At a recent meeting of the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus on Sunday led by MKs Yuli Edelstein (Likud), Simcha Rothman (Religious Zionist Party) and Limor Son-Harmelech (Otzma Yehudit), MKs discussed the subject of “The New Middle-East: The Plan for Voluntary Emigration from Gaza.” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the Israeli government is already working to establish a “migration administration” that will oversee the exodus of Palestinian residents from Gaza.
Smotrich recently returned from the US, where he met with Trump administration officials to discuss finding countries that will take in the Gazans who choose to emigrate.
“This plan is taking shape, with ongoing actions in coordination with the administration… It involves identifying key countries, understanding their interests — both with the US and with us — and fostering cooperation,” Smotrich said.
He explained that given the attitude of the Gazans toward Israel, there is no choice.
“There is an abysmal and deep hatred of Israel, and [US] government officials told me that two million people with hatred of Israel can’t be left a spitting distance from our fence,” he explained.
Smotrich estimated that at least 1.8 million of the 2.1 million people in Gaza want to emigrate. While this sounds daunting, he explained that it is feasible.
“If we take out 5,000 a day it will take a year,” Smotrich estimated. “The logistics are complicated because we need to know who is going to which country.”
MK Ohad Tal told Israel365 News that President Trump’s vision of rebuilding Gaza was a novel approach that could be the only path forward that offered any hope of success.
“Trump’s plan for the relocation of the Gazans reflects a fresh, practical, out-of-the-box solution for the problem,” Tal told Israel365 News. “After every war in Gaza, the world has always done the same thing: pushed Israel for more concessions, and poured many millions of dollars and euros into the “rebuilding” of Gaza. The money was used to rebuild terror infrastructure, acquire weapons and rockets, and line the pockets of Hamas leaders, allowing the terror organizations to regroup before their next attack on Israel.”
“However, President Trump is saying – no more! Hamas launched the most horrific attack on October 7th, murdering the highest number of Jews in one day since the Holocaust, and there are consequences for that.”
Tal said that the US and Israel could be allies in Trump’s plan.
“Israel fully embraces the Trump plan and is working hard behind the scenes to make it turn into reality,” he added.
At the Caucus meeting, support for Trump’s plan was unanimous. Settlements and National Projects Minister Orit Strock, a member of Smotrich’s far-right Religious Zionism party, expressed her belief that even if Hamas is defeated, there is no way to cope with the security threat from Gaza “except through a voluntary migration plan.”
“There is no way, even if we defeat Hamas as a civil and military government, as long as we do not allow the majority of the population to emigrate, we will not remove the threat. They know no other way than to think of destroying us,” she said.
“This is our direction, I say this as a member of the government and as a member of the cabinet – the government will take responsibility,” Strok said.
MK Simcha Rotman explained that any plan that does not include emigration actually helps Hamas.
“When someone prevents Gazans from seeking their future elsewhere, they are not only not caring for them, but they are also collaborating with Hamas’s military plan. They are holding Gaza’s children and using them as human shields for rockets, tunnels, and Hamas terrorists. Therefore, anyone who does not allow Gazans to leave Gaza is working exactly according to Yahya Sinwar’s plan,” Rothman said
MK Yuli Edelstein pointed at the failed policies of the past that he blamed for the current conflict.
“Those who thought the Oslo Accords would bring us a new Middle East and those who later thought the disengagement, the expulsion from Gaza and Gush Katif, would bring us peace and tranquillity – were destined for failure. The main change is not outside, the main change is here, within us. There is a profound change here, within us, in the State of Israel,” Edelstein said.
