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.
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which → call → 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.
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Smotrich → know → control
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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”.
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it → criticise → 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.
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which → come → 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.
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Israel → say → 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?
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it → sanction → rhetoric
What did Smotrich say about the occupied West Bank?
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Smotrich → say → Bank
In his trademark incendiary style, Smotrich said he has “solutions” to the ongoing pogroms in the occupied West Bank.
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he → say → 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.
“
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pogroms → launch → Bank
I think we need to go to war in Judea and Samaria, to do there what we did in Gaza, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, which is a terror authority,” he told Ynet News, referring to the biblical name for the West Bank.
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he → think → Bank
The Palestinian Authority governs the West Bank following the Oslo Accords.
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Authority → govern → 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.
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you → clear → Judea
That’s alarming rhetoric, warned Suhad Bishara, the legal director of Adalah – the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.
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Bishara → ’ → Israel
“Smotrich is not only proposing a ‘war’ on Palestinians in the West Bank, he is already waging one,” Bishara told Al Jazeera.
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Bishara → propose → Jazeera
“The refugee camps he boasts of having ‘cleared out’ have been destroyed and their residents forcibly displaced.”
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residents → boast → ?
“His call to ‘do there what we did in Gaza,’ where Israel has carried out a genocidal campaign of mass killing, starvation and destruction, is a public declaration of intent to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against Palestinians in the West Bank,” she said.
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she → do → Bank
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”.
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army → push → 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.
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line → indicate → enclave
Since the “ceasefire” took effect, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,408 Palestinians.
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attacks → take → 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.
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much → kill → rubble
Legal scholars and campaigners have dubbed Israel’s military actions in Gaza a genocide.
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scholars → dub → Gaza
A UN commission of inquiry panel last September said that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
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Israel → say → Gaza
The leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party also called for annexing southern Lebanon.
“I would very much like to annex at least up to the “Yellow Line” in Gaza and up to the Litani [River] in Lebanon,” said Smotrich.
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Smotrich → call → Lebanon
He added that annexing parts of Gaza and Lebanon would make Israel’s enemies “pay a price” for the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
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enemies → add → October
Israel continues to occupy southern Lebanon and Israeli shelling and demolitions have also continued there, despite a US-brokered “ceasefire” in June.
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shelling → continue → June
Smotrich’s call to annex the West Bank, parts of Gaza and southern Lebanon is a “declared plan to seize occupied land by force and make its theft permanent, which is absolutely prohibited under international law,” said Bishara.
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Bishara → annex → law
Last week, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, demanded a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory up to its internationally recognised border.
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Minister → speak → border
Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon have killed at least 4,386 people and wounded 12,407 since March 2, when the current Hezbollah-Israel war started.
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war → kill → March
Since then, Israeli forces have occupied up to 600sq km of Lebanese territory up to the Litani River.
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forces → occupy → River
How have Palestinian authorities responded?
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authorities → respond → ?
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Israeli politician’s comments are an “explicit invitation to escalate the aggression and commit more crimes against our Palestinian people”.
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comments → say → people
They “reveal the truth of the Israeli plans aimed at implementing attempts at annexation and displacement”, the ministry said in a statement, adding that it would undermine the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state.
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it → reveal → state
The threats are a translation of the policies pursued by the Israeli government “of killing, displacement, settlement, and land confiscation and an attempt to impose a new reality by force on the occupied Palestinian land”, it also said.
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it → pursue → land
The ministry urged the international community to take action against Israel’s “aggression”.
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ministry → urge → aggression
Has Smotrich made similar comments in the past?
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Smotrich → make → past
The far-right leader has a long history of inflammatory statements about Palestinians, followed by policies and actions reflecting his hardline positions as a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government since 2022.
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leader → have → 2022
He has previously called on Israel to annex more than 80 percent of the West Bank.
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He → call → Bank
Smotrich along with Netanyahu has publicly opposed the so-called two-state solution.
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Smotrich → oppose → solution
Settlement expansion is the biggest hurdle in the realisation of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.
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expansion → live → Israel
In July, Smotrich said Israel has launched a “revolution in settlement” expansion, after the Israeli cabinet approved the establishment of 13 new illegal settlements in the central occupied West Bank.
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cabinet → say → Bank
…and 17 more, not listed.
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