Two Israeli far-right ministers drew rebuke from the U.S. State Department over their remarks regarding the future of Gaza after the war against Hamas comes to an end, in which the officials discussed the voluntary resettling of Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
\u2018The United States rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza. This rhetoric is inflammatory and irresponsible,\u2019 State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on Tuesday. \u2018We have been told repeatedly and consistently by the Government of Israel, including by the Prime Minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately.\u2019<\/p>\n
Smotrich, the current Israeli finance minister, and Ben Gvir, the national security minister, have recently called for Israel to maintain control of the Gaza Strip after the war and for the voluntary \u2013 not forcible \u2013 resettlement of a large portion of the Palestinian population currently living there.<\/p>\n
\u2018We have been clear, consistent, and unequivocal that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land, with Hamas no longer in control of its future and with no terror groups able to threaten Israel,\u2019 Miller\u2019s statement continued. \u2018That is the future we seek, in the interests of Israelis and Palestinians, the surrounding region, and the world.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Smotrich, one of the senior members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s far-right coalition, on Sunday had called on Palestinians to leave Gaza, allowing Israelis to come in and \u2018make the desert bloom.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Let\u2019s think out of the box,\u2019 Smotrich said on Sunday. \u2018If in Gaza there will be 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs and not 2 million, the entire conversation on \u2018the day after\u2019 will look different.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking to members of his Religious Zionism party on Monday, Smotrich doubled down, deeming the \u2018correct solution\u2019 to the Israel-Hamas war is \u2018to encourage the voluntary migration of Gaza\u2019s residents to countries that will agree to take in the refugees,\u2019 the Times of Israel reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Israel will permanently control the territory of the Gaza Strip,\u2019 Smotrich said, adding that Jerusalem cannot allow Gaza to remain a \u2018hothouse of 2 million people who want destroy the State of Israel.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018As long as I am the finance minister, not one shekel will go to the Nazi terrorists in Gaza,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Even amid the backlash from the United States, Smotrich argued Wednesday that 2 million Palestinians living in Gaza \u2018wake up every morning with a desire to destroy the State of Israel and to slaughter, rape and murder Jews,\u2019 according to The Jerusalem Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addressing members of his own far-right Otzma Yehudit Party on Monday, Netanyahu\u2019s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said the Israel-Hamas war presents an \u2018opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Billing such an initiative \u2018a correct, just, moral and humane solution,\u2019 Gvir added, \u2018We cannot withdraw from any territory we are in in the Gaza Strip. Not only do I not rule out Jewish settlement there, I believe it is also an important thing,\u2019 according to the Times of Israel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Condemning Smotrich and Ben Gvir\u2019s comments on a potential Palestinian resettlement, veteran Arab Israeli lawmaker MK Ahmad Tibi equated the ministers\u2019 statements to Nazi calls for \u2018Lebensraum,\u2019 or living space, and claimed that such rhetoric was \u2018inciting genocide.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018A day will come and these two senior ministers in the Israeli government will stand before an international tribunal for war crimes,\u2019 Tibi said, according to the Times of Israel.<\/p>\n\n
Two Israeli far-right ministers drew rebuke from the U.S. State Department over their remarks regarding the future of Gaza after the war against Hamas comes to an end, in which the officials discussed the voluntary resettling of Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip. \u2018The United States rejects recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13572\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}