Itamar Ben-Gvir: “Encourage the Emigration” of Gaza Residents — January 1, 2024

This January 1, 2024 statement by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is presented as a relatively restrained example of a much broader record of statements advocating the removal of Palestinians from Gaza and the return of Israeli settlements to the territory.

Ben-Gvir called for an organized project to “encourage” Gaza residents to emigrate to countries around the world, describing the proposal as “right, just, moral and humane.” He explicitly connected the departure of Gaza's population with bringing back Israeli residents to communities near the Gaza border and the former Gush Katif settlements, which Israel evacuated in 2005.

This is the PG-13 version of the argument. Ben-Gvir has repeatedly gone further in subsequent statements, advocating Palestinian emigration alongside Israeli resettlement of Gaza and, more recently, calling for the killing of people in Gaza whom he said “don't deserve to live.”

The language and audience surrounding these statements are also worth examining. Ben-Gvir's remarks were delivered in Hebrew and subsequently circulated through translations and international reporting. This raises an important question for American viewers: how much of what Israeli officials say publicly is actually reaching the English-speaking public, and how much context is lost when statements made in Hebrew are translated, summarized, or omitted by American media? Some commentators have speculated that speaking Hebrew can function to limit the immediate exposure of politically sensitive statements to English-speaking audiences; whether that is deliberate in any particular case is a matter for the viewer to investigate rather than an established fact.

Critics and international observers have characterized proposals for the mass removal of Palestinians from Gaza as ethnic cleansing or forced displacement, while Ben-Gvir and his supporters have described their proposal using terms such as “voluntary migration.” The distinction is central to understanding the political and legal controversy surrounding these statements.

This footage is preserved as a documentary record of what a sitting Israeli cabinet minister publicly advocated during the Gaza war. Listen to his own words, examine the larger record, examine the consequences, and make your own assessment.