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Arab World Condemns Netanyahu's Support for 'Expansionist Colonial' Vision of 'Greater Israel'
In supporting the notion of "Greater Israel," the prime minister suggested he supported efforts to expand Israel's borders by conquering large parts of several of its neighboring countries.
Aug 15, 2025
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing condemnation after he endorsed the goal of establishing "Greater Israel."
Many interpreted that as a promise to further expand Israel's borders into other parts of the Arab world.
As the Times of Israel explains:
The term Greater Israel refers to Israel in expanded borders in accordance with biblical or historical descriptions, and has many versions, some of which include parts of today's Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia...
It is still adopted by some far-right figures in Israel who express a desire to annex or eventually control many of those territories.
In an interview Tuesday on Israel's i24 TV network, interviewer Sharon Gal—a former right-wing member of the Knesset—handed Netanyahu an amulet depicting what he said was "the Promised Land."
"This is my vision," said Gal, before asking Netanyahu, "Do you connect to the vision?"
Netanyahu responded, "Very much."
Gal then stressed that the map "is Greater Israel."
"If you ask me, we are here," Netanyahu responded. "You know I often mention my father. My parents' generation had to establish the state. And our generation, my generation, has to guarantee its continued existence. And I see that as a great mission."
Though the pendant itself was not visible onscreen, it was likely the one sold by Gal's company, which the Times of Israel says depicts a "relatively maximalist" map containing territory stretching from the Nile River to the Euphrates—an area encompassing swathes of Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq.
i24 has cut this provocative exchange from the video of the interview on its Hebrew or English language YouTube channels. However, it can still be viewed on i24's Hebrew-language website.
The idea of colonizing other parts of the Arab world according to historic Jewish texts is popular among the far-right portion of Netanyahu's governing coalition.
Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's minister of finance, has said he wants a Jewish State "according to the books of our sages" that will "extend to Damascus," the capital of Syria, and suggested Israel will "slowly" conquer the other side of the Jordan River.
At a conference in March 2023, before Israel's current military assault on the Gaza Strip began, Smotrich spoke at a conference behind a podium depicting a map of "Greater Israel," which encompassed parts of Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this week, Smotrich unveiled a new 3,000-person settlement in the illegally-occupied West Bank known as E1, which he said "buries the idea of a Palestinian state" because "there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize."
Netanyahu has long sought to downplay the idea that Israel has waged the destruction of Gaza or its attacks on Syria and Lebanon with the goal of expansion. Even as his government talks openly of permanently exiling the people of Gaza to make room for Jewish settlers, the prime minister has maintained that his goals are purely defensive.
Mustafa Barghouti—the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative, a liberal party in the West Bank's legislature—said Netanyahu's endorsement of "Greater Israel" means "he is on a mission to violate all international laws, commit crimes against humanity, and annex Palestinian and other Arab countries' territories." The Palestinian Authority likewise said Netanyahu's comments were an expression of Israel's "expansionist colonial policies."
That outrage has echoed across the Arab world.
Saudi Arabia expressed its "complete rejection of the settlement and expansionist ideas." Egypt said the remarks had "implications of provoking instability and reflecting a rejection of the pursuit of peace in the region, as well as an insistence on escalation."
Qatar, which has often tried to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, called the comments "an extension of the occupation's approach based on arrogance, fueling crises, and conflicts."
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What’s So Dangerous About Trump’s Plan for Ethnically Cleansing Gaza?
The risk is less that the U.S. would actually invade and more that Trump’s words would give Israel the green light to push Palestinians out of the West Bank or renew its offensive in Gaza.
Feb 18, 2025
Let’s be clear: The forced displacement of Palestinians is not a new idea. U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest proposal to take “long-term ownership” of Gaza, to “clean out” the “mess,” and to turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East” is just the latest iteration of efforts aimed at ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their homeland.
What makes Trump’s comments dangerous is not the immediate threat of U.S. military intervention in Gaza followed by the expulsion of its 2.2 million residents. The real danger lies elsewhere.
First, Israel may interpret Trump’s words as a green light to push Palestinians out of Gaza or the West Bank. Second, the U.S. could tacitly endorse another Israeli offensive under the guise of fulfilling the president’s wishes. Third, Trump’s remarks suggest his foreign policy on Palestine will remain largely unchanged from his predecessor’s.
