TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / August 23, 2026
Israel’s Chief Rabbi David Yosef denied Palestinian peoplehood and rights while calling for Gaza’s destruction and renewed Jewish settlement in the enclave.
‘No such thing as a Palestinian people’
Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi David Yosef denied the existence of Palestinians as a people and declared that they “have no rights” during an address at the Gush Katif Museum in West Jerusalem.
“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people and they have no rights,” Yosef reportedly said.
According to reports of the speech, the chief rabbi went further, laying Jewish claim to the Gaza Strip and cities throughout the occupied West Bank.
Yosef also called for the destruction of Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian enclave.
His remarks came amid growing calls from senior Israeli officials and far-right political and religious figures for the re-establishment of settlements in Gaza and the displacement of its Palestinian population.
Claims to Gaza and the West Bank
The location of Yosef’s speech carries particular significance. The Gush Katif Museum commemorates the bloc of Israeli settlements that existed in the Gaza Strip until Israel dismantled them as part of its 2005 disengagement from the enclave.
Calls for rebuilding settlements in Gaza have moved increasingly into mainstream Israeli political discourse during the genocidal war that began in October 2023.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir recently reiterated that vision, saying he wanted Israeli settlements established “throughout Gaza” while calling for Palestinians to leave the enclave.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other Israeli political figures have likewise advocated renewed settlement in Gaza and what they describe as the “emigration” of its Palestinian population.
Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law.
‘Ideological and religious climate’
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned Yosef’s statements as “hate-filled,” warning that rhetoric denying Palestinian existence and rights carries particular consequences amid the continuing war on Gaza.
“It is profoundly disturbing that a religious leader would deny the very existence and basic rights of an entire people,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said.
“Such rhetoric dehumanizes Palestinians and helps create an ideological and religious climate in which genocide is normalized and justified,” Awad added.
Awad stressed that Palestinian identity and rights were not matters for Israeli political or religious authorities to determine.
“Palestinians are a people with a deep-rooted history, culture, identity and connection to their homeland,” he said. “Their existence and their human rights are not matters for anyone to grant or deny.”
“The denial of Palestinian humanity and rights must not become normalized,” he added.
(TPC, Al-Jazeera, CAIR)
