Israel's Education Minister: Calls to Resettle Gaza Are 'Super Legitimate'
Minister Yoav Kisch's only criticism of the divisive pro-settlement Jerusalem conference is its timing; member of minister Gantz's party says the event 'divides Israeli society and increases distrust in the government'
Israel's Education Minister Yoav Kisch, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, told Army Radio on Monday that a Jerusalem conference calling to resettle Gaza was "super legitimate" but criticized the timing of the event, which was held on Sunday night.
Called "Conference for the Victory of Israel – Settlement Brings Security: Returning to the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria," the conference included speeches from many public figures, including Knesset members and ministers from the current coalition government, as well as rabbis, settlement activists, families of soldiers currently fighting in Gaza, and heads of southern councils.
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Minister Gadi Eisenkot from Benny Gantz's party – which joined the Netanyahu government after the October 7 Hamas attack – used stronger words, dubbing the conference "an event that divides Israeli society and increases distrust in the government."
Writing on Facebook, Eisenkot said that the participants in the event "have not learned a thing from the events of the past year about the importance of actions [based on] broad national agreement and solidarity in Israeli society."
Minister Hili Tropper, also from Gantz's party, said "there is something very insensitive about the conference, with dancing and loud music while there is so much pain and sorrow around and while there are 135 hostages in Gaza." According to Tropper, who spoke to Army Radio, "calls for transfer, annexation, settlement, or occupation are irresponsible and harm the war effort."
On Sunday, opposition head Yair Lapid blasted the event, and said the government "reached a new low tonight." Lapid stated that the conference "is a disgrace on behalf of Netanyahu and the party, which was once at the center of the national camp but is now being dragged aimlessly after extremists."