Israeli Lawmakers Say It Out Loud: Mass Migration From Gaza and Jewish Settlement Instead - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Far-right lawmaker Tzvi Succot had only 30 seconds to speak at the Caucus to Strengthen the Awareness of Israeli Victory at the Knesset last week. If you're a hard-liner, he didn't disappoint.
"This event must end in a way that resounds everywhere in the Arab world," he said, adding that in the West Bank, "among the Arabs of Israel, in Syria, in Lebanon, everyone must see what has happened to Gaza and understand that this is the last thing he wants to happen in his life."
Succot added: "At least in the northern Gaza Strip we first have to conquer, annex, destroy all the houses, build neighborhoods – large and expansive neighborhoods, large settlements in that place that will be named after our heroes, after the nation's heroes who fought there. We will distribute free plots there to the soldiers who fought, to the wounded who fought.
"This image, and this is the most important thing, of the destroyed Gaza, of Palestine Square that will become Israeli Heroism Square, this image will echo in every home around the world so that everyone will see what happens to those who mess with the people of Israel."
Far-right lawmaker Tzvi Succot at the Caucus to Strengthen the Awareness of Israeli Victory at the Knesset last week.Credit: Noam Revkin Fenton
The caucus, which was established even before Israel's most right-wing Knesset took over in November 2022, debated the topic "How Israel's Victory Will Look at the End of the War." Among the few women around the table were legendary settler leader Daniella Weiss and right-wing commentator Nave Dromi.
While the members of the narrow war cabinet seem to weigh every word – both about the war and the 129 hostages still being held by Hamas – at the caucus meeting Israel's hard right let loose.
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Every time someone mentioned the resettlement of Gaza, loud applause erupted in the audience. Moderates were at a premium.
Zvi Hauser, a former center-right lawmaker, said that if Hamas' military leaders remain in Gaza they must be expelled as the heads of the Palestine Liberation Organization were expelled from Lebanon in 1982.
Israeli lawmaker Tzvi Succot talks at the Knesset. 'This image, and this is the most important thing, of the destroyed Gaza, of Palestine Square that will become Israeli Heroism Square.'
According to caucus co-chairman Ohad Tal of Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionism party, "The goal of the war must be full control over the Gaza Strip. Gaza was the State of Israel; it must return to being the territory of the State of Israel."
The other co-chairman, Evgeny Sova of Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party, was much milder. He talked about the heroism of the residents of the Gaza-border communities, the army and Israeli society overall, which "despite the politicians, came together and presented itself in the most beautiful way possible: contributions on the home front." He said that "this caucus was established with one clear goal: for our enemies to understand that we have been victorious over them. When they understand that we've beaten them, they will lay down their arms."
When asked by the Knesset Channel to comment on the other lawmakers' statements, he said he wasn't responsible for them – important was that everyone could express their opinions.
Israeli lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech at the Knesset Caucus, last week. 'We will be privileged to see the redemption of Israel with kindness and mercy, with the help of God.'Credit: Noam Revkin Fenton
Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, a relative moderate in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, provided the backdrop.
"The Hamas regime has collapsed, there's no municipal authority, the civilian population is entirely dependent on humanitarian aid from outside, there's a lack of job opportunities and high unemployment, 60 percent of Gaza's agricultural areas will be turned into buffer zones, much of the terrorist infrastructure will have been destroyed," she said. "Thousands of homes are unsafe to live in. The IDF is continuing with its military operations in the Gaza Strip and controls all of Gaza's crossings and borders."
She said the idea of transferring responsibility for Gaza to the Palestinian Authority "is dangerous for Israel. The PA already controlled Gaza and was removed by force by Hamas. Senior PA officials have views identical to those of Hamas leaders and support the October 7 massacre. We didn't fight and pay a heavy price in blood to establish a hostile Palestinian entity."
She prescribed "an interim administration – the Gaza Strip should be transferred to international control led by the United States, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, in parallel with the IDF's military control over Gaza. … In any alternative, a complete disarmament of Gaza is required, implementing a de-radicalization of the entire population and abolishing the perpetuation of refugee status."
Israeli lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech at the Knesset. 'There is only one victory, both against our enemies and also among ourselves, within our people. And that is the return of settlement to the Gaza Strip.'
According to Gamliel, the UNRWA refugee agency should "create conditions that encourage Palestinians who want to build their lives elsewhere. … With proper diplomatic and communications work, it will be possible to harness the international system toward this."
