Smotrich: Gush Katif is 'too small,' good things are about to happen in the Gaza Strip
The government is considering taking steps in the war in Gaza that are supported by its far-right wing, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in an interview during a conference in Yad Binyamin on Tuesday marking 20 years since Israel's disengagement from the territory.
Smotrich's remarks at the conference, called the 'Katif Conference for National Responsibility' and hosted by the Gush Katif Heritage Center, were his first public comments since Prime Minister Benjmain Netanyahu's decision over the weekend to enact daily 'localized humanitarian ceasefires' in the Strip.
Potential upcoming elections
The decision, which was taken without Smotrich's knowledge, led to a crisis between him and Netanyahu. Smotrich's Religious Zionist Party Knesset faction leader, MK Ohad Tal, said to the Post on Monday that without a 'clear, organized work plan backed militarily and diplomatically for victory' in the coming days, the party will 'have no choice and will have to go to an election."
In the on-stage interview, with Shirit Avitan-Cohen (Yisrael Hayom), Smotrich said, 'If, despite everything, I'm still in the government, it's probably because I have good reason to believe that good things are about to happen' in Gaza.
Smotrich did not explain what 'good things' he was referring to, but according to a series of reports on a security consultation held on Monday night, Israel was considering an expansion of military operations in Gaza. During the consultation, Netanyahu also discussed partial annexation of the Gaza Strip as a potential course of action if hostage deal talks fail, an Israeli source confirmed to the Post.
Smotrich, who throughout the war has been a vocal critic of the government's humanitarian aid policies and who threatened in April to resign the government if 'even a grain' of aid reached Hamas, said in the interview, 'Airdropping aid from planes doesn't interest me because it doesn't reach Hamas. The real foolishness is the trucks entering areas under Hamas control—where they can seize them, sell the contents, and preserve the population's dependency,' Smotrich said in the interview.
'This is extremely harmful, and I've had countless assurances it would stop. I stood before the public and pledged that this would no longer happen. I even said I couldn't be part of a government that continues doing this, and I meant every word. I know I've become a target of mockery and ridicule over the last 48 hours in the media and online.'
'If, despite everything, I'm still in the government, it's probably because I have good reason to believe that good things are about to happen—things worth enduring the humiliation, the mockery, and the ridicule. And in the end, time will tell whether I was right or not."
Regarding the resettlement of Israeli Jews in Gaza Smotrich said, 'For twenty years we spoke of this as a wishful aspiration—now it's also a realistic work plan. We didn't pay these prices just to transfer Gaza from one Arab to another. Gaza is an inseparable part of the Land of Israel. I don't want to return to Gush Katif—it's too small. It needs to be much bigger. Today, Gaza enables us to think on a broader scale.'
West Bank policy
The finance minister also commented on the government's policy in the West Bank.
'We are carrying out a revolution in Judea and Samaria. We are applying de facto sovereignty—through construction, regulation, declarations, changing the DNA of the entire system, paving roads—and, with God's help, in this [government's] term, we will also apply formal sovereignty in Judea and Samaria,' Smotrich said.
Smotrich convened his party for a closed-door meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss the developments in Gaza and the party's position. The party did not make any statements by press time.
The recently resigned MK Gadi Eisenkot wrote on Facebook in response to Smotrich's comments, 'Bezalel Smotrich speaks the truth to anyone willing to listen. The October 7 cabinet and the minority government continue to act against the aims of the war, against the Israeli and Jewish ethos. By the measure of results, those responsible for the October 7 failure have also led to the total collapse in Gaza. Along with his extremist partners, he prefers to keep abandoning the hostages—all just to survive politically. It is time for decisions and leadership.'
Democrats chairman Yair Golan wrote on X, 'Smotrich dodged combat service, his sons are dodging service, and he's promoting a draft-dodging law—but that doesn't stop him from sending soldiers to their deaths for visions of settlements in Gaza. He pushes for endless war, without bringing back the hostages, at the cost of our children's blood, the erosion of the IDF, and the unravelling of Israeli society.'
For you this is war; for him, it's a time of miracles. Realizing the vision of Smotrich and his partners won't just sacrifice an entire generation—it will destroy the Zionist vision and bring ruin to the State of Israel,' Golan wrote.
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