The conference “Return to Settlement in the Gaza Strip and Voluntary Displacement of Palestinians,” which was organized by settlement associations and far-right parties in occupied Jerusalem, carried many messages that unanimously agreed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had become a hostage of the policies and ideology of this right.

The conference, which was held on Sunday, came after the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague and its demand that the occupation government take measures to prevent genocide and avoid targeting Palestinian civilians in the war on Gaza, reflecting the differences and differences in Israeli positions regarding the day after the war, as well as the state of confusion that the Israeli political map is witnessing in The fighting continued.

The conference calls for settlement in all of historic Palestine for Biblical religious motives, and analysts say that it deepened the rift and conflict in Israeli society over the identity of the “Jewish state,” and reversed the state of polarization between the religious and secular currents, the intensity of which eased slightly with the outbreak of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle.

Green light

It was estimated that this conference came with a green light from Netanyahu, who delegated some ministers and members of the Knesset from the Likud Party to participate in the conference alongside the alliance of “New Religious Zionism,” “Messianic Nationalism,” and the Settlements Council in the West Bank.

Israeli analyzes suggested that Netanyahu's hidden support for this conference reflects the polarization of the political and partisan scene in Tel Aviv, as well as his submission to the blackmails of religious movements and the extreme right to prevent the disintegration of his government coalition, and the fear of ending his political career and ousting him from the prime minister's chair.

Under the title “The Poisoned Tea Party,” political analyst Amir Bar Shalom wrote an article on the Zaman Yisrael website in which he criticized the conference and the timing of its holding. He said, "The Kahanism celebrated the greatest victory in its history in a frenzied carnival of speeches, songs and dances that the word shame cannot describe."

He added, "The far-right conference comes at a time when tens of thousands of soldiers are risking their lives in the Gaza Strip, while the fate of those who were kidnapped and are being held in Hamas tunnels remains ambiguous, while entire areas of the country have been abandoned by their residents who have become internally displaced, and the economy is in danger."

The political analyst explained that the conference, in which ministers and members of the Knesset from the right and Likud participated, comes after the decision of the Hague Court, as Israel's international standing has become more ambiguous than ever before.

He continued, "At least 26 ministers and representatives of the Knesset spoke, sang, and danced ecstatically at the "Victory Conference," which calls for the renewal of Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, after the deportation of the Palestinians in what has become known to the extreme right as voluntary immigration."

Bar Shalom believes that if the people who danced around the “Golden Calf” in the “Nation Buildings” in Jerusalem are not curbed and pushed to the margins of Israeli society, “they will plunge Israel into an abyss much deeper than the one into which we all fell on October 7.” The first is 2023.”

Madness

In turn, Rabbi Danny Danieli confirmed, in an article on the Walla news website, that the so-called “Conference for Victory and Return to Settlement in Gaza reflects the Messianic tendency that has taken control of power in Israel, and that it amounts to madness and does not express the presence of Jewish associations and organizations only, but rather a coalition.” "Netanyahu's failed and dangerous government."

Daniele, a member of the Executive Committee of the "Rabbis for Human Rights" organization, explained that this conference indicates that the "Jewish people" have not learned lessons from the experiences and what happened to them in the past. He said, "It is as if we have learned nothing from the atrocities that the people of Israel have experienced."

He added that this conference was preceded, in recent weeks, by many statements by numerous Israeli figures who spoke and wrote explicitly about the occupation of the Gaza Strip, the annexation of large parts of its north, the “voluntary” transfer of Palestinians, and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the lands to be occupied and annexed.

He stressed that "all of this is accompanied by extreme vindictive language by the Israelis towards all residents of Gaza without discrimination, and demands from the government not to allow the entry of food and humanitarian aid, and not to end the war without achieving its originally unclear goals."

The holding of this conference at the present time, Rabbi Daniele says, “reflects and expresses well the image and essence of extremist Messianic Israeli Judaism, which has given it a tight grip on the systems and levers of government in Israel, which gives preference to racial Jewish superiority.”

A state of embarrassment

On the political side, Moran Azoulay, political affairs analyst at Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, says that holding the conference amid the fighting in Khan Yunis and other areas in the Gaza Strip caused embarrassment to some Likud leaders and even Netanyahu, the hidden supporter of this trend.

Azoulay pointed out that the state of embarrassment was reflected in the slogans, texts, and statements heard at the conference, which were once the property of right-wing extremists and people marginalized in the Israeli political scene.

“Most of the ruling party ministers who did not attend the right-wing conference felt uncomfortable,” Azoulay says. “But why are they afraid to stand against the conference openly? And why do many Likud members refuse to present their extremist point of view?”

It is likely that the silence in Likud and the timid reservation by Netanyahu regarding the conference and the timing of its holding, and even its contents and slogans, reflects the state of damage caused by the conference, which increases internal discord in Israel, and thus engages in a more divisive policy, and could also result in complex international challenges. .

The political affairs analyst believes that Netanyahu is besieged, and has become a hostage of the Religious Zionist Alliance headed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and the “Jewish Greatness” party headed by Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. It is likely that Netanyahu's biggest challenge has yet to come, and that it will be in exchange for an exchange deal and stopping the war, which threatens his government coalition.

Source: Al Jazeera