Smotrich calls to extend Israeli sovereignty across West Bank and Gaza, expand settlements

Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that in the wake of October 7, Israel “can and must apply Israeli sovereignty in [the West Bank] and in Gaza.”

Addressing the Middle East Summit, a conference in Jerusalem organized by Israel 365, an Israeli media outlet aimed at American evangelicals, Smotrich, head of the Religious Zionism party, says that after repeated attempts to reach a two-state solution, Israel must free itself “from wrong concepts” and make an “unequivocal Israeli statement to the Arabs and the entire world that a Palestinian state will not be established,” through “the establishment of new cities and settlements deep in the [West Bank] and bringing hundreds of thousands of additional settlers to live in them.”

In addition, he says, Israel must also extend its control to Gaza, explaining that “where there is no civilian presence, there is no long-term military presence, and unfortunately, we have seen and in the past year we have received very painful evidence that when there is no military presence for a long time, there is no security and there is an existential threat to the State of Israel and its citizens, and we must not allow this.”

“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 continues, adding that Palestinians living in the West Bank will enjoy self-rule on the local level and that they will “manage their day-to-day lives by themselves through regional municipal administrations devoid of national characteristics.”

Addressing the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Smotrich states that Israel has very little strategic depth and cannot allow a Palestinian state “become an Iranian base.” He claims that “the absolute majority of the residents of Gaza supported Hamas and the massacre” on October 7.

Despite the conflict, he insists, Israel stands at “an historical crossroads” and says that “the expansion of the Abraham Accords is an inevitable result of the emerging Israeli victory.” The region, he says, can become “a beacon of cooperation, of strategic alliances… where former enemies become partners for a better future.”

However, to reach that future, the United States, together with other Western countries, must “overthrow the ayatollah regime in Iran and eliminate its nuclear project that threatens the State of Israel and the entire Western world.”