'Will Deter Enemy From War': Israel Minister Calls For Lebanon, Gaza Takeover
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the annexation of parts of southern Lebanon and Gaza, while advocating for military action in the West Bank. His comments have drawn sharp criticism from the Palestinian Authority, which views the rhetoric as a call for escalation and displacement.
Why it matters
These statements represent a significant escalation in rhetoric from a high-ranking Israeli official, potentially destabilizing regional peace efforts and intensifying the conflict.
Israel's far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich called Sunday for the annexation of parts of south Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and for Israeli forces to "go to war" against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank."I would like us to annex at least as far as the yellow line in Gaza and as far as the Litani River in Lebanon... because if a war ends along the same lines where it began, what will deter the enemy from going to war again," Smotrich said in a podcast for Israeli news site Ynet.The "yellow line" demarcates the area of Gaza already under Israeli military control after the recent war triggered by Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023."I think we need to go to war in Judea and Samaria, to dismantle the Palestinian Authority that supports terror," he added, using the biblical term for the West Bank.Smotrich is the leader of…
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