Top Israeli Lawmakers Attend Convention on Jewish Resettlement of Gaza

Facts

• A dozen Israeli cabinet ministers — alongside 15 Members of the Knesset from the coalition government — on Sunday attended a convention in Jerusalem which pledged to re-establish Jewish settlements in Gaza.¹
• Organized by the right-wing Nachala organization, which advocates for the expansion of Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory — deemed a violation of international law by the UN — the convention promoted a reversal of Israel's 2005 disengagement from Gaza. At this time the military, alongside Jewish settlers, withdrew from the Gaza Strip.²
• Those present included National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party. He told the audience it was 'time to return home to Gush Katif' — the name of an Israeli settlement in Gaza that was evacuated as part of the 2005 agreement. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, told the crowd, 'God willing, we will settle and we will be victorious.'³
• Entitled 'Settlements Bring Security,' the convention was attended by upwards of 5K people, reportedly coming in large part from the ultra-nationalist Zionist community. Also present were six top officials from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, though the Israeli leader himself was not there.¹
• Netanyahu said on Saturday that he opposed the resettlement of Gaza and that this was not government policy. He added that government ministers were allowed to express their opinions, but that Israel’s policy on post-war Gaza was to be set by the full security cabinet. No such decision has been reached, he said.³
• The developments come after the International Court of Justice on Friday, after having highlighted a number of public remarks by Israeli officials, ordered Israel to take measures to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza — including taking steps to prosecute those who make comments that incite further acts of violence.⁴

Sources: ¹The Times of Israel (a), ²NBC, ³The Times of Israel (b) and ⁴Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by The Times of Israel. While this far-right event was, admittedly, attended by large parts of the Israeli cabinet, the idea that Israel will once again occupy Gaza and build new settlements in the territory is simply not official government policy. Those who attended the event are entitled to their views, but they are not the views of everyone — including prominent Israeli lawmakers who condemned them.
• Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Al Jazeera. Despite repeat warnings from the White House and the latest ruling from the International Court of Justice, Israel's right-wing ministers continue to tout a vision of the country in which it re-occupies Gaza and builds new Jewish settlements on its territories — even though these settlements are illegal under international law. In what would amount to ethnic cleansing, the conference even displayed a map that proudly depicted all of Gaza as part of the state of Israel.

Predictions