Thread by @YehudaShaul

[1] Watch @bezalelsm stating that the Trump administration opens up the opportunity to advance the depopulation of Gaza as a model to adapt the same policy in the WB.

From his speech at a Yesha Council conference last month preparing for the day Trump takes office.

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[2] Smotrich calls for a full re-occupation of Gaza and for the IDF to take over civilian matters in the Gaza Strip.

[3] The Trump administration provides “an opportunity to go one level up and to give this thing a full stamp” i.e. to go beyond steps of De Jure annexation Smotrich has been leading within the ministry of defence.

[4] He attacks those who are trying to downplay the war achievements thus far. “We tore them apart...All the villages in Southern 🇱🇧 were fully destroyed. In Dahiya, we attacked many times more than in the 2nd Lebanon War… it’s 1 to 1k, the proportions of what we took from them”

[5] He continues with the damage 🇮🇱 inflicted on Gaza “now look what is happening in Gaza. One million, 1.5 million uprooted, in tents, water flooding, there is no Gaza.”

[6] “Don’t know if you’ve looked recently at satellite images from Gaza… You destroy everything that moves…You destroy people, weapons, infrastructure, buildings, everything that was part of the war machine”

[7] “I intentionally don’t want to express my opinion about the agreement. I’m critical about quite a few of my colleagues who are unable to hold back for a second, get stressed by the public campaign… [feel they] must say something.”

[8] “no agreement that will be signed..would be worth the paper it’s written on. It’s not interesting at all. What is interesting is that we tore them apart and we will continue to tear them, we will not let them rebuild, and anyone who raises their head will be hammered.”

[9] “We have, thank god, a lot of ability to influence behind closed doors. I think we proved it over the past year… we successfully foiled bad deals, we prevented ending the war and wasting its achievements, and I think we will continue [to do so]”