Israel: ministers and MKs incite killing of Palestinians and re-settlement of Gaza

There has been an increase in racist incitement against Palestinians on social media sites by senior officials in the Israeli occupation government and parliament, Wafa has reported. They call explicitly for murder and the re-settlement of the Gaza Strip.

Such incitement includes the attack by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich against the Palestinian Authority on X. “Sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, strengthening settlements, and legalising new settlements in Evyatar, Givat Assaf, Sde Efraim, Heletz, and Adorayim,” wrote Smotrich. “These are steps that protect the State of Israel and convey a clear message — we will never establish a terrorist state in the Land of Israel.”

He also incited against the PA’s political plan for recognition of the State of Palestine, saying: “The actions against the State of Israel and in favour of unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state received an appropriate Zionist answer! We will continue to develop settlements in order to maintain Israel’s security and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger our existence.”

One of the most public incitements to kill Palestinians was made by the extremist Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir. He appeared in a video posted on Instagram, in which he called for the execution of Palestinian detainees in prisons, by shooting them in the head.

The leader of the National Unity Party, Benny Gantz, a so-called centrist, announced his rejection of the release of prisoners from the Gaza Strip held in Israeli prisons. “To release 120 Gazan terrorists from prison while 120 hostages are in Gaza is an operational mistake, and a moral problem,” he wrote on X.

In this context, Israeli MK Limor Son Har-Melech of the Jewish Power party, also incited on X for settlements in the areas surrounding the Gaza Strip and described it as a “realistic concept.”

Religious Zionist Party MK Zvi Sukkot, meanwhile, called for Israel to send the Canadian ambassador home, noting that a country that chose, in the midst of the war, to impose sanctions on a legitimate organisation (Amana) is not worthy of diplomatic relations with Israel.

READ: Germany condemns Israeli MK’s call to shoot Palestinian prisoners in the head