As right wing Israeli calls intensify against withdrawing from Gaza in line with President Trump’s proposed plan to halt the war, fascist right wing ministers in the government are facing mounting criticism from hardline settlers. These settlers accuse them of committing a grave political mistake by failing to insist on storming Gaza once again.
Shalom Yerushalmi, political affairs editor at the Zman Israel website, reported that hundreds of right wing activists, including many young families, recently marched in freezing weather toward the Gaza Strip. They attempted to cross the border near Kibbutz Be’eri to plant trees and lay infrastructure for a new settlement. However, they were stopped at the boundary line, with only a small number managing to slip through and plant trees before the army intervened and forced them to withdraw.
Yerushalmi wrote that the settlers returned to their homes late at night. A large group, including residents of the evacuated Kfar Darom settlement which was dismantled in 2005, returned to a trailer compound they had established near Sderot, awaiting another opportunity. Although the event may have appeared celebratory to outside observers, it has in reality deepened the frustration of far right elements who see their plan to flood Gaza with Jewish settlements drifting further out of reach.
He noted that this frustration within settler ranks has led to internal divisions inside the Religious Zionism movement. The individual currently blamed for the failure to re establish settlement activity is its leader and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. He has been sharply criticised by Daniella Weiss, head of the Nahala settlement movement. This criticism coincides with opinion polls conducted by several Israeli media outlets showing Smotrich once again failing to cross the electoral threshold. Settlers interpret this decline as a consequence of his reluctance to push for settlements in Gaza, viewing it as the root cause of his political troubles.
Yerushalmi explained that despite what settlers describe as a historic transformation in the West Bank settlement enterprise under Smotrich’s tenure, he has not secured the minimum support required to surpass the electoral threshold. According to the settlers’ claims, this is because he “abandoned” Gaza and committed what they describe as the sin of the spies. Smotrich has not responded to these harsh accusations, even though he was among the speakers at the “Jewish Gaza” event held in the Knesset in January 2024, attended by thousands, including government ministers and right wing members of parliament.
He affirmed that the Judaization project aimed at occupying Gaza and establishing settlements there is now colliding with a markedly different political reality that prevents settlement construction. Contrary to expectations and despite the influence of the right within the government, no settlement outposts have been established in the Gaza Strip since 7 October 2023. Plans to encourage the so called voluntary migration of Palestinians have also failed to materialise. While the peace plan proposed by former United States President Donald Trump speaks of rebuilding the Strip, it does not include ultimately handing Gaza over to Israel.
The writer concluded that settler frustration continues to grow, particularly as the army currently controls a wide swathe of the Strip up to the so called yellow line. Yet even if they wished to do so, right wing government ministers are unable to renew settlement activity, primarily due to international opposition. From time to time, statements are issued regarding settlement expansion. A month ago, one thousand settler families contacted the government demanding immediate settlement along the northern border of the Strip, particularly on the ruins of the former settlements of Elei Sinai and Nisanit, in addition to Rafah.
