Netanyahu’s Gaza war complements Zionist settler expansion: report

An academy under Türkiye's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) has published an in-depth report on Israel's war on Gaza, revealing that the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “openly engaged in genocide” in a desperate bid to retain political support.

The report titled "The Radical Right in Israel" states that some of the most important groups influencing Israel's political and military decisions after October 7 are the “fanatical, violent, far-right groups” in the country.

These groups are fervently pushing for the ongoing occupation and genocidal bombing of Gaza, the expulsion of its Palestinian residents, and the illegal settlement of the land.

‘Openly engaged in genocide’

But not everything is working out in Netanyahu’s favour.

A disagreement between the Israeli army and the far-right coalition members has reached a new level, with the military planning “a bloody but relatively more controlled occupation process,” contrary to Netanyahu’s open engagement in genocidal war.

The report highlights that this situation intensifies the rift between high-ranking military officials, eager to see Netanyahu removed from power, and the current government, which is dominated by the far-right.

"Former military members who saw Netanyahu, whom they almost viewed as a Trojan horse for the radical right, regaining his political power, realised that towards the end of the sixth month of the war, Netanyahu was actually extending the war and committing violent massacres to compensate for his own political losses," the report added.

Hence, these ex-military members openly stated that Netanyahu had no clear plan and “began pressuring Netanyahu for a clear plan that would ultimately see Israel withdraw from Gaza.”

In that regard, on June 19, the Israeli military spokesperson stated that promises to destroy Palestinian resistance group Hamas are "misleading," in apparent criticism of the country's political leadership.

“Anyone promising to eradicate Hamas is misleading the public,” Daniel Hagari said in an interview, adding that “Hamas is an idea. Those who think it can be made to disappear are wrong”.

Netanyahu's diplomatic manoeuvres aimed at delaying the end of the war can be associated with this situation, the report revealed.

The analysis also states that the far-right groups' advocacy for making the occupation of Gaza permanent and opening Gaza up for illegal Jewish settlement is a new point of contention with the Israeli army.

The army, which the report says opposes the current government, claims that securing an Israeli presence in Gaza would entail significant military and financial costs.

Why does far-right push for illegal settlement?

According to the report, the primary motivation of Israel's far-right is "to completely Judaise the area from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea,” aiming to realise the concept of the "promised land," a key narrative in Zionism which asserts that Palestine with Jerusalem as its centre was promised by God to the Jews forever.

In this context, settler colonialism, which seeks to forcibly steal Palestinian land, is an inherent part of far-right politics in Israel, the report indicates.

Israel’s radical right’s view of Gaza sheds light on their motivations for seeking to fully reoccupy and repopulate Gaza with illegla Jewish settlers.

The report also suggests that Netanyahu’s approach of intensified attacks on Gaza is potentially related to his efforts to safeguard his political career against the radical right's populist pressures.

Netanyahu faces corruption charges in Israel and remains prime minister only with the support of far-right parties that back him as coalition partners.

Tension between far-right and seculars

Since 1967, Israel has occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and, except for the 2005-2023 period, Gaza, in violation of international law.

“The violent extremists have established illegal settlements in these areas after 1967. Israel has a long history of using these elements as a pretext to maintain military presence in these regions,” says the report.

The settler groups living in the West Bank demand that Israel demonstrate greater military presence in the region and keep tensions high by committing acts of terror against Palestinians. These come at a cost: military and financial, according to the report.

“This situation causes serious tension between the fanatical, far-right groups in Israel and the high-level military cadres, a significant portion of whom are liberal-secular Israelis," it said.

Some of the senior Israeli officers, including Air Force pilots come from secular Jewish families and they are opposed to Netanyahu and the Israeli far right parties. They have been protesting over the last few years against the far right trying to destroy the judicial system.

Significant sections of the Israeli military, which don’t agree with the domestic agenda of the far-right groups, suggest that securing a Jewish presence in this area would involve significant financial costs.

The report explains that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and the evacuation of settlements caused the violent settlers to develop sceptical and cautious attitudes towards the Israeli state.

In this atmosphere of distrust, the fanatical far-right groups established various civil society networks to meet their legal and financial needs independently of the state when necessary, and despite receiving significant support from the state, these organisations have become important tools for the far-right to engage in Israeli politics.

Far-right civil society organisations significantly influence political decisions, support settlement expansion, shape public opinion, engage in legal advocacy, form security militias, undermine peace efforts, and impact government policies, thereby promoting a nationalist and expansionist agenda.

Although their presence is much higher in civil society than in politics, currently with two political parties in the Knesset, Religious Zionist and Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), the far-right keeps pushing for aggressive nationalist policies and the expansion of settlements.

As a key far-right figure, the National Security Minister and the leader of the Otzma Yehudit, Itamar Ben-Gvir, seeks to establish full sovereignty over all the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, expel all Palestinians living there, and, if necessary, commit massacres, says the report.

Therefore, he is completely opposed to the existence of a Palestinian state and advocates for Palestinians to be expelled to other Arab countries.

Radical pro-settler Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is another influential figure who is one of the founders of Regavim, a civil society organisation established to slow down and prevent Palestinian construction activities.

All actions related to illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank require Smotrich's approval, leading to an expansion of settlements and placing their management in the hands of settler figures more than ever before.