EASTORA REPORT | Itamar Ben-Gvir is making his closing argument before Israel’s election in unusually explicit terms: Israel should take all of Gaza, Palestinians should be encouraged to leave, and countries such as France and Britain should take them in.
“If you ask me what should be done in Gaza, we should conquer the entire territory. All of it,” the national security minister told The Jerusalem Post. “It is our land, the Jewish people’s land.”
Ben-Gvir said Israel should then encourage Palestinians in Gaza to emigrate, describing Donald Trump’s earlier relocation proposal as “a very good plan.” Asked where they should go, he pointed directly to Europe.
“Why not send them to France, for example?” he said, before also mentioning Britain and London as places where Gazans could receive better living conditions.
The proposal goes beyond Ben-Gvir’s long-standing rejection of Palestinian statehood. He is arguing that Israel should permanently change both the territorial and demographic reality of Gaza after the war, while insisting that departure would be voluntary.
Ben-Gvir tied that position to his broader case against Hamas. He asked why Israel should accept an armed organization on its border that openly seeks to kill Israelis, arguing that no other government would tolerate the same threat.
The interview also showed how far he intends to push those positions inside the next government. His Otzma Yehudit party is projected to remain a significant force in the Knesset, and Ben-Gvir has already said he will demand the defense portfolio after the election.
That would give one of the loudest advocates of conquering Gaza, encouraging Palestinian emigration and expanding Israeli control a direct claim on the ministry responsible for carrying out the country’s wars.
Ben-Gvir is not presenting those ideas as pressure on the next government.
He is asking voters to give him the power to implement them.