Sunday called for the expansion of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), as well as a return to building Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip.

Smotrich made his comments while speaking at the Middle East Summit [called "Correct Middle East" in Hebrew], hosted by Israel365, an Orthodox Jewish organization focused on raising support for Israel among American Evangelical Christians. 

Smotrich told those in attendance that “where there is no civilian presence, there is no long-term military presence.” He claimed that areas of Judea and Samaria where Jewish settlement is smallest are the most radicalized in support of Palestinian terror. In these places, “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. 

Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism party, called on the Israeli government to apply sovereignty to “Judea, Samaria, and Gaza.” 

“Israeli sovereignty must be applied in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. Where there is no Jewish sovereignty, we know how it ends,” Smotrich told the summit attendees. “The land partition agreements did not work and will not work. Simply because they want the whole country.” 

In his remarks, Smotrich spoke of giving Arabs in Israeli-controlled territories limited self-rule, “devoid of national characteristics.” 

Smotrich also indicated that Arabs who “are unable to put aside their national ambitions” should be encouraged to emigrate to other countries. 

“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,” he added. 

However, he clarified that he was not calling for all Palestinians to leave.

“Whoever recognizes Jewish sovereignty will benefit from the State of Israel,” Smotrich claimed. “They will receive local community management without a national symbol. Those who do not want to do so can emigrate. Those who do not adopt any of the proposals are terrorists who will be dealt with by the IDF and the defense establishment.” 

The finance minister said that Israeli and international disillusionment with the peace process, along with the dismantling of the Iranian “axis of evil” could provide a “historic opportunity" to exert Jewish sovereignty. 

“The Israeli and international disillusionment is a historic opportunity that should not be missed for the establishment of a new and correct Middle East [the title of the summit in Hebrew] in which west of the Jordan River there is room for a single national definition – the state of the Jewish people,” he said. 

“The world has been exposed to the extent of the Arab atrocities and murderousness that emanated from Gaza,” Smotrich claimed, adding that the international community now “understands that if there is an axis of Iranian evil and an axis of moderate countries that sign the Abraham Accords, the Palestinians are deep in the axis of Iranian evil.” 

The proof of Palestinian involvement in the “axis of Iranian evil,” Smotrich continued, is that ”the absolute majority of Gazans supported Hamas and the massacre, as did the PA [Palestinian Authority] and most of the Arab public in Judea and Samaria.” 

He said, “Those who support the massacre…cannot be part of the solution.” 

The finance minister also claimed that the PLO's Executive Committee held a memorial ceremony for Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, however, it was actually an event in memory of all those killed in Gaza. 

Alongside Israel's controversial national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, Smotrich has repeatedly called for renewed Jewish settlement in Gaza.

Last week, he told a group of settlement supporters, “It is quite clear to me that eventually there will be Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.”