Netanyahu said Israel won't resettle Gaza. His own ministers tell a different story

Rachel Fink

It might have been possible to dismiss the 'Preparing to Resettle Gaza' conference as the collective rantings of a fringe group of extremists with no actual power to affect policy, were it not for one thing: the lineup of speakers

Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir dancing at the conference calling for Jewish resettlement of the Gaza Strip, near the Israeli-Gaza border, southern Israel, on Monday.

On Monday morning, hundreds of settlement-supporting Israelis, many with their gaggle of young children in tow, headed down to the southern border for a special Sukkot-themed celebration. Over two days, they gathered in temporary huts to discuss permanent resettlement. Of the Gaza Strip, that is. "Every single sliver of it," as one speaker declared.

Hers was just one of a slew of comments jockeying for the title of most incendiary statement made during the event. "We will sun ourselves on the sandy beaches of the Gazan coastline," another contender proclaimed. Conference organizer Daniella Weiss has bigger plans. "We know from the Bible that the real borders of Greater Israel are the Euphrates and the Nile," she said to the audience, who cheered enthusiastically. "And the sooner we make this a reality, the better."

The "from the river to the sea" crowd has nothing on Weiss, who vowed to make her messianic dreams come true within the next year. "You will see," she told a group of slightly bewildered foreign journalists. "Jews will go into Gaza and Arabs will disappear from Gaza."

It might have been possible to dismiss the entire event as just the collective rantings of a fringe group of extremists with no actual power to affect policy, were it not for one thing: the lineup of speakers. Because, one by one, some of Israel's most prominent politicians made their way to the stage to express support for resettlement.

"We have to speak to them in the only language they understand," said Likud MK Tally Gotliv, "Taking their land away from them."

"We will hit them where it hurts," her fellow party member May Golan threatened. "Anyone who uses their plot of land to plan another Holocaust will receive from us, with God's help, another Nakba that they will tell their children and their grandchildren about for the next 50 years."

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. Negev and Galilee Development Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf. Religious Zionism MK Tzvi Succot. For hours, they mingled and danced and discussed. They posed for photos with adoring fans and gave press interviews to anyone who asked (except Haaretz). And they made their position quite clear – Make Gaza Jewish Again.

Their boss, it would seem, is inclined to disagree. Netanyahu has regularly rejected the idea of permanently occupying Gaza, calling it "off the table" and "unrealistic" in various interviews and speeches. Gotliv was asked about this discrepancy by a reporter at the conference, to which she replied, "The prime minister is very clear about the need for security. And settlement equals security. Period." Weiss fielded the "unrealistic" claim. "Oh, how I love that word," she exclaimed. "It's like a sweet treat for my ears. Because that's exactly what they told me about settling Judea and Samaria. So when they tell me settling in Gaza is unrealistic, I know it can be done."

It's possible the prime minister is telling the truth when he says he won't allow resettlement in Gaza and that Israel has no plans to displace its civilian population, but it is awfully hard to hear him over the din of voices – all coming from inside his own coalition – who are declaring the very opposite to be true. Perhaps he should speak a little