Limor Son Har-Melech of Itamar Ben-Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party said she didn't like the concept of a "victory picture." She said that "there is only one victory, both against our enemies and also among ourselves, within our people." She then took a dramatic breath and added: "And that is the return of settlement to the Gaza Strip, correction of the sin of the spies, without fear, without hesitation."
The audience applauded, and she continued: "This is the only picture that will define for our enemy, who will stand there, watch and see a settlement and the Jewish children walking in its streets. This is the only picture that will define for our enemy that we have defeated him and that what he planned to do will backfire on him."
After she said that a "voluntary migration plan" had to be considered, she added: "All the enemies are watching today. ... Hezbollah in the north is looking at Gaza, Syria is looking at Gaza, the Arabs of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] are looking at Gaza, the Arabs of Israel are looking at Gaza.
"There is where the battle will be decided, and the clearer and more determined we become, with the help of God, we will see that out of this determination … we will be privileged to see them returning home, and we will be privileged to see the redemption of Israel with kindness and mercy, with the help of God."
Vahid Beheshti, an Iranian opposition figure who lives in Britain. 'Sooner or later the Iranian regime had to be dealt with.'Credit: Noam Revkin Fenton
A relative Likud moderate, Danny Danon, added: "Nothing will happen without decisiveness." He said he was appealing directly to the prime minister that "we must show determination and strength, and we must continue on the path we started. Now the cabinet has decided to change the form of the operation and switch to surgical efforts. It's impossible to be decisive this way."
Danon prescribed a "security strip of more than a kilometer; whoever enters this strip will be shot." Regarding "voluntary migration," he said that it is "good for the residents of the Gaza Strip and good for the State of Israel. ... We want to allow the Gazans to leave; we need to talk about it and encourage it. Until the war, they would pay $5,000 for a visa to Turkey. Today the price has jumped to $10,000."
According to Danon, "an Israeli presence" is needed at the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza. "Most of the weapons don't enter the Strip in tunnels but in trucks."
Brig. Gen. (Res.) Amir Avivi, the head of the hard-line group Habithonistim, also known as the Israel Defense and Security Forum, said Israel needed "to sit on all of Rafah in order to control the border with Egypt." He said military control over Gaza wouldn't suffice; this approach would lack legitimacy in the long term, therefore a Jewish settlement was a must. That also received applause.
Simcha Rothman of Religious Zionism said that buffer zones should happen now before reservist battalions were discharged, and that control of the Philadelphi Route – on the Gaza border with Egypt – was needed to achieve the demilitarization of Gaza. He also talked about eliminating Hamas' ability to govern and demanded that Israel control all humanitarian aid.
Israeli protesters calling for the occupation of Gaza, in Tel Aviv, last month.Credit: Tomer Applebaum
Oded Forer of Yisrael Beiteinu drew applause when he said that "if we have to explain that we won, we didn't win." He added that "the plan published today to return the residents of the southern Negev and the northern border with Lebanon, with walls and protective measures, is exactly the program that collapsed."
Also invited to the Knesset were Yami and Naomi Weiser, the parents of Golani Brigade Staff Sgt. Roey Weiser from the settlement of Efrat who died fending off Hamas' initial attack. They said Israel should fight until total victory.
"Anything less than this will not achieve the goal for which my son died, which is the defense of the State of Israel," Yami Weiser said. "We have no desire for other parents to go through what we're going through today. This also must be the last war. … It needs to be a deterrent factor."
Eliyahu Libman, the head of the Kiryat Arba municipality in the West Bank and father of 24-year-old Elyakim Libman who was kidnapped to Gaza, added: "The time has come to win once and for all. ... We also want to bring back the hostages, but the goal is that there should be no more hostages forever."
The Likud's Danny Danon, talking at the Knesset. 'A security strip of more than a kilometer; whoever enters this strip will be shot.'
A special guest was Vahid Beheshti, an Iranian opposition figure who lives in Britain. "We must destroy Hamas and Hezbollah," he said, adding that a new Hamas might arise under a new name because the Iranian regime still exists.
According to Beheshti, the Islamic Republic is the main financier of Hamas and Hezbollah. He said the ayatollahs' regime was established 44 years ago with the main goal of destroying Israel, and it is now working even harder at that. He said he was in Jerusalem to convey the message that the Iranian people love Israel and support it, especially after October 7. "We love you, we need you, and you need us," he said, adding that sooner or later the Iranian regime had to be dealt with.
As Beheshti put it: We must not be afraid to attack Iranian bases, and we must not be afraid to attack nuclear sites in Iran, and we must not be afraid to attack the homes of senior Iranian officials. "This is the only language they understand."