Israel Finance Minister Smotrich calls for ‘voluntary migration’ of Palestinians from Gaza

Israel’s Finance Minister has advocated for the “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, calling it the “right humanitarian solution” amid revelations of Tel Aviv planning to exile and scatter Gazans throughout the world.

In an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday titled ‘The West Should Welcome Gaza Refugees’, Israeli lawmakers, Danny Danon – the former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations – and Ram Ben-Barak – former deputy director of the intelligence agency, Mossad – recommended that some of Gaza’s besieged Palestinian population be taken in by countries that would accept them.

Following that publication, far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, stated in a Facebook post today that “I welcome the initiative of members of Knesset Ram Ben-Barak and Danny Danon on the voluntary immigration of Gaza Arabs to the countries of the world. This is the right humanitarian solution for the residents of Gaza and the entire region.”

He reasoned that “A cell with a small area like the Gaza Strip, without natural resources and independent sources of livelihood, has no chance to exist independently, economically and politically, in such a high density for a long time.” Smotrich asserted that the “State of Israel will no longer be able to put up with the existence of an independent entity in Gaza”.

READ: Smotrich calls for ban on Palestinians harvesting olives in occupied West Bank

As a result of such a situation, the Minister wrote, the “reception of refugees by the countries of the world that really want their best interests, with the support and generous financial assistance of the international community, and within the state of Israel is the only solution that will bring to the end of the suffering and pain of Jews and Arabs alike.”

Since Israel’s renewed offensive against Gaza and the Palestinian Resistance group, Hamas – consisting of a total siege, the cutting off of all supplies, and the bombardment and invasion of the land strip – the Occupation state has produced policies and plans for implementation after the assault ends.

A leaked document last month showed that a key policy was the exiling of Gaza’s Palestinian population into Egypt’s Sinai desert and then the potential scattering of those new refugees around the world and Western nations, in particular.

In response to the Israeli officials’ latest call for Gazans to be displaced and sent to other countries, Palestinian officials have accused them of supporting ethnic cleansing. According to a post on X by Mustafa Barghouti, the General Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative party, Smotrich “revealed the real policy and intentions of the Israeli government” and that “Netanyahu himself said in the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza that all Gazans must evict their homes. Ethnic cleansing is a war crime and it is done by bombarding an unprotected civilian population.”

READ: Amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza, are we witnessing the fall of Zionism?