MEE staff
Middle East Eye / August 13, 2025
Israeli PM says he is ‘very’ connected to the expansionist vision encompassing parts of Palestine and several Arab states.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he feels “very” connected to the vision of a “Greater Israel”, which includes occupied Palestinian territory as well as parts of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
During an interview on Tuesday with i24 News, Netanyahu was presented with an amulet depicting “a map of the Promised Land” by interviewer Sharon Gal.
Gal then asked the prime minister whether he felt connected to this vision of Greater Israel.
“Very much,” Netanyahu replied.
While the amulet itself did not appear on screen, the term “Greater Israel” is widely understood to refer to a far-reaching expansionist vision.
It has previously been used by ultra-nationalist Israelis to claim parts of Jordan, Egypt and Syria – along with the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip – as part of a future Israeli state.
During the interview, Netanyahu also described himself as being on a “historic and spiritual mission”.
His comments come amid ongoing Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and parts of southern Lebanon and southern Syria.
Similar views have been echoed by ministers within Netanyahu’s government.
Last year, in a documentary, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was filmed advocating for the expansion of Israeli borders to include Damascus.
He suggested that Israel would gradually grow to encompass not only all Palestinian territories but also parts of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
“It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus,” he said, invoking the “Greater Israel” ideology.
Smotrich had previously raised similar ideas during a 2023 memorial service for a Likud activist in Paris.
Speaking from a podium adorned with a map of Israel that included Jordan, he controversially stated that “there is no such thing” as the Palestinian people.
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Netanyahu backs idea of ‘Greater Israel’, which includes parts of Jordan, Egypt
Sharon Zhang
Truthout / August 13, 2025
“Greater Israel” is an extremist ideology for Israel to conquer Palestine as well as parts of numerous other countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that he feels “very” attached to the extremist vision of “Greater Israel,” a plan for the conquest of not just historic Palestine but also parts of Egypt, Jordan, and potentially other countries.
In an interview with Israeli outlet i24 on Tuesday, Netanyahu said in Hebrew that he is on a “historic and spiritual” mission, per translations by Times of Israel and Middle East Eye.
The interviewer gives Netanyahu an amulet, which is not visible on screen, that he says depicts “Greater Israel” and a “map of the promised land.” When he asks if the prime minister agrees with the vision of Israel, Netanyahu says, “very much.”
“Greater Israel” refers to an Israeli vision, pushed by ultra-nationalists, of conquering Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as the Sinai Peninsula, Syria’s Golan Heights, and Jordan. Some versions of “Greater Israel” also refer to Lebanon, other parts of Syria and Egypt, and even parts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key coalition partner for the prime minister, has previously pushed the idea of a “Greater Israel.” Last year, Smotrich said in an interview for a documentary that he believes that Israel must expand to encompass Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. “The future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus,” he reportedly said, per Middle East Eye.
Smotrich also pushed this ideology prior to October 7, 2023. In a speech in Paris in March of 2023, he displayed a map of “Greater Israel” that had Palestine within its borders, while saying, “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people.”
Palestinians raised alarm over Netanyahu’s comments, saying that they are an escalation of rhetoric at a time when Israel is rapidly advancing annexation plans for Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“Netanyahu said that he is on a historical and spiritual mission to build ‘Greater Israel.’ Which means he is on a mission to violate all international laws, commit crimes against humanity and annex Palestinian and other Arab countries territories,” said Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti.
The general secretariat of the Arab League condemned Netanyahu’s “Greater Israel” comments, considering them to be “a violation of the sovereignty of Arab states and an attempt to undermine security and stability in the region,” per WAFA.
Netanyahu and Israeli officials have made clear their intention of annexing and taking over all of what remains of historic Palestine. Netanyahu has previously shown maps at the UN and in presentations that show the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza entirely absorbed into Israel.
He has also reiterated his intention to carry out a plan to totally take over Gaza and forcibly expel Palestinians from the Strip. His cabinet’s Gaza City invasion proposal is seemingly aimed at moving into the final stages of that plan, with Netanyahu mobilizing his government behind it.
Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout covering politics, climate and labour
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Netanyahu says he’s on a ‘historic and spiritual mission’, also feels a connection to vision of Greater Israel
The Times of Israel / August 12, 2025
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells i24 TV news that he feels he is on a “historic and spiritual mission,” and that he is “very” attached to the vision of the Promised Land and Greater Israel.
The interviewer Sharon Gal, who was briefly a right-wing member of Knesset, gifts to Netanyahu near the end of their interview what he says is an amulet of “a map of the Promised Land.”
“This is my vision,” says Gal. He jokes that he does not want to further “entangle” Netanyahu in the case against the premier for allegedly receiving jewellery and other luxury goods from several businessmen for him and his wife Sara, but also says he would like Netanyahu to give the amulet to Sara. “Thank you,” says Netanyahu.
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“Do you connect to the vision?” Gal asks Netanyahu.
“Very much,” the prime minister replies.
“Really?” asks Gal.
“Very much,” Netanyahu repeats.
“It is Greater Israel,” Gal stresses.
“If you ask me, we are here,” responds Netanyahu, then pauses, then continues, “You know I often mention my father. My parents’ generation had to establish the state. And our generation, my generation, has to guarantee its continued existence. And I see that as a great mission.” He then moves on to discuss the sense of mission among Israelis today, highlighting that sense of purpose among soldiers, including reservists and their wives.
The amulet itself does not appear on the screen.
The exchange is cut from the video of the interview posted by i24 on its Youtube site in Hebrew, and does not appear, either, in a shorter version of the interview on i24’s English Youtube site. It appears on i24’s own Hebrew website (beginning at 31:14).
The term Greater Israel was used after the [socalled] Six Day War of June 1967 to refer to Israel and the areas it had just conquered — East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights.
The phrase was also used by some early Zionists, including Ze’ev Jabotinsky, forerunner of Netanyahu’s Likud party, to refer to present-day Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, and present-day Jordan.
Gal’s question about his connection to the “vision” of the Promised Land and Greater Israel comes after he asks the premier if he feels he is on a mission on behalf of the Jewish people. Netanyahu answers that he is “on a mission of generations — there are generations of Jews that dreamt of coming here and generations of Jews who will come after us.”
“So if you’re asking if I have a sense of mission, historically and spiritually, the answer is yes,” he says.
