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Israeli Lawmaker Chided for Wishing Palestinians ‘Disappear’

Matan Kahana, politicians from the Yamina party, headed by Naftali Bennett, attends a consultation with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the President's residence in Jerusalem on April 5, 2021. (AP)
Matan Kahana, politicians from the Yamina party, headed by Naftali Bennett, attends a consultation with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the President's residence in Jerusalem on April 5, 2021. (AP)
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Israeli Lawmaker Chided for Wishing Palestinians ‘Disappear’

Matan Kahana, politicians from the Yamina party, headed by Naftali Bennett, attends a consultation with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the President's residence in Jerusalem on April 5, 2021. (AP)
Matan Kahana, politicians from the Yamina party, headed by Naftali Bennett, attends a consultation with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the President's residence in Jerusalem on April 5, 2021. (AP)

An Israeli legislator came under fire on Tuesday for saying that if he could push a button to make all Palestinians disappear, he would.

Deputy Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana made the remarks to high school students in a West Bank settlement. In his comments, which were caught on video, he was explaining his view that clashing narratives between Israelis and Palestinians were a major obstacle to peace. He appeared to be making the point that Israelis and Palestinians had no choice but to find a way to live together.

"If there was a sort of button you could push that would make all the Arabs disappear, send them on an express train to Switzerland,” he said, "I would press that button."

"But what can you do? There is no such button," he added, in the video brought to light by Israeli public broadcaster Kan. ”Therefore it seems we were meant to exist (together) on this land in some way."

Kahana is part of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's nationalist Yamina party which anchors a coalition of eight ideologically diverse parties, including for the first time in Israeli history an Arab Islamist faction.

While it has stumbled during its year in power and is teetering after a series of defections, the coalition has styled itself as a symbol of Jewish-Arab cooperation in a society where Israeli Jews and Palestinians often live separately and seldom interact.

The threat of forcible displacement is a sensitive subject for Palestinians, who in the war surrounding Israel's creation in 1948 fled or were forced to flee their homes. A second uprooting occurred during the 1967 Mideast war.

Since then, some nationalist politicians in Israel have used the threat of forced transfer against Palestinian citizens of Israel, who under law are equal to Jewish Israelis but who face discrimination and who are seen by some as a fifth column because of their solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Kahana's remarks drew condemnation from Palestinian Israeli lawmakers and from his own coalition members. Opposition lawmaker Ahmad Tibi tweeted in response that he would make Kahana "disappear from the government and the Knesset," Israel's parliament. Michal Rozin, a lawmaker in the coalition with the dovish Meretz party, said the remarks were "more than intolerable."

After the uproar, Kahana posted on Twitter that some of the remarks within his speech were "worded poorly."

"I referenced that both Jewish and Arab populations aren’t going anywhere. As such, we must work to live in coexistence. Our coalition is a courageous step towards this goal."

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Uncertain Future for the PFLP-GC in Post-Assad Syria

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Damascus on April 18 (AP) 
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Damascus on April 18 (AP) 
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Uncertain Future for the PFLP-GC in Post-Assad Syria

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Damascus on April 18 (AP) 
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Damascus on April 18 (AP) 

The brief detention of Talal Naji, Secretary-General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC), by Syrian authorities has renewed scrutiny over the status of Palestinian factions still operating in Syria, particularly those that aligned with the former Assad regime.

Naji’s arrest and swift release come amid a major political realignment following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December 2024. Once one of the most active and heavily armed Palestinian groups in Syria, the PFLP-GC now faces an uncertain future, along with other factions that were long tolerated—or even supported—under Assad’s rule.

A well-informed Palestinian source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the new Syrian administration has appointed a figure known as Abu Abdul Rahman al-Shami to oversee the file of Palestinian factions. Since assuming the role, al-Shami has convened multiple meetings with faction representatives, including regular attendees from the PFLP-GC, to discuss the fate of their fighters, weapons, property, and military infrastructure.

According to the source, al-Shami has made it clear that the new government intends to hold accountable any individuals or groups implicated in crimes against Syrian civilians during the civil war. Palestinian factions have been instructed to surrender all weapons and military equipment, and to limit their activities to humanitarian and relief work. The PFLP-GC, the source said, has largely complied.

Despite the fall of the Assad regime, Naji and much of the PFLP-GC’s second- and third-tier leadership have remained in Syria. Its offices in Damascus reportedly continue to operate, though under heightened scrutiny. Other faction leaders, however, have fled. Among them are Khaled Abdul Majid (Popular Struggle Front), Ziyad al-Saghir (Fatah–Intifada), Mohammad al-Saeed (Liwa al-Quds), and Saed Abdel Al (Free Palestine Movement). Most are believed to have sought refuge in Lebanon.

Sources confirmed that several PFLP-GC fighters have been detained in recent weeks in connection with alleged war crimes committed during their cooperation with Assad’s forces. The Syrian government has also moved to seize faction offices and military installations across the country, including properties belonging to Fatah–Intifada, the Free Palestine Movement, and the Sa’iqa Forces. Sa’iqa’s leader, Mohammad Qais, remains in Syria.

In a further blow, authorities have reportedly frozen bank accounts belonging to some Palestinian factions, both in state and private banks, although it remains unclear whether the PFLP-GC is among them.

Additionally, it is widely believed that the PFLP-GC has handed over its military training camps, which were previously spread across Damascus countryside, Daraa, Aleppo, and Suwayda. “The situation is extremely sensitive, and everyone is anxious,” one Palestinian source told Asharq Al-Awsat. “It’s likely they’ve surrendered those sites.”

The sense of unease deepened last month when Syrian authorities detained two senior Islamic Jihad officials in Damascus: Khaled Khaled, head of the group’s Syria bureau, and Abu Ali Yasser, its chief organizational officer. Both remain in custody, and no official charges have been announced.

The current atmosphere of fear and uncertainty has driven faction leaders to avoid public comment. Most now insist on anonymity when speaking to local or international media.

Before the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in March 2011, Syria hosted more than a dozen Palestinian factions. As the conflict escalated, the Assad regime encouraged the formation of new pro-regime groups, composed largely of Palestinian refugees, to fight alongside its forces.