Miki Zohar, Israel’s culture minister and member of the ruling Likud party, has claimed Gaza belongs to Israel and referred to the Palestinians who live there as “guests” who will one day leave.
Zohar made the comments on Thursday when asked about his decision to cut government funding to an Israeli film award that went to “The Sea,” a move that depicts a Palestinian boy from the Israeli-occupied West Bank being denied an entry permit to visit the beach in Israel.
When pressed about why he opposed a movie that depicts the reality of the Israeli occupation, Zohar denied there was an occupation at all and claimed Israel had the right to Gaza and the West Bank, which he referred to as Judea and Samaria.
“Judea and Samaria are ours,” Zohar said. “Gaza is also ours. We’re just letting them stay there as guests until a certain point, but Gaza is ours.”
Other Israeli officials have expressed similar sentiments after Israel and Hamas signed a US-backed Gaza ceasefire deal, which the IDF continues to violate by launching attacks against Palestinians and conducting daily military operations.
Just a few days after the US-backed deal was signed, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed there “will be Jewish settlements” in Gaza. “So, we have patience, but we have determination, and faith, and with God’s help, we will continue the series of victories, and the big miracles,” he said.
More recently, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Israeli occupation of Gaza will be permanent and suggested Israel will establish a type of settlement that is established by IDF soldiers.
“We are deep inside Gaza and will never leave all of Gaza – that will not happen. We are here to defend and to prevent what happened,” Katz said last month. “With God’s help, when the time comes, also in northern Gaza, we will establish Nahal pioneer groups in place of the settlements that were evacuated.”
