Middle East Monitor / April 10, 2026
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister and settlement official Bezalel Smotrich announced that Israel intends to expand its borders into the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and Syria.
Speaking at the opening of a new settlement on Thursday, Smotrich said: “We always talk about the military part and then the political part, and there are those who criticise us, saying there are only military achievements without a political component.”
He added: “There will be a political component in Gaza to expand our borders, another component that will extend into Lebanon up to the Litani River at defensible boundaries, and a third component that will extend into Syria, ending at the peak of Mount Beit She’an and at least a security zone.”
He said: “This is what is considered respectable in our neighbourhood, and this is what we need to strengthen security.”
On the West Bank, he said: “We are in the final diplomatic stage in the West Bank that would completely eliminate the idea of establishing a Palestinian state,” according to Channel 12.
He added: “The state is based on a combination of military power and political will, along with faith and love of the homeland. There is a political and military aspect based on courage, will, faith and love of the homeland,” he said.
