'The People of Israel Will Settle Gaza': Netanyahu's Ministers at Far-right Conference Endorse Expulsion of Palestinians.
Thousands of participants, including ministers and coalition MKs turned out at the Binyanei Ha'uma International Convention Center for Sunday night's conference calling for the re-settlement of Gaza.
In between invitations to join new groups dedicated to settling specific areas of Gaza, and triumphant cries that "the Oslo Accords are dead," what really stood out was the repeated calls for the transfer of the Palestinian population out of the Gaza Strip.
The huge lobby of the ICC was filled with stands replete with banners inviting the masses who turned out for the confab titled, "Conference for the Victory of Israel" to register for settlement groups.
Those interested could choose from an ultra-Orthodox group planning to settle near Rafah and the "New Gaza" group that plans to establish a 'green city' in the Gaza Strip.
Ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Amichai Eliyahu with Likud MK Ariel Kelner and Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
The latter offers a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part in the rebuilding of the Jewish city of Gaza as a green technological city open to all and uniting all sections of Israeli society."
A huge map of Gaza hung on one of the walls with the names of the Katif Bloc settlements that were dismantled during the Gaza disengagement in 2005; alongside them were the names of planned future settlements. One of the organizers said that dozens of families had registered for each of the six groups planning to settle in Gaza.
The head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan enthused the participants. "Repeat after me: 'The Oslo Accords are dead, the People of Israel live," he screamed from the stage.
A sign reading "Returning to the Gaza region and the northern Samaria."Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
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The audience repeated the ecstatic chant three times; among them were ministers, including senior figures and Knesset members from the coalition, including Bezalel Smotrich and Orit Strock (Religious Zionism), Itamar Ben-Gvir, Amichai Eliyahu and Yitzhak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit), Haim Katz, Amichai Chikli, Shlomo Karhi (Likud) and many others.
"There is something about the health, vigor, joy and dedication to the Land of Israel that I see here that has the potential to give us great strength," said Smotrich.
Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi DaganCredit: Olivier Fitoussi
It was indeed an extraordinary event. The thousands who turned up sang and danced with joy and enthusiasm that are rare in Israel these days.
The biggest response came for videos of soldiers in Gaza calling for the Strip to be re-settled, shouting out that "there are no innocents" or photographing themselves with banners for the Katif bloc. The crowd responded to these deafening cries and whistles.
A map of the Gaza Strip with suggested Jewish settlements marked on it displayed during the conference.Credit: Olivier Fitoussi
Itamar Ben Gvir, the head of the Otzma Yehudit party, got a rock-star reception. After dancing enthusiastically with the audience, he took the stage to shouts, whistles and cries of "Death to the terrorists."
In his remarks at the conference, Ben-Gvir called for the execution of terrorists and the encouragement of what he terms 'emigration' for Gazans. "We have already seen and understood that running away brings war and that if we don't want anotherOctober 7, we must return home and control the territory, as well as propose a moral, Torah and halakhic logic – encouraging emigration [for Gazans] and the death penalty for terrorists.
"They must be executed, Nukhba after Nukhba, terrorist after terrorist." Later, he called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying: "It would be a shame to wait another 19 years to understand that we must bring the Katif Bloc and northern Samaria back into our hands. It's time to return home, to return to the Land of Israel, to encourage emigration, the death penalty for terrorists."
Answers as to what the future may hold, in the eyes of the participants, for the two million Palestinians living in Gaza can be found in a booklet distributed by the organizers.
A member of the audience holds a sign that reads "Only transfer will bring peace."Credit: Olivier Fitoussi. [URL]
Attorney Aviad Visoli writes that "Nakba Two, i.e., the mass expulsion of Gaza's Arabs, is fully justified by the laws of war." Rabbi Uzi Sharbaf, the spiritual father of the Gaza settlement movement, explains in the booklet that the mitzva of inheriting the Land of Israel "means conquering the territory of the land according to the borders told to Abraham, as well as the destruction and expulsion of anyone who opposes the rule of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, just as Joshua ben Nun did."
Eliyahu Libman, whose son Elyakim is being held hostage in Gaza, explained, based on Jewish sources, that "even those who cannot be killed must be expelled and disinherited; there are no innocents."
Likud minister Shlomo Karhi clarified that the transfer of the Palestinians of Gaza, in his words "voluntary emigration," is the "only way to exact a heavy price from the Nazis of Hamas and ensure security." Karhi explained "voluntary" as follows: "'Voluntary' is at times a situation you impose [on someone] until they give their consent."
While the conference slogan was "settlement," what it was really about was transfer – this was stated explicitly and repeatedly on stage, in countless forms.
Members of the Israeli settler community gather at the pro-resettlement convention, Jerusalem, January 28.Credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters [URL]
For example, Daniella Weiss, one of the organizers of the conference, left little room for doubt as to her vision: "There are two options on the agenda: Either Gaza will be Jewish and flourishing or it will return to being Arab and murderous," she told the audience.
"Millions of refugees from war move from country to country across the world and only these monsters must remain connected to their land? Should they of all people stay in a region they have turned into hell? October 7 changed history. Gaza, the southern gate, will open wide, the Gazans will pass through it to the rest of the world and the People of Israel will settle Gaza."
Sunday's conference may also be remembered for another landmark: the rightward drift of Israeli ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Alongside the Kahanist ministers and Knesset members from Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit and the Likud, Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf of United Torah Judaism also showed up.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir attends the convention calling for Israel to rebuild settlements in the Gaza Strip and the northern part of the West Bank, in Jerusalem on Sunday.Credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
"I will support correcting a historical injustice and returning to the Katif Bloc and the Gaza Strip," he said on stage to rapturous applause. "The Katif settlements will singe the consciousness of the enemy and increase the security of the people of Israel... If the Israeli government takes such a decision, as Minister of Construction and Housing, I will act to implement that decision and renew our past glory," he promised.
Among those at the conference was Avi Farhan, one of the symbols of the previous settlement in the Gaza Strip. Farhan, 77, was evicted from Yamit in the Sinai Peninsula and then settled in Elei Sinai in northern Gaza.
A man holds an Israeli flag as members of the Israeli settler community gather at a pro-settlement convention in Jerusalem, January 28.Credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters
Ahead of Sunday's event, he reprinted a manifesto he had distributed in 2005 ahead of the disengagement, in which he had called on the government not to withdraw from three settlements in northern Gaza. "We should dig up the foundations of the homes, grind up the concrete and recycle it to build, that will be the quickest and most environmentally friendly way," he said.
Rabbi Uzi Sharbaf however denounced the compromising stance taken by Farhan and others who called to start building in only part of the Strip. "When we talk about the Gaza Strip, we aren't talking about northern Gaza, not about central Gaza and not about southern Gaza, we are talking about all of it. What is Area A, B, C? What is northern Gaza that we might start from? This whole region is one land."
As the evening came to a close, representatives of the settlement groups together with dozens of children and adults went up and danced on the stage hoisting aloft flags and banners. Singer Yonatan Razel sent the crowd into a frenzy: "We are going back to Gush Katif, with God's help, we shall soon sing this song in Gaza." Dozens in the audience joined the dancing. "We have not experienced such joy since Simchat Torah," said Razel. He was referring to October 7.