Trump’s so-called “humanitarian” ethnic cleansing proposal will similarly go down in history as another failed attempt, particularly as Arab and international solidarity with the steadfast Palestinian people is stronger than it has been in years.
Some Democrats have seized this moment to criticize Arab and Palestinian Americans who voted for Trump or abstained from supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in the last elections. However, the idea of ethnic cleansing was already being floated during the Biden administration.
While then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that “Palestinian civilians... must not be pressed to leave Gaza,” former President Joe Biden created the conditions for displacement through unconditional military support for Israel. This allowed one of the most devastating wars in modern Middle Eastern history to unfold.
Just days into the war, on October 13, 2023, Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned Blinken in Amman against any Israeli attempt to “forcibly displace Palestinians from all Palestinian territories or cause their internal displacement.”
The latter displacement became a reality as most of northern Gaza’s population was crammed into overcrowded refugee encampments in central and southern Gaza, where conditions have been and remain inhumane for over 16 months.
At the same time, another displacement campaign is underway in the West Bank, particularly in its northern regions, accelerating in recent weeks. Thousands of Palestinian families have already been displaced in the Jenin governorate and other areas.
Despite this, the Biden administration has done little to pressure Israel to stop.
Arab concerns over Palestinian expulsion were real from the war’s outset. Almost every Arab leader raised the alarm, often repeatedly.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi addressed the issue multiple times, warning of Israeli efforts—and possibly U.S. involvement—in a “population transfer” scheme.
“What is happening now in Gaza is an attempt to force civilian residents to seek refuge and migrate to Egypt,” Sisi stated, insisting that such an outcome “should not be accepted.”
Fifteen months later, under Trump, he repeated his rejection, vowing that Egypt would not participate in this “act of injustice.”
The Saudi statement was issued almost immediately after Trump doubled down on the idea during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 4. The Saudi foreign ministry went further than rejecting Trump’s “ownership” of Gaza but articulated a political discourse that summarized Riyad’s, in fact, the Arab League’s position on Palestine.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is firm and unwavering,” the statement said, adding that the Kingdom “also reaffirms its unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, land annexation, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land.”
The new U.S. administration, however, seems oblivious to Palestinian history. Given the mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948, no Arab government—let alone the Palestinian leadership—would support another Israeli-U.S. effort to ethnically cleanse millions into neighboring states.
Beyond the immorality of expelling an Indigenous population, history has shown that such actions destabilize the region for generations. The 1948 Nakba, which saw the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, ignited the Arab-Israeli conflict, whose repercussions continue today.
History also teaches us that the Nakba was not an isolated event. Israel has repeatedly attempted ethnic cleansing, starting with its intense attacks on Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza in the early 1950s, and ever since.
The 1967 war, known as the Naksa or “Setback,” led to the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, both internally and externally. In the years that followed, various U.S.-Israeli initiatives throughout the 1970s sought to relocate the Palestinian population to the Sinai desert. However, these efforts failed due to the steadfastness and collective resistance of the people of Gaza.
Trump’s so-called “humanitarian” ethnic cleansing proposal will similarly go down in history as another failed attempt, particularly as Arab and international solidarity with the steadfast Palestinian people is stronger than it has been in years.
The key question now is whether Arabs and other supporters of Palestine worldwide will go beyond merely rejecting such sinister proposals and take the initiative to push for the restoration of the Palestinian homeland. This requires a justice-based international campaign, rooted in international law and driven by the aspirations of the Palestinian people themselves.
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Shock, Awe, and Ethnic Cleansing: Trump's Policy in Gaza
The U.S. president's "suggestion" that Palestinians be moved to Egypt and Jordan seems to be nothing less than a blessing for a new Nakba.
Feb 03, 2025
President Donald Trump’s “shock and awe” assault on virtually every major institution in Washington has been, to a degree, successful. There’s a perverse logic behind his radical cabinet appointments, widespread firings and threats to the federal workforce, and his seemingly scattershot Executive Orders that upset apple-carts up and down the street. Like President George W. Bush’s 2003 “shock and awe” blitz of Baghdad at the start of the Iraq war, Trump’s intent is an overwhelming show of power, hitting on multiple fronts in order to disorient and demoralize his opponents.
