At a recent press conference Netanyahu held up a map of the Israel he envisioned that included all of the West Bank and Gaza Does he intend to give full Israeli citizenship to the Arabs already there or will they be ?
In response to inquiries over the omission of the whole West Bank from his latest map, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provided a profoundly distasteful answer.
“I didn’t include the Dead Sea. It’s not shown on the map. I didn’t show the Jordan River. It’s not on this map. I didn’t show the Sea of Galilee.”
The Israeli leader must have been aware that neither the native population of Palestine nor the occupied regions of the West Bank and East Jerusalem—recognized as such under international law—are merely topographical or geographical phenomena.
It is evident that Netanyahu has intentionally omitted the West Bank from the map he presented on September 2 during yet another diatribe justifying Israel's need for 'security control' over Gaza. There are plenty of reasons to demonstrate that this assertion is true.
Firstly, Netanyahu has omitted Palestine and the Palestinians from his prior maps as well, notably exemplified by his 'New Middle East' map, which he proudly displayed during a United Nations General Assembly address in September 2022.
Secondly, Netanyahu refuses to acknowledge the name West Bank at all. In defense of his current map of Israel, which removes the West Bank, he stated that he was referring to Gaza, not "Judea and Samaria."
The biblical reference to the Palestinian homeland aligns seamlessly with the dominant Israeli political narrative, which is currently advocated by the most fervent far-right, ultranationalist fanatics in Israeli society. The current Israeli state fundamentally denies that Palestinians own any historical claims or political rights and aspirations in their own land. Among a plethora of similar remarks, many stand out.
In March 2023, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich refuted the existence of Palestinians during a private memorial service in Paris. He claimed that there is:
“No such thing as Palestinians because there’s no such thing as the Palestinian people.”
According to Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the erasure of Palestinians necessitates immediate, violent action. At a press conference on June 23, he made the following statement:
“The Land of Israel must be settled, and a military operation must be launched. (We must) demolish buildings, eliminate terrorists, not one or two, but tens and hundreds, and if necessary, even thousands. The Land of Israel is for the people of Israel.”
In March 2019, Netanyahu made the following declaration:
“The national state, not of all its citizens, but only of the Jewish people.”
This discourse is supported by actions, including the ongoing construction of illegal Jewish settlements, a slow ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities from multiple areas in the West Bank, and a governmental program that, in April 2020, decided to annex substantial portions of the occupied territory.
Thirdly, Netanyahu absolutely opposes any discussion of a Palestinian state. He even advocated for legislation in the Israeli Knesset that opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state because it would pose:
“An existential danger to the State of Israel and its citizens, perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and destabilize the region.”.
The law embodies Netanyahu's political career, primarily dedicated to impeding attempts to achieve a negotiated resolution based on international law. Netanyahu stated in July 2023 that Palestinian aspirations for a sovereign state "must be eliminated."
So, it comes as no surprise that the Israeli leader saw no need to delineate any entity other than Israel in his delusional maps.
Ironically, in response to criticism, Netanyahu referenced the term 'Palestinians', stating:
“There is a whole issue of how to achieve peace between us and the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria.”
Even then, his statement denied the Palestinian people any entitlement to peoplehood, let alone statehood.
He perceives Palestinians as nomadic creatures who, because of a historical accident, ventured upon his biblical land, to which they possess no right or claim.
However, Netanyahu persisted in his lies, having done the exact opposite of ‘achieving peace’ with the Palestinians. Instead, he is actively working towards their extermination.
On May 20, Karim Khan, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, requested the issuance of arrest warrants for several Israelis and Palestinians. The International Criminal Court has primarily accused Netanyahu of "extermination," "willful killing," and other "inhumane acts as crimes against humanity."
Netanyahu's controversial map essentially delineated the borders of Gaza to back up his rationale for continuing his genocidal campaign in the enclave. In his earlier maps, even Gaza was entirely omitted.
I have consistently argued on Quora that Israel is a settler colonial entity, reliant on perpetual expansion that undermines the territorial and political rights of the indigenous Palestinian population.
At present, the majority of the world can see this fact materializing itself daily throughout historic Palestine.
The global community must cease its silence and hold Israel accountable to international law through strong pressure and direct sanctions. Those who employ genocide as a pragmatic political instrument have no place in law-abiding nations.