Smotrich and Ben Gvir rally behind Trump’s Gaza emigration idea
Far-right finance minster says he is working on an ‘operational plan’ to turn idea into actionable policy; Otzma Yehudit leader says mass emigration is the ‘humanitarian answer’

Far-right leaders on Monday highlighted their support for US President Donald Trump’s proposal to move some of Gaza’s population to Jordan and Egypt, temporarily or permanently.
Speaking with reporters ahead of his Religious Zionism party’s weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that he is working on an “operational plan” to implement Trump’s idea and turn it into actionable policy.
“After years of statesmen trying to impose their imaginations on reality, the US president is finally acknowledging reality: Gaza is a hotbed of terrorism that creates suffering for both the residents of the State of Israel and the residents of Gaza themselves,” Smotrich declared.
“There is no doubt that, in the long term, encouraging emigration is the only solution that will bring peace and security to the residents of Israel and also ease the suffering of the Arab residents of Gaza,” he added.
“I am working with the prime minister and the cabinet to prepare an operational plan and ensure the realization of President Trump’s vision,” he continued. “There is nothing to be excited about the weak opposition of Egypt and Jordan to the plan. We saw yesterday how Trump [imposed his will on] Colombia to deport immigrants despite its opposition. When he wants it, it happens.”
The far-right firebrand and former national security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also reiterated his backing for Trump’s idea, insisting that “voluntary emigration” from the Gaza Strip is the “only solution” to the conflict there, pushing back against critics who say that he is “racist and messianic.”

“Encouraging immigration is the only thing that will bring a solution of rest and tranquility to the State of Israel and to the residents of Gaza. I call on the Arab world to reach out to the residents of Gaza, let them immigrate” to your countries, he declared, calling mass emigration the “humanitarian answer.”
Ben Gvir expressed his hope that Trump would pursue his own proposal to move some of Gaza’s population to Jordan and Egypt, temporarily or permanently.
Attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which he recently exited over its decision to sign a ceasefire-hostage release deal with Hamas, Ben Gvir said that “the time has come for you to learn to govern and implement right-wing policies, so that there is no situation in which voters vote for Likud and get Gantz.”
Trump said Saturday that he would like to see Jordan, Egypt, and other Arab nations increase the number of Palestinian refugees they are accepting from the Gaza Strip — potentially moving out enough of the population to “just clean out” the war-torn area and create a virtual clean slate.

The proposal has, to date, been a red line for Arab states, particularly Jordan and Egypt, which have viewed the mass migration of Palestinians to their countries as a potential existential threat. They have pointed to Israel’s refusal to publicly commit to allowing any Palestinians who leave the Strip to later return, and do not want to be seen as complicit in an exile of Palestinians.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas on Sunday condemned the idea, saying he rejects “any projects” to relocate the people of Gaza outside the Palestinian enclave.
Without naming the US leader, Abbas “expressed strong rejection and condemnation of any projects aimed at displacing our people from the Gaza Strip,” a statement from his office said, adding that the Palestinian people “will not abandon their land and holy sites.”

Cairo’s foreign ministry in a statement expressed Egypt’s “continued support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land.”
It “rejected any infringement on those inalienable rights, whether by settlement or annexation of land, or by the depopulation of that land of its people through displacement, encouraged transfer, or the uprooting of Palestinians from their land, whether temporarily or long-term.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Sunday that his kingdom firmly rejects any forced displacement of Palestinians.

“Our rejection of the displacement of Palestinians is firm and will not change. Jordan is for Jordanians and Palestine is for Palestinians,” Safadi said in a statement.
The fear of being unable to return has also deterred many Palestinians from leaving. Some did try during the war that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, slaughtered some 1,200 people and abducted 251. Over 100,000 Gazans succeeded in entering Egypt, though they were forced to pay exorbitant fees in order to do so and have largely not received any assistance upon arrival, as Cairo refuses to recognize them as refugees.