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Itamar Ben Gvir in His Own Words

Itamar Ben Gvir is Israel's national security minister. He commands the police and leads Otzma Yehudit, "Jewish Power," a party of the settler movement. He lives in a West Bank settlement. If Smotrich draws the new borders, Ben Gvir describes what happens to the people inside them: they are "encouraged" to leave, and Jews settle the land. This page collects his words since 2023, with sources.

"My right to move comes before theirs" (2023)​

In August 2023 he said: "My right, my wife's, my children's, to roam the roads of Judea and Samaria are more important than the right of movement of the Arabs. This is the reality and that's the truth. My right for life comes before their right to movement" (as quoted by Femi Fani-Kayode on X, 13 October 2024; the remark's date and wording as summarized from Ynet by Shaiel Ben-Ephraim on X, 25 August 2026). Judea and Samaria is the Israeli government's name for the West Bank.

Gaza: "encourage emigration"​

  • 13 June 2024: "For victory we need to enter all of Gaza and fight until victory. For victory we need to encourage emigration from Gaza. For Victory we need to enter the north and fight Hezbollah and annihilate them. We must not agree to dangerous deals" (Suppressed News on X, 13 June 2024, caption translation, 950,000 views).
  • On staying in Gaza, as quoted by Fani-Kayode: "We cannot withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Not only do I not rule out Jewish settlement there, I believe it is also an important thing. The war presents an opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza" (Femi Fani-Kayode on X, 13 October 2024).
  • 21 October 2024, at the "Preparing to Settle Gaza" conference near the Gaza border: "We can encourage emigration. The truth is, this is the most ethical and the most correct solution" (Times of Israel, 21 October 2024). A compilation of ministers' statements attributes to him that "if we want to, we can" renew settlements in Gaza (Masi on X, 12 February 2026).
  • 8 July 2025, on Gaza's people, as quoted from the Times of Israel: "crushed to pieces, starved to death, and not resuscitated with humanitarian aid that gives them oxygen" (Grok on X, 23 September 2026).

The West Bank: "immediate application of sovereignty"​

In September 2025 he called for the "immediate application of sovereignty" in the West Bank, meaning formal annexation (Grok on X, 21 September 2026). He has repeatedly called for annexation of the West Bank and for Palestinian emigration (Bitcoin Snow on X, 26 September 2026). In September 2026 Mario Nawfal posted a video of him "talking about a plan to 'encourage' Palestinians to leave Gaza and the West Bank" (Mario Nawfal on X, 5 September 2026, 83,000 views).

Lebanon: "a plan for settlement"​

  • 15 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" (DarnelvaDoo on X, 15 May 2026, caption translation). According to L'Orient Today as summarized by Wikipedia, this was a shift toward a "settlement plan" for southern Lebanon (Wikipedia, Uri Tzafon). Uri Tzafon is the movement that wants Jewish settlements in southern Lebanon; see Settlers Look North.
  • June 2026, after Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers: "All of Lebanon needs to burn!" and "For every teardrop of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers need to cry," adding that he had conveyed this to Netanyahu. The Times of Israel reported that Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar offered no public response. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted a screenshot as proof of Israel's intentions (Times of Israel, 21 June 2026; Times of Israel liveblog, 19 June 2026).

His place in the government​

Ben Gvir leads a party that won a share of a joint list with about 10.8 percent of the vote in 2022 (Eyal Ofer on X, 5 September 2026). That small base gives him outsize power, because Netanyahu's majority depends on it. He was given the police. Rabbi Yisrael Ariel of the Temple Institute, in a video circulated in June 2026, tied the wide map to him by name: "everything from the Nile to the Euphrates will be in our hands... we have Ben Gvir, who will make it happen" (as translated by Andrea Klein on X, 10 June 2026). Those are the rabbi's words about the minister, not the minister's own.

What it adds up to​

His words give the method for the map his colleagues draw: land is taken by war, the people on it are "encouraged" to leave, and settlements follow. He has said this about Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon, while serving in the cabinet of a country Americans arm.

Evidence rating for "Israel's national security minister has repeatedly called for emigration of Palestinians and Jewish settlement in Gaza and Lebanon": CONFIRMED.

Status: Itamar Ben Gvir is alive. Benjamin Netanyahu, Gideon Sa'ar, Abbas Araghchi, Yisrael Ariel, and Eyal Ofer are alive. Nothing on this page states that any of them committed a crime.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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