Khaberni - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that Israel needs "broader and defensible borders" in Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria, considering that Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are part of what he called the "Iranian axis of evil".
Smotrich explained to the Jerusalem Post that the 1967 lines are "indefensible borders," because they do not take into account the geographical and security terrain, according to him.
Smotrich claimed that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank are "part of the Iranian axis of evil," considering that criticisms related to settler violence are merely "misleading campaigns".
Smotrich -who has been internationally condemned for his statements advocating the annexation of the West Bank- added that "settlers are among the least violent peoples," pointing out that all actions taken in the West Bank were coordinated with the American side.
The Israeli Finance Minister mentioned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, affirming that Israel continues its settlement activity "with full support and coordination" with the US administration.
He clarified that although President Donald Trump has not yet endorsed the application of Israeli sovereignty over the entire West Bank territories, the Israeli government hopes to achieve this in the future, according to him.
Last Sunday Smotrich renewed his call for the complete reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and the establishment of settlements there, during his participation -with ministers and officials including Defense Minister Yisrael Katz– in the reopening of a settlement in the northern West Bank that had been evacuated in 2005.
These statements come amid escalating settlement policies driven by the Netanyahu government since it assumed office in December 2022, intensifying its activities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, both classified by the United Nations as occupied territories.
According to official data, about 750,000 settlers live in hundreds of settlements in the West Bank, including approximately 250,000 in East Jerusalem.
Human rights reports indicate systematic daily assaults by settlers aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians and altering the demographic and geographic reality of the region.
Since the outbreak of the war of annihilation on Gaza in October 2023, the West Bank has witnessed an escalation in operations by the occupying army and settlers, resulting in the martyrdom of at least 1150 Palestinians, and injuring about 11,750 others, in addition to the arrest of nearly 22,000 Palestinians.
