Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Tuesday for permanent Israeli sovereignty over territory held in Gaza and Lebanon, presenting territorial losses as a necessary penalty for enemies that initiate wars.
“A side that started a war and lost it will lose territory to the victorious side,” Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism Party, told the first National Conservatism Conference (NatCon) held in Jerusalem.
In his address, which came three weeks before Israel’s Oct. 27 general election, Smotrich outlined a postwar agenda combining territorial sovereignty, voluntary emigration from Gaza and greater Israeli independence from Washington.
“I demand that the State of Israel permanently apply its sovereignty over the territories it currently holds, both in Gaza and in Lebanon,” he said.
Smotrich argued that Israel’s enemies have been able to regroup, rebuild and attack again after previous rounds of fighting because they ended along the same territorial lines as they began. Territorial losses would impose a lasting price for aggression and deter future wars, he said.
The three-day NatCon gathering, running Oct. 6-8 at Jerusalem’s International Convention Center, brings together conservative politicians, scholars and commentators. Organized by the Edmund Burke Foundation, chaired by Israeli philosopher Yoram Hazony, the conference series has previously convened in Washington, London, Rome, Brussels, Orlando and Miami. (Read More)
