Capitalizing on the circumstances created by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant to not only prevent Palestinians in the West Bank from going about their daily lives, most notably harvesting the olive crop, which is the primary activity for the majority of residents during this time of year, but also to maintain the restrictions that have been put in place by government decisions. Smotrich advocated, in a letter to the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, for the creation of sterile security zones—zones devoid of any Palestinian inhabitants—around the settlements and the roads leading to them. By calling for this, he sought to obstruct Palestinian citizens from accessing these regions, even if it were only to reach their olive fields. In his letter, he accused the leadership of the central region of Israel of “tolerance” for permitting farmers to harvest the olive-filled fruits of their fields.
Smotrich’s letter exudes an air of extremism and places wagers on the actions of the Israeli army. In his capacity as a minister of settlements in the most extreme far-right Israeli government, he characterizes the army’s extremely limited and narrow tolerance towards Palestinian farmers as insanity and laxity that cannot be sanctioned. In this letter and others, he is advocating that we should learn from the events of “Simchat Torah”, by which he refers to the 7 October Hamas attack on the Gaza Strip. Hence, in addition to his previously mentioned correspondence to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Settlement called on the downsized cabinet last week to thoroughly examine the military preparations in the West Bank for the Palestinian Authority’s “reversal of the situation” scenario, at a time when the Israeli government is deeply embarrassed in front of the US administration about the need to regulate the practices of settlers against the West Bank’s Palestinian population in order to prevent the chaos from spiraling out of control and the events in Gaza from spreading to the West Bank’s cities. From the outset, this kind of unfolding war scenario presented itself as a US red line among many others, which the Israeli government is constantly attempting to skirt or, at best, strike a balance between adhering to US administration requirements and giving in just a little to the right-wing movement that is sweeping the country.
Netanyahu didn’t respond to Smotrich’s request to include his letter on the government’s urgent agenda and has yet to act on Smotrich’s demand for the downsized cabinet. Both Netanyahu and the Minister of Defense are aware that, in practical terms, 160 settlements and nearly twice as many settlement outposts are located on land designated as “security areas,” which the Palestinians are not allowed to approach during hostilities. Thus, the letter and demands from the Settlement Minister aim to define and strengthen what already exists, with a government decree that, should it be issued, will make its way to the Knesset to become a law of the state of Israel. This essentially amounts to throwing gasoline on the flames and will eventually cause direct ignition in the West Bank’s remaining cities and villages. This does not bother Smotrich. He intends to take advantage of the current state of conflict to further the “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinians in Area C and to start carrying out the plan to enlarge the current settlements while giving legitimacy to all outposts.
The Israeli Settlement Minister embodies a substantial political movement, supported by a robust and steadily growing electoral base. He constantly works for this base’s benefit, according to a radical, racist, and religiously mythologized approach. He possesses the instruments of purification and the motivation to strengthen the Jewish state, instruments that he employs against his adversaries. To further legitimize the occupation of over 150 outposts simultaneously, Smotrich employs potent instruments from settlement councils, the most renowned of which are Yossi Dagan, the head of the Regional Council for West Bank Settlements, and Shlomo Ne’eman, the head of the Yesha Settlement Council. His movement and he perceive wartime as a favorable circumstance to surmount the government’s sluggishness in executing the premeditated strategy that was mutually agreed upon during the government’s formation. In pursuit of this objective, they consent to form a coalition with Likud’s prime minister, which would grant him an advantage over his adversaries. This was also one of their principal demands, so it was also necessary to insist that Bezalel Smotrich assume the role of Minister of Settlements so that he could carry on criticizing the government throughout his ministerial tenure, charging it with implementing the “installment mechanism” and preserving portions of the agreements pertaining to Palestinian access to their lands and fields.
The intricate administrative and security protocols that have been in place for decades regarding Palestinian lands—whether those behind the separating wall or, more significantly, those that are close to over 120 settlements in the West Bank—were followed by successive Israeli governments. Reaching these areas would require prior coordination with the Israeli authorities and would typically take several days, at most five days during fruit-planting or harvest seasons. This extreme far-right camp seeks to expedite the annexation and theft of the largest area of Palestinian land under the pretext of security and to bolster this powerful network that now manages the overall activities of the Israeli state, including its government, which comprises influential ministers and powerful Knesset members capable of carrying out many of the details of this plan, most notably Itamar Ben Gvir, Simcha Rotman, Orit Strook, Avi Maoz, Zvi Sukkot, Limor Son Har-Melech, Tally Gotliv, Shlomo Ne’eman, Yossi Dagan, and Bentzi Gopstein.
This is a highly focused and structured network, with members who are deeply connected to one another and who share a deep respect and veneration for individuals like Rabbi Meir Kahane and the radical Baruch Goldstein. Members of this network are pressured to take on roles that allow them to carry out the necessary actions to accomplish the primary, practical goals of this far-right movement’s agenda.
The most notable instance of this was the appointment of Israeli Knesset member Zvi Sukkot as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Affairs of Judea and Samaria, which entails his complete oversight of West Bank settlement affairs. This committee is one of the main committees of the Knesset’s permanent Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Zvi Sukkot is a notable participant in that network. He is regarded as a prominent figure in the Religious Zionist Party, headed by Bezalel Smotrich, and as one of the hardened settlers. In light of his new role and as the committee’s president, he is now in charge of overseeing all government initiatives that typically deal with security concerns in the West Bank, including those pertaining to Palestinian territory and procedures, as well as Israeli army protocols pertaining to all matters concerning settlers.
