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Israeli minister sets out plan to ‘Judaise’ Arab areas

JERUSALEM: Israel’s far-right finance minister on Thursday laid out his party’s plan to dramatically increase the number of Jews living in two areas of the country with large Arab-Israeli populations. With elections approaching, Bezalel Smotrich said the plan would emulate what he termed the “revolution” in the occupied West Bank, where the construction of Israeli settlements has soared in recent years. “Today I present to you the Religious Zionism’s plan for the Judaisation of the Negev and Galilee: the revolution we carried out in Judea and Samaria — we will carry out in the Negev and Galilee, and on a massive scale,” he wrote on X, using the Biblical name for the West Bank. His party posted an AI-generated video on X showing two Arab men shouting and crying about the proposed plan. Gaza civil defence says Israeli strikes kill three The Negev, in the south of Israel, and the Galilee, in the north, are regions with large Arab-Israeli populations. Most of Israel’s Arab minority identify as Palestinian and either remained or are the descendants of those who remained in what is now Israel after its creation in 1948. They represent about 21 per cent of the country’s 10.2 million people. Smotrich said the goal was “one million additional Jews in the Negev and Galilee, 40 new communities, dozens of farms, expansion of existing communities, and hundreds of thousands of housing units.” “We will cancel the reckless plans in Arab communities, which have taken over land reserves and threaten Jewish settlement in the area,” he added. Smotrich vowed the establishment of industrial and employment zones and said his party would demand the next government “remove barriers and place Zionist professionals in key positions”. Israel is heading towards tight elections to be held on October 27, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing an uphill battle. According to current polling, Smotrich’s party, which is a member of Netanyahu’s coalition, is just on the cusp of reaching the electoral threshold needed to enter the next parliament. Israel has since 1967 occupied the West Bank, where more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements which are illegal under international law. The territory is home to about three million Palestinians. Gaza strikes Israeli strikes in Gaza killed three people on Thursday, the territory’s civil defence agency said, while the military said it had targeted Hamas. One man died after succumbing to his injuries following an Israeli drone strike on a house in Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, according to the civil defence agency, which operates as a rescue force under Hamas. Another man was killed in an Israeli strike on his tent in the Al-Mawasi area east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, the civil defence agency said. A third person was killed and several others injured in an Israeli strike near an intersection in western Gaza City. Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed one person near Qarara town in the southern Gaza Strip, and another killed a man at a house in the Beach refugee camp in Gaza City. Another airstrike on Gaza City later on Thursday hit a motorist, killing one person, they said. Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2026