This post was originally published on Truthout.org under a Creative Commons 4.0 license.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he feels “very” attached to the extremist vision of “Greater Israel,” a plan for the conquest of not just historic Palestine but also parts of Egypt, Jordan, and potentially other countries.
In an interview with Israeli outlet i24 on Tuesday, Netanyahu said in Hebrew that he is on a “historic and spiritual” mission, per translations by Times of Israel and Middle East Eye.
The interviewer gives Netanyahu an amulet, which is not visible on screen, that he says depicts “Greater Israel” and a “map of the promised land.” When he asks if the prime minister agrees with the vision of Israel, Netanyahu says, “very much.”
“Greater Israel” refers to an Israeli vision, pushed by ultra-nationalists, of conquering Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as the Sinai Peninsula, Syria’s Golan Heights, and Jordan. Some versions of “Greater Israel” also refer to Lebanon, other parts of Syria and Egypt, and even parts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key coalition partner for the prime minister, has previously pushed the idea of a “Greater Israel.” Last year, Smotrich said in an interview for a documentary that he believes that Israel must expand to encompass Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. “The future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus,” he reportedly said, per Middle East Eye.
Smotrich also pushed this ideology prior to October 7, 2023. In a speech in Paris in March of 2023, he displayed a map of “Greater Israel” that had Palestine within its borders, while saying, “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.”
Palestinians raised alarm over Netanyahu’s comments, saying that they are an escalation of rhetoric at a time when Israel is rapidly advancing annexation plans for Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“Netanyahu said that he is on a historical and spiritual mission to build ‘Greater Israel.’ Which means he is on a mission to violate all international laws, commit crimes against humanity and annex Palestinian and other Arab countries territories,” said Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti.
The general secretariat of the Arab League condemned Netanyahu’s “Greater Israel” comments, considering them to be “a violation of the sovereignty of Arab states and an attempt to undermine security and stability in the region,” per Wafa.
Netanyahu and Israeli officials have made clear their intention of annexing and taking over all of what remains of historic Palestine. Netanyahu has previously shown maps at the UN and in presentations that show the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza entirely absorbed into Israel.
He has also reiterated his intentionto carry out a plan to totally take over Gaza and forcibly expel Palestinians from the Strip. His cabinet’s Gaza City invasion proposal is seemingly aimed at moving into the final stages of that plan, with Netanyahu mobilizing his government behind it.
