A FUTURE GAZA WITHOUT GAZANS

Israel’s religious right unveils its fantasy plan for the zone after ethnic cleansing

During a rally of thousands demanding a hostage deal and ceasefire last August in Tel Aviv, a protestor holds up a placard with Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir strangling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a yellow ribbon that says: ‘Senior political figures.’ / Photo by Matan Golan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images.

On Tuesday a formal plan for the future of Gaza—as seen by the religious right—was presented to a diverse group of Israeli legislators, rabbis, grieving family members of IDF soldiers lost in combat or in Hamas captivity, and security officials from Gaza. The plan—in English its title is “The Riviera in Gaza—From Vision to Reality”—is a blueprint for a future in Gaza without the Palestinians who now are living and dying there. The meeting was held in the unpretentious second floor Negev Hall in the Knesset in Jerusalem.

At least two journalists from online news organizations that cover the religious right in Israel were invited to attend and publish what they wished. The meeting was headlined by two of Israel’s most outspoken and controversial advocates for the settlement of Israeli citizens in Gaza: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler who has a long history of violent anti-Arab agitation and at least eight convictions for violent anti-Arab activities.

Smotrich told the conference that Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, the new Israeli military chief of staff, assured him in a recent conversation that the northern border of Gaza should be annexed “for security purposes.” Early in his career Zamir served as the military aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He is considered by many on the religious right to be an opportunist, although an increasingly welcome one.