Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made statements calling for military action in the occupied West Bank comparable to operations carried out in Gaza. In an interview with Ynet News published on Sunday, Smotrich said Israel should “go to war” in the West Bank and implement measures similar to those used against Hamas in Gaza. He specifically called for dismantling what he characterized as the Palestinian Authority’s terror infrastructure, referencing biblical names for the territory while proposing the elimination of weapons, tunnels, and terrorist presence in the region.
Smotrich’s comments also included calls for territorial annexation beyond the West Bank. He stated he would like to annex territory in Gaza up to the “Yellow Line,” where Israeli forces withdrew during the initial phase of a ceasefire agreement, as well as Lebanese territory up to the Litani River. He framed these annexation proposals as measures to make Israel’s adversaries pay a price following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.
Legal experts and Palestinian officials expressed serious concern about Smotrich’s rhetoric. Suhad Bishara of Adalah, a legal center focused on Arab minority rights, characterized his statements as a public declaration of intent to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity, noting that military operations in Gaza have already resulted in extensive destruction and displacement. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the statements as invitations to escalate aggression and implement annexation and displacement policies.
Smotrich’s remarks came approximately one month before a general election and reflected broader escalations in Israeli and settler violence in occupied territories. His long history of inflammatory statements about Palestinians, coupled with his influential position in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government since 2022, raised questions about whether the comments represented campaign rhetoric or indicative of potential policy direction. Smotrich and Netanyahu have previously opposed two-state solutions and settlement expansion continues as a significant factor in Palestinian statehood disputes.
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