While most of Trump’s actions have been focused on the domestic front, and have served their purposes, he upped the ante by throwing in a few foreign policy zingers for good measure. He threatened to take back the Panama Canal, to force Denmark to sell him Greenland, and to annex Canada into the US. As reactions from Panama, Denmark, and Canada have made clear, none of Trump's foreign policy “tests” and challenges have had the same impact or success as his bullying forays into domestic policy.
In yet another quixotic foreign policy venture, Trump threw a bombshell into the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He proposed that before the reconstruction of Gaza could begin it would be necessary to “clean out Gaza.” It’s been reported that in separate conversations with Jordan’s King Abdullah and Egyptian President Sisi, Trump pressed both to accept the bulk of Palestinians from Gaza, with Albania and Indonesia being tapped as backups to resettle others.
If Trump’s goal was to shake things up and provoke a reaction, it flopped. None of the countries mentioned have agreed to participate in this bizarre scheme. And beyond a simple rejection, Palestinians have pretty much ignored Trump’s bait, largely owing to their preoccupation with the emotional return to “their rubble” in Gaza’s north and with fighting off an increasingly aggressive occupation in the West Bank.
Let’s be clear: If phase one of this ceasefire holds and moves on to phases two and three, when reconstruction is supposed to begin, some serious issues must be confronted. For example, there are two million homeless Palestinians and hundreds of thousands of demolished homes and buildings. It is estimated that it will take at least two or three years to remove or repurpose the rubble, and decades to build sufficient housing to accommodate those whose homes have been destroyed.
If one didn’t know Trump, or his allies in Israel, one might think he was making a compassionate appeal to neighbors to shelter the homeless Palestinians until Gaza was ready to receive them. But that assumption doesn’t pass the smell test for several reasons. Trump hasn’t given any indication that he is moved by the suffering of the Palestinians. What he finds more appealing are the prospects of building a resort on Gaza’s shores. At the same time, Netanyahu’s coalition has made it clear that they want to evict the Palestinians from Gaza.
Given this, Trump’s “suggestion” that Palestinians be moved to Egypt and Jordan seems to be more like providing his blessing for a new Nakba. The first Nakba of 1948 saw the forced eviction of 700,000 Palestinians from their homes followed by Israel’s demolition of over 420 Palestinian villages to ensure that they couldn’t return. This second Nakba would reverse the process, with Israel first demolishing entire residential areas in Gaza and then “transferring” 2,000,000 Palestinians out of their country.
If we’ve learned anything in dealing with Netanyahu, his coalition and their enablers in Washington, it’s best never to assume that they won’t do the worst thing possible. Trump may be attempting to transfer his “shock and awe” to the Middle East or innocently floating an idea of transfer to facilitate reconstruction. But more likely he is floating a “trial balloon” for his friend Netanyahu, to test the region’s acceptance of a genocidal transfer plan to “solve” the Palestinian problem.
As I noted, with so much demanding their attention, neither Palestinians nor their supporters across the Arab World have reacted in full fury to Trump’s “suggestion.” Nor has a plan been proposed to address how to clear the rubble and rebuild with two million Palestinians under foot.
For any such relocation and reconstruction plan to be accepted, at least two conditions must be met. Israel must fully withdraw from Gaza, surrendering control of access and egress from the territory. This precondition is imperative so that Palestinians can feel confident that if they leave Gaza, they are guaranteed the right to return. Another problem to be addressed is that some Palestinians returning from the south to the north are having difficulty identifying where their homes once stood. To avoid confusion or conflict, if municipal records no longer exist, an effort must be made to map Gaza, so that Palestinians can establish the location of their residence or business.
Without ironclad assurances of return and a plan to facilitate return to specific locations, efforts at relocation and reconstruction instead of solving a problem will only create deeper ones.
For over a century, Palestinians have been pawns played by Western powers and the Zionist movement. They have been dismembered, dispossessed, and dispersed among the nations. Through it all, their national identity and attachment to their lands has only become stronger. Because of this, they’ve remained a persistent thorn in the side of those who oppress them. It’s time for the US to recognize this reality and instead of compounding Palestinian suffering, we should develop a humane plan to end Israel’s veto over ending the occupation and implementing long-denied Palestinian rights.
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