Far-right Israeli ministers and ministers belonging to Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party have attended a conference on the resettlement of Gaza, at which the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, said Israelis needed “to find a legal way to voluntarily emigrate [Palestinians]”, Haaretz newspaper has reported.
The conference held in Jerusalem on Sunday was attended by thousands of people including the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, as well as other members of the Knesset and coalition government, rabbis, settlement activists and families of soldiers fighting in Gaza.
In his speech, Ben Gvir said:
If we don’t want another October 7, we need to go back home and control [Gaza]. We need to find a legal way to voluntarily emigrate [Palestinians] and impose death sentences on terrorists … I turn to you, prime minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu: this is time for brave decisions.
Members of the Likud party, who have talked openly about the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians since the war began, returned to the theme at the conference, according to Haaretz.
The communications minister, Shlomo Karhi,said that in war, “‘voluntary’ is at times a state you impose [on someone] until they give their consent”.
The tourism minister, Haim Katz, meanwhile, said: “Today, after 18 years [from disengagement from Gaza], we have the opportunity to rebuild and expand the land of Israel. This is our final opportunity.”
