Members of the Israeli government—including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich—attended a far-right conference on Sunday calling for the "resettlement" of Gaza and increased Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The conference, at which both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich repeated calls for the removal of Palestinians from Gaza, came days after the International Court of Justice
ordered Israel to "take all measures within its power" to prevent its military from committing genocide in Gaza.
"The colonial meeting in Jerusalem poses a blatant challenge to the International Court of Justice decision, accompanied by public incitement to forcibly displace Palestinians," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry
wrote on social media.
"These are the people who are making policy in Israel, and these are the people who were calling for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza."
Sunday's conference, titled "Conference for the Victory of Israel—Settlement Brings Security: Returning to the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria," was organized by the right-wing Nahala organization, according to Haaretz and Al Jazeera. The group argues for an expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, even though these settlements are illegal under international law, as Reuters explained.
Israel also held settlements in Gaza for 38 years before withdrawing them in 2005. At Sunday's conference, Smotrich said that settlers who had left Gaza as children had returned as soldiers during Israel's ongoing bombardment and invasion of the enclave.
"We knew what that would bring and we tried to prevent it," Smotrich said of the 2005 withdrawal. "Without settlements, there is no security."
Ben Gvir also said that he and others had warned against leaving Gaza.
"If we don't want another October 7, we need to return home and control the land," he said, as Reuters reported further. He also called for Israel to "encourage emigration" of Palestinians out of Gaza.
Both Smotrich and Ben Gvir have made similar statements in the past, with Smotrich saying in December, "What needs to be done in the Gaza Strip is to encourage emigration," as
Al Jazeera reported at the time.
In early January, Ben Gvir said the war presented an "opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza,"
according toThe Times of Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel does not plan to establish permanent settlements in Gaza, as
Al Jazeera reported, but he has also dismissed calls for a Palestinian state at the end of the war, which is the favored policy of the United States, arguing that Israel needs "security control over all territory west of the Jordan River."
A National Security Council spokesperson said the U.S. was "troubled" by Sunday's event, as The Times of Israel reported.
"We have also been clear, consistent, and unequivocal against the forced relocation of Palestinians outside of Gaza," the White House said in a statement. 'This rhetoric is incendiary and irresponsible, and we take the prime minister at his word when he says that Israel does not intend to reoccupy Gaza."
In addition to Smotrich and Ben Gvir, 12 ministers from Netanyahu's Likud party were also present at Sunday's event, as Israel's
Channel 12 News reported.
One, Likud Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, said of calls for voluntary migration out of Gaza that, during a war, "'voluntary' is at times a state you impose [on someone] until they give their consent," as
Haaretz reported.
Conference organizer Daniella Weiss outlined a plan to use starvation to force population transfer in a video from the event posted on social media.
"So we don't give them food. We don't give the Arabs anything. They will have to leave," she said. "The world will accept them."
United Nations workers and doctors warned this month that famine in Gaza imposed by Israel's blockade was already causing children to die of starvation.
Palestinian-American expert and advocate Mariam Barghouti told Al Jazeera, that 15 Knesset members were also present at Sunday's conference, adding that it was "not a joke."
"These are the people who are making policy in Israel, and these are the people who were calling for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, complete ethnic cleansing of the people of Gaza," Barghouti said.
Former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth
pointed out on social media that there was a "consistency problem" among Israel's allies such as the U.S., who continue to fund Israel after ministers call for "a war crime" but cut funds to the United Nations Relief and Public Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) after it fired 12 of its workers over reports from Israel that they were involved in Hamas' October 7 attack.
The October 7 attack killed around 1,100 Israelis and led to the taking of around 240 hostages into Gaza. Israel's subsequent campaign against Gaza has now killed 26,637 people and wounded 65,387, Gaza's Health Ministry
announced on Monday.
