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Smotrich and Other Ministers in Their Own Words

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED. Since 2023, sitting Israeli cabinet ministers have said on camera, in Israeli newspapers, and at official events that Israel's borders should expand: into Gaza, to the Litani River in Lebanon, to Mount Hermon in Syria, and, in the finance minister's words, "until Damascus." These are not outsiders. They control Israel's budget, its police, and the civilian administration of the West Bank, and none has been removed for these words.

For years, anyone who said Israeli leaders wanted land beyond the West Bank and Gaza was told they were repeating enemy propaganda. What changed after the government formed in December 2022 is that the ministers began saying it themselves. As the King's College London security analyst Andreas Krieg put it in October 2024: "For nearly two decades, I have been telling Arabs that their concern over the 'Greater Israel' narrative is unfounded / What are you going to tell them now when these radicals are in the government?!" (Andreas Krieg on X, 11 October 2024, 771,000 views).

Two terms first. Bezalel Smotrich is Israel's finance minister and leader of the Religious Zionism party; he is also a minister inside the Defense Ministry with authority over civilian affairs in the West Bank, which makes him, in practice, its civilian governor. Itamar Ben Gvir is national security minister, in charge of the police, and leader of Otzma Yehudit ("Jewish Power").

Bezalel Smotrich: the map widens, year by year​

Smotrich's statements trace a path from the West Bank outward:

  • March 2023, Paris. He spoke from a podium draped with a map of "Greater Israel" that included the Kingdom of Jordan, and said "there's no such thing as the Palestinian people." Jordan summoned Israel's ambassador. Go deeper: Smotrich in Paris.
  • October 2024, an Arte documentary. "It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus." Asked whether Israel's borders should go past the Jordan River, he answered, in one rendering, "Absolutely, but slowly." Go deeper: Smotrich: "Until Damascus".
  • August 2025. Israel's army is not withdrawing from five points in Lebanon, "and with God's help will not withdraw," as Haaretz's Zvi Barel reported him saying.
  • March 2026, three weeks into the Iran war. "The new Israeli border must be the Litani." The Times of Israel called it "the most explicit yet by a senior Israeli official on seizing Lebanese territory."
  • April 2026, a new settlement. "There will be a conclusive political leg in Lebanon that will expand our borders to the Litani... in Syria with the Hermon crown."
  • June 2026. "The war should end with a political declaration expanding Israel's borders... Take territory."
  • August 2026. "God promised us the Land of Israel in its full biblical extent. I sincerely hope and pray that one day that vision will be fulfilled."

Go deeper: Smotrich in 2026: The Litani, the Hermon, and "Take Territory"

In the West Bank, Smotrich has been the one turning words into facts: settlement approvals, land registration, and what he calls "de facto sovereignty." His stated "life's mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state." That record is on Smotrich's "De Facto Sovereignty" Machine.

Itamar Ben Gvir: emigration and settlement​

Ben Gvir's words are about emptying land and settling it. At the October 2024 "Preparing to Settle Gaza" conference: "We can encourage emigration. The truth is, this is the most ethical and the most correct solution." In June 2024: "For victory we need to encourage emigration from Gaza. For Victory we need to enter the north and fight Hezbollah and annihilate them." In May 2026: "We have a plan for settlement in Lebanon, and we also have plans to encourage the emigration [of Palestinians] from Gaza and the West Bank." In June 2026, after Hezbollah killed four soldiers: "All of Lebanon needs to burn!" Netanyahu offered no public response. In September 2025 he called for the "immediate application of sovereignty" in the West Bank.

Go deeper: Itamar Ben Gvir in His Own Words

The rest of the cabinet, and the Knesset​

The same program comes from across the government:

  • Orit Strook, settlements minister: "The entire Land of Israel is ours and we are its, and for this reason there will not be a Palestinian state in the Land of Israel because there is no such thing as a Palestinian people." Her clip reached 2.2 million views.
  • Yariv Levin, justice minister, as compiled by critics: "We need to be in Gaza because this is our land."
  • Israel Katz, defense minister: the Golan is "part of Israel forever," Israel will not withdraw from Mount Hermon, and, in one rendering, "any area we control will belong to us forever."
  • Amir Ohana, Knesset speaker: "In 1967, the occupation did not begin; it ended."
  • Amichai Eliyahu, heritage minister, shared a post promoting an "Occupation Now" shirt with a map including Sinai.
  • Eighteen Knesset members in April 2026 pressed the government "to occupy and fully control southern Lebanon up to the Litani River."
  • Gadi Eisenkot, a former army chief now leading in polls against Netanyahu: "I am against the establishment of a Palestinian state."

Go deeper: Other Ministers and Lawmakers on the Record

Even the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, told Kipa News in February 2026 that "the biblical borders of Israel are very clear" and that he wants them "as broad as possible." See Yair Lapid: "As Broad as Possible".

Silence from the top, and no one removed​

The pattern is consistent. When a minister's words cross a treaty line, as with Jordan in 2023, the Foreign Ministry issues a reassurance to the foreign government. When the words are about Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, or Syria, the Prime Minister's Office says nothing, or "declined to comment," as the fact-checking site Misbar recorded. Nobody has been fired. Netanyahu's majority depends on Smotrich's and Ben Gvir's parties, and he appointed them to run the budget, the police, and the West Bank.

Israel's own diplomats noticed the cost. A Ynet report in August 2026, summarized by the Israeli historian Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, quoted Foreign Ministry staff calling a series of ministers' actions "a nail in the coffin of Israeli legitimacy in Judea and Samaria," listing among them Smotrich's call to "erase Hawara," the Paris map, Ben Gvir's movement remarks, Eliyahu's atomic-bomb remark, the January 2024 "Victory Conference" where ten ministers called for resettling Gaza, and Smotrich telling Saudi Arabia to "keep riding camels in the desert" (Shaiel Ben-Ephraim on X, 25 August 2026).

As Brian Tashman put it, setting Smotrich's "Take territory" beside the activists who call Greater Israel a myth: "Pro-Israel activists: Greater Israel project is a myth! Israel's actual elected government:" (Brian Tashman on X, 18 June 2026).

Why it matters to Americans​

These are the ministers of a government the United States funds, arms, and fought alongside against Iran. When the finance minister says the Iran war "should end with a political declaration expanding Israel's borders," he is telling Americans what the war they are paying for is meant to produce.

Evidence rating for "senior Israeli ministers publicly call for expanding Israel's borders into Gaza, southern Lebanon, and Syria": CONFIRMED. Evidence rating for "these ministers set government policy and remain in office": CONFIRMED.

Status: Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben Gvir, Orit Strook, Yariv Levin, Israel Katz, Amir Ohana, Amichai Eliyahu, Gadi Eisenkot, Yair Lapid, Benjamin Netanyahu, Andreas Krieg, Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, and Brian Tashman are alive. Nothing on this page states that any of them committed a crime.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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