Netanyahu's map shows Israel 'from the river to the sea.' It's no accident

During Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's 'Philadelphi' speech, there was another message that few noticed, though it was not at all hidden

Dahlia Scheindlin 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands before a map, as seen in a screenshot taken from a video posted on Wednesday by the official X account of the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the airwaves this week to justify his decision to avoid a hostage release and cease-fire deal. In two press conferences in Hebrew and in English, Netanyahu made his most recent case for rejecting an agreement, which cost the lives of six precious hostages.

Israeli analysts quickly dubbed the first appearance Netanyahu's "Philadelphi" speech, since it was focused on what he deemed Israel's existential security need: to control the Gaza-Sinai line. But there was another message that few noticed, though it was not at all hidden.

During the speech, he displayed a large, weirdly empty map of Gaza and Israel, with pictograms of rockets symbolizing how they were smuggled from Philadelphi over the years. Netanyahu loves these splashy, dumbed-down props, but one would have to be very dumb not to notice that on his map of Israel there was no Palestine at all. The word "Israel" stretched from the river to the sea, and Netanyahu even used this phrase in his geography lesson.

The Israeli press corps found it unremarkable. But in the foreign press event, a reporter for Sky News asked about the map. Netanyahu's answer – a word salad including the International Criminal Court, Palestinians wishing to push Israel into the sea, a great democracy fighting a just war and Israel being pilloried – was too convoluted to reproduce. Netanyahu kindly offered to hold a separate press conference to discuss the issue and practically spit out verbal quotation marks around the phrase "the West Bank."

There is nothing new about Israel erasing Palestine. The historian Adam Raz found archives showing that within six months of the 1967 war, the Israeli government, led by Labor, began discussing dropping the Green Line in official publications, and subsequently did so. The line was also deleted from public school textbooks and maps.

Once in a while, Israeli officials try to introduce the Green Line into school maps or textbooks, such as in 2006 under Labor's Minister of Education Yuli Tamir, or the Tel Aviv municipality in 2022; the effort is instantly traduced and usually fails.

But a few things are new. For one, after October 7, the Land of Israel map has become "Land of Israel except Gaza" map. Israelis seem to be acknowledging that Gaza is unwanted in their lives. The popular Jewish-history satire show "The Jews are Coming" recently spoofed Menachem Begin and Egypt's Anwar Sadat signing the peace treaty in 1979, while each tried to foist Gaza onto the other.

But don't be fooled. The public "please, take Gaza" attitude directly contradicts the policy of current coalition members who wish to conquer, annex and settle Gaza. Netanyahu did not instruct the IDF to prepare to take over humanitarian aid distribution out of good will towards Gazans.

Another new aspect is the astonishing hypocrisy in the global conversation about Israel. How many of the alarming reports about rising antisemitism on campuses are related to the chant "From the river to the sea"?

These six words have spawned a cottage industry of Jewish victimhood, viewed as indisputable proof that implacable enemies wish to erase Israel from the map. But given Israel's own decades-old erasure, the entire accusation is a fraudulent distraction. I keep a whole folder full of photos of river-to-sea maps of Israel from daily life; they're so normal most Israelis don't notice them.

Finally, there is reality on the ground. Each side can dream of the whole land, but only Israel has the power to make that vision come true. For decades, Israel advanced annexation through settlements, control, law and bureaucracy over the West Bank.

But as of last week, Israel's war on the West Bank has taken a turn. Operation "Summer Camps" has become a massive military operation in Palestinian cities and refugee camps, the biggest in over 20 years. Anguish over the hostages has kept attention muted, and Netanyahu's Philadelphi fixation conveniently maintained the distraction.

No one should minimize the threat emerging from West Bank militias, including a return to the depraved practice of suicide attacks, or other bombing attacks, against civilians. But decades of annexation, crowned by the transfer of military authorities to a civilian Israeli minister (Bezalel Smotrich), starving the Palestinian Authority of its budget and letting its water dry up all fuel chaos and violence. If these erupt further, Israel's government will move to raze and possess the West Bank for good. Now is the time to recognize the C-word – context – before it explodes in everyone's face.