Smotrich proposes 1m more Jews in Negev and Galilee

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich set out his party's plan Thursday to increase the number of Jews living in the Negev and Galilee, two areas with large Arab-Israeli populations.

Smotrich said the Religious Zionism plan aimed for “one million additional Jews in the Negev and Galilee,” 40 new communities, dozens of farms, expanded existing communities and hundreds of thousands of housing units.

He said on X that the plan would copy what he called the “revolution” in the occupied West Bank, using the Biblical name Judea and Samaria for the territory. His party also posted an AI-generated video showing two Arab men shouting and crying about the proposed plan.

The Negev in southern Israel and the Galilee in northern Israel have large Arab-Israeli populations. Most of Israel's Arab minority identify as Palestinian and either remained or are descended from those who remained in what is now Israel after its creation in 1948. They represent about 21 percent of Israel's 10.2 million people.

Smotrich said plans in Arab communities that he called reckless would be cancelled, saying they had taken over land reserves and threatened Jewish settlement in the area. He also promised industrial and employment zones and said his party would demand that the next government remove barriers and place Zionist professionals in key positions.

Israel is heading toward elections on October 27. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a difficult contest, and polling cited in the supplied material puts Smotrich's party near the electoral threshold needed to enter the next parliament.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israelis live there in settlements that are illegal under international law, and the territory is home to about three million Palestinians.