With more than 100 hostages still unaccounted for in Gaza and Israel a year deep into the war in Gaza as well as now also being entrenched in Lebanon, 500 activists gathered near Kibbutz Be’eri close to the Gaza border for a rally concluding a two-day “Preparing to Settle in Gaza” festival.
The “revival” celebration was attended by the usual suspects of settler leaders and hard-right activists and was organized by the Nahala pro-settlement organization.
Monday’s gathering’s main premise was to promote the idea that Israelis must resettle in Gaza to prevent future attacks similar to those that occurred on October 7 last year.
The attendees consider the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza to be a fatal mistake that enabled Hamas to take over and use it for the next two decades as a launching pad for rocket fire in southern Israel.
Nahala leader Daniella Weiss, who played a prominent role in opposing the 2005 withdrawal, said 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 Gaza Strip.
She quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said several months ago in an interview on Channel 14 that the matter was “unrealistic,” and she responded that many people believed the same about West Bank settlements, but the fact that there were now 330 settlements and 850,000 people living there, according to Weiss, proved that it was feasible.
In a country that touts free expression, there’s nothing wrong with Weiss promoting that plan, no matter how farfetched and potentially damaging to Israel’s image, which she and her compatriots think will make Israel more secure.
However, take a look at who else attended the rally: 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), who all spoke passionately.
Calling to renew settlements in Gaza
MKs who attended the rally included Ariel Kallner, Avichay 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.
“If we want it, we can renew settlements in Gaza,” Ben-Gvir told the crowd to roaring applause. He also called for Israel to “encourage emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza.
“It’s the best and most moral solution, not by force but by telling them, ‘We’re giving you the option; leave to other countries; the Land of Israel is ours,’” he said.
A minister like Ben-Gvir attending a fringe rally and promoting a position that contradicts the government’s stated position is bad enough, and it points to the anarchy within the coalition.
The Jerusalem Post’s Eliav Breuer, who attended the rally, reported that several people wore Kahane Chai (“Kahane is Alive”) apparel in support of the Jewish supremacist Kach movement formed by Rabbi Meir Kahane.
During Ben-Gvir’s speech, some of his supporters shouted “Kahane Chai.” But what is really astounding about Monday’s event was the participation of the Likud ministers and MKs. They are from the leading party of the coalition and are led by Netanyahu.
In a period of time in which the world is looking at Israel with magnifying glasses, the fact that nearly a third of the members of the prime minister’s party in the Knesset are in favor of a policy that not only Israel’s allies oppose but that the government of Israel opposes is staggering.
Israel is in the worst diplomatic situation it’s been in since its establishment.
Allies such as France and the UK have been discussing different types of arms embargoes on Israel, and the international media are dying to show the extreme, perhaps racist elements of Israeli society.
Netanyahu must put his house in order and instruct the MKs in his party and the ministers in his coalition to wait with these ambiguous statements for the time being.
As we focus on day-after plans, we should think of realistic solutions.