Promises: The belief that Palestine is Israel’s by some sort of divine right has been the stated justification for actions by politicians like self-described “fascist homophobe” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, right-wing provocateur and former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and settler movements such as Nachala, which organised a conference in January last year to discuss colonising Gaza.
The ceasefire agreement, which meant Israel would have to stop bombing Gaza, disappointed the extreme right who seemed to want the assault to continue until Israel could claim the entire enclave.
In the build-up to the signing of the deal on January 17 both Smotrich and Ben-Gvir threatened to resign from the government in objection to its conditions.
Only Ben-Gvir quit, but he left behind his Otzma Yehudit party in the governing coalition, making his move seem performative to many observers.
Smotrich was “persuaded” to remain in return for assurances from Netanyahu that he, 1. had no intention of honouring the deal signed with Hamas 2. and would resume the war once the first stage had been completed.
