Israeli ministers ask Katz to allow Chanukah flag-raising in Gaza

Several Israeli Cabinet members, including from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party, urged Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday to authorize a Chanukah flag-raising ceremony in the Gaza Strip.

Chanukah, the eight-day Festival of Lights, begins at sundown on Sunday and concludes at nightfall on Dec. 22. The holiday commemorates the liberation of Jerusalem and the subsequent rededication of the Second Temple by the Maccabees, who led a revolt against the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire in 167–141 BCE.

The letter, which was signed by 11 ministers, calls for the Israeli flag to be raised over the former community of Nisanit in the northern Strip, which was evacuated as part of Jerusalem’s 2005 withdrawal from Gaza. The site is currently an IDF outpost.

Victory over the Hamas terrorist group “will be achieved only by taking a political step of seizing territory and turning it into an inseparable part of the State of Israel,” the letter sent to the defense minister argued.

The ministers added, “Time has come to declare proudly: Gaza is part of the Land of Israel, belongs exclusively to the people of Israel and therefore will immediately become part of the Land of Israel.”

The letter was signed by government ministers Nir Barkat, Itamar Ben-Gvir, Eli Cohen, Amichai Eliyahu, Ze’ev Elkin, May Golan, Shlomo Karhi, Miri Regev, Idit Silman, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Miki Zohar

Other signatories included Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Almog Cohen, coalition whip Ofir Katz and United Torah Judaism Party leader Yitzhak Goldknopf, Israel Hayom reported.

Political sensitivity

The initiative by the Nachala Settlement Movement, which has received endorsement from local Likud Party officials throughout the country, is likely to be rejected by Katz, the Hebrew daily reported.

Sources familiar with the matter told the paper there was political sensitivity surrounding civilians entering the coastal enclave and that holding such a gathering would require the prime minister’s approval.

The Gaza Strip has been designated a closed military zone by the Israel Defense Forces due to the ongoing hostilities, the sources said, adding that a civilian presence could pose a serious safety risk.

In 2005, the government, headed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, unilaterally disengaged from Gaza, removing thousands of residents from their homes and transferring them to within the Green Line.

While the move was designed to bring calm to Israel’s southern border, it ushered in a victory for Hamas in January 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council elections. In June 2006, the terrorist organization seized power in the Strip and removed the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.

During its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, Hamas murdered some 1,200 people, mostly Jewish civilians, and wounded thousands more. It also took 251 civilians and IDF soldiers back to the Gaza Strip as hostages.

Last Wednesday, a small group of Israeli civilians entered the northern Strip, calling on the government to establish a permanent civilian presence there.

Fifty-two percent of Israelis support the reestablishment of a Jewish presence in Gaza, according to an Israel Hayom survey in August.

The survey found that 83% of Haredi, or ultra-Orthodox, respondents support renewed Jewish communal life inside the Strip, with only 5% answering in the negative and the remainder offering no opinion.

Among the wider Jewish religious public, 67% believe in resettlement, compared to 17% who believe it should not happen and the rest saying they didn’t know. Among secular Israelis, 50% oppose a return to Gaza compared to 29% who support it.

Netanyahu last year ruled out the possibility of resettling the Strip.

“If you mean resettling Gaza, … it was never in the cards, and I said so openly. And some of my constituents are not happy about it, but that’s my position,” the Israeli leader said in a May 21, 2024, CNN interview.

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