Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has acknowledged his aim for a Jewish state that not only encompasses all Palestinian territories, but also extends to Syria, in the latest such open statement referring to Tel Aviv’s potential pursuit of a ‘Greater Israel’ project.
In an interview for a documentary produced and aired by the French-language channel Arte, entitled ‘Israel: Extremists in Power’, Smotrich stated that ‘I want a Jewish state… that operates according to the values of the Jewish people’.
He was then posed the question of whether Israel aims to extend its sovereignty which currently ‘starts at the [Mediterranean] sea and ends at the [Jordan] river’, to which he smiled and said ‘bit by bit’.
Smotrich stated that ‘it is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus’, adding ominously ‘only Jerusalem, until Damascus’. The documentary then detailed the Israeli finance minister’s plan – and that of other extremist and right-wing Israelis – to have Israeli statehood extend into Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
His comments come at a time when Israel continues to bombard Lebanon and launch its ground invasion, with many illegal Jewish settler groups advocating for Israeli forces to remain in Lebanon and settle the country.
Efforts have steadily been made on that front, one example being a childrens’ book which was recently published on the Israeli occupation of Lebanon.
The Israeli government itself has been very careful to frame its plans as limited only to defeating the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and has not formally announced any plans to occupy Lebanon and settle Jewish immigrants on newly-conquered territory.
The views of government figures such as Smotrich, however, as well as their significant support base, increasingly ignite concerns that Tel Aviv could potentially adopt the goal of expanding Israeli territory in the Middle East via conquest of surrounding Arab states.