Ministers, MKs from the governing coalition, and settler leaders led a rally on Monday near the Gaza border, calling for Israel to resettle the Gaza Strip.
The rally was the culmination of a two-day festival titled “Preparing to Settle in Gaza” and was held at a makeshift camp made up of sukkot, approximately 1 km. west of Be’eri and 3 km. from the Gaza border.
The camp included a few dozen sukkot, with a large central sukkah designated as the “Sukkah of Revival” (Sukkat Hatkuma).
The rally was organized by several right-wing groups led by the settlement organization Nahala and was a remarkable show of strength, including from within the Likud governing party, against the government’s stated policy against enabling Israelis to settle in Gaza.
Nahala leader Daniella Weiss, a known figure in the settler movement, said that her organization intended to utilize the know-how it gained during decades of settlement in the West Bank to create settlements in Gaza.
Ministers rally near Gaza border
She quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said several months ago in an interview on Channel 14 that the matter was “unrealistic” and said that many people believed the same about West Bank settlements, but the fact that there were now 330 settlements and 850,000 settlers living there, according to Weiss, proved that it was feasible.
Weiss said that Nahala had already reached an agreement worth “millions of dollars” to set up temporary housing units near the Gaza border, which she said would eventually make their way into the Strip.
Some of the sukkot at the camp were designated as meeting places for specific groups, such as political parties, including Likud, youth groups, or settlement groups aiming to settle in a specific location.
Some of the sukkot walls included quotes from secular Zionist leaders about the importance of settlements, such as Rachel Yanait Ben-Zvi and Yitzhak Tabenkin. A recurring theme in several speeches at the rally reflected the idea that the settlers viewed themselves as the continuation of the traditional Zionists, who were the country’s founding fathers and mothers.
A few dozen members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum protested outside the event behind a line of police officers. They read the names of the hostages and accused the event’s organizers of sacrificing the lives of the hostages for their own political goals.
Yehuda Cohen, father of captured soldier Nimrod Cohen, said that he had come to protest against the “cynical use” of the lives of hostages to promote “devastation, destruction, and death.” Cohen added, “They sanctify death, and I sanctify the living.”
Regular and reserve soldiers were also part of the force securing the event, as it was held in a closed military zone. The IDF said to The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that this was not unusual and that civilians could hold events in such zones pending limitations set by the army.
Ministers who spoke at the rally included National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Otzma Yehudit), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (RZP), Women’s Advancement Minister and Social Equality Minister May Golan (Likud), and Development of the Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit).
MKs who attended the rally included Ariel Kallner, Avihai Boaron, Osher Shekalim, Tally Gotliv, and Sasson Guetta from the Likud; Zvi Sukkot from the Religious Zionist Party; and Limor Son Har-Melech from Otzma Yehudit.
From his perspective, Zvi Sukkot explained that the rally’s goal was for the settler movement to present a vision for the “day after” to contend with other ideas proposed within Israel and by the international community. He acknowledged that settling Gaza was not Israel’s official position but said that his goal was to convince the government to adopt it.
“When you do not know where you are going, then other people who have a vision will direct you,” Sukkot said, giving examples of “other people,” such as European leaders and even voices within Israel’s security establishment.
Several people at the rally wore Kahane Chai (“Kahane is Alive”) apparel in support of the Jewish supremacist Kach movement formed by Rabbi Meir Kahane, which is considered a terror organization in Israel. During Ben-Gvir’s speech, some of his supporters shouted “Kahane Chai.”