Smotrich: Israel Won’t Leave Gaza, “Not Even in Exchange for Hostages”

The truth we’ve long known is even more glaring now… in our faces horror in real time. Discussion about hostages was always a ruse, a deadly distraction. The goal has always been the total annihilation of the Palestinian people. The goal has always been genocide, a genocide that has only been made possible with the full support and funding of the American government. Insanity. Infuriating. Heartbreaking! This madness must be stopped! — Molly

Israeli Minister of finance and leader of National Zionism, Bezalel Smotrich, speaks to the press during a party meeting on February 5, 2024, in Jerusalem. Amir Levy / Getty Images

Israel’s Security Council approved a plan this week to indefinitely occupy and destroy what’s left of Gaza.

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Sharon Zhang , 

Truthout

A top Israeli minister has vowed that Israel’s military will “conquer” Gaza and flatten everything that’s left, regardless of whether or not that plan endangers the lives of the remaining Israeli captives being held in the Strip — undercutting Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and the media’s narrative about Israel pushing for a deal.

On Sunday, Netanyahu’s security cabinet approved a plan for Israel to occupy Gaza indefinitely and flatten whatever is left standing, cordoning millions of Palestinians to a “humanitarian area” or forcibly expelling them from the Strip.

In a video announcing the plan, Netanyahu said that Israel will wait to implement the plan until after President Donald Trump’s Middle East visit next week, during which Trump is not expected to visit Israel. He and Israel’s top military spokesperson said that their primary goal is to secure the return of Israeli captives.

“One thing will be clear: there will be no in-and-out,” Netanyahu said. “If no hostage deal is reached [by Trump’s visit], Operation Gideon’s Chariots will begin with full force and will not stop until all its objectives are achieved.”

But Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is part of the security cabinet, said on Monday that the supposed contingency for a hostage deal doesn’t exist, and that Israel’s intention is to occupy Gaza no matter the consequences for the people Israel has claimed it’s waging the genocide to save.

“We are finally going to occupy the Gaza Strip. We will stop being afraid of the word ‘occupation,’” Smotrich said during a far right Israeli newspaper conference, per The Times of Israel.

He added that there will be “no retreat from the territories we have conquered, not even in exchange for hostages,” and said that Israel would discuss “sovereignty” after occupation is achieved.

This is in line with what many analysts and experts have said are Israel’s true intentions in Gaza, citing Israel’s infrastructural changes in the Strip, the military’s destruction of Rafah, or Israeli leaders’ own words and actions throughout the genocide.

“War Criminal Netanyahu has announced a plan to forcibly expel and ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian population, flatten, and annex Gaza. This comes after 64 days of blocking food and aid. This was always their plan,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) on Monday. “The U.S. is an accomplice in this genocide.”

Israeli ministers have previously bragged about sabotaging ceasefire deals, even as American and Israeli officials have claimed that the remaining captives are the only reason they’re continuing their assault on Gaza. In reality, Israeli officials are trying to eliminate Palestinians from Gaza, as well as, seemingly, the entire concept of Gaza itself, as Smotrich said recently.

“We have promised the Israeli people that at the end of the war, Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel,” Smotrich said in a radio interview late last month. “We need to eliminate the problem of Gaza.”

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