Minister: Israel should not be afraid to ‘liberate Gaza and settle it’

“We are conquering the Land of Israel,” finance minister said. “We are liberating Gaza. We are settling Gaza. We are defeating the enemy.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told the crowd at a rally at the Western Wall on Monday marking Jerusalem Day, the anniversary of the reunification of the Israeli capital during the 1967 Six-Day War, that Israel should not be afraid of the word “occupation.”

Smotrich, the head of the Religious Zionist party, has vocally supported re-settling Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip. He told the crowd that Israel must now “liberate” the area.

In 2005, Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip, dismantling 21 Jewish communities. In 2007, Hamas forcibly took over the Strip from the Palestinian Authority.

“We are liberating Gaza – and settling it,” Smotrich said.

“Some people are afraid of victory,” he added. “We are not afraid of victory. Let’s give strength to our brave and heroic fighters.”

“Are we afraid of victory?” he asked. The crowd responded, “No!”

“Are we afraid of the word ‘occupation’?”

“No!” the crowd shouted back.

“We are conquering the Land of Israel,” Smotrich declared. “We are liberating Gaza. We are settling Gaza. We are defeating the enemy.”

Smotrich’s remarks were greeted with outrage from opposition ministers, who said they could give the international community the wrong impression about Israel’s motives for waging war against Hamas in response to the October 7, 2023, massacre.

When the IDF renewed operations in Gaza after a temporary truce and hostage-prisoner exchange, Smotrich said the military was not fighting hard enough.

He added that Netanyahu has “no right” to continue governing if he does not intend to “conquer” the enclave.

“I said unequivocally that we would return to fighting in a completely different way: aiming to subdue, to defeat, to destroy Hamas, to conquer the Gaza Strip and impose military rule on it, to take territory and signal internally and externally that anyone who messes with us is demolished,” Smotrich said in an interview last month with Israel’s Channel 14 TV.

“But unfortunately, this isn’t what is happening,” he said. “I think it’s time to charge at Gaza. If that doesn’t happen, this government has no justification for its existence.”