Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for a full-scale war in the occupied West Bank, urging the military to use the tactics employed in Gaza, which has been devastated by the ongoing genocide. Smotrich, known for his inflammatory, racist and dehumanising language against Palestinians, also called for the annexation of southern Lebanon and Gaza’s territories under Israeli control. The minister told Ynet News in an interview published on Sunday that Israel should “go to war” in the occupied territory and repeat what it “did in Gaza”.
His comments come about a month ahead of the general election, which has seen a surge in Israeli and settler violence in the occupied territories, as well as the demonisation of Palestinian citizens of Israel. During the Ynet News interview, Smotrich said that Israel should “do there what we did in Gaza” in response to a question on how Israel should combat the increasing “security tensions” in the occupied West Bank. So what did the minister – who has been sanctioned by a number of Western countries along with his Cabinet colleague Itamar Ben-Gvir – say, and should it be taken seriously or regarded as just election rhetoric?
In his trademark incendiary style, Smotrich said he has “solutions” to the ongoing pogroms in the occupied West Bank. Since Israel launched its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza, it has stepped up its crackdown in the West Bank, arrested thousands—many of them without any formal charges—and looked the other way as settler pogroms continue in the West Bank. The Palestinian Authority governs the West Bank following the Oslo Accords.
Israeli forces have “cleared out” Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and he added: “We need to tell the [Israeli military]: Just as you dismantled Hamas in Gaza, there won’t be terror infrastructure in Judea and Samaria. No terrorists, no weapons, no tunnels”. That’s alarming rhetoric, warned Suhad Bishara, the legal director of Adalah – the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.
Smotrich additionally pushed to annex the territory the Israeli military controls in Gaza, demarcated by the so-called “Yellow Line”, where the Israeli army withdrew to under the first phase of the Gaza “ceasefire”. Israeli military maps indicate the line extends 1.5km and 6.5km (0.9 to 4 miles) inside Gaza from its eastern boundary with Israel and covers roughly 58 percent of the enclave. Since the “ceasefire” took effect, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,408 Palestinians.
At least 74,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since October 2023, according to the enclave’s health ministry, with much of the besieged territory reduced to rubble. Legal scholars and campaigners have dubbed Israel’s military actions in Gaza a genocide. A UN commission of inquiry panel last September said that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
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