Israeli lawmaker Moshe Saada from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party said that recent widespread calls to "destroy" the residents of the Gaza Strip affirm that the right wing was right.
Earlier, the US denounced statements of two Israeli ministers, who called for the return of Jewish settlers to Gaza after the war and "encouraging" Palestinians to emigrate towards the Congo and other countries.
In an interview on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14, Saada said that even "in the kibbutzim they say, 'destroy them.'"
He spoke about a meeting at the prosecutor's office when officials told him that "it is clear that all the Gazans need to be destroyed."
However, after publishing criticism of the Likud MP's statements, legal scholars warned him that he was practically calling for the termination of a people, which falls under the category of "war crimes."
Saada backed down and tried to correct his statements, claiming that he only intended to "destroy Hamas."
- Right-wing support
On Wednesday, the Times of Israel quoted a senior source in the security cabinet as saying that Israel is conducting secret contacts to accept thousands of immigrants from Gaza with Congo.
"Congo will be willing to take in migrants, and we're in talks with others," the senior source in the security cabinet said.
On Tuesday, Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel told Zman that "voluntary migration is the best and most realistic program for the day after the fighting ends."
On Tuesday, during a conference held in the Knesset to examine possibilities for postwar Gaza, Gamliel said: "At the end of the war, Hamas rule will collapse. There are no municipal authorities; the civilian population will depend entirely on humanitarian aid. There will be no work, and 60% of Gaza's agricultural land will become security buffer zones."
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller rejected irresponsible statements on resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza.
He declared the US rejection of recent statements from Israeli Ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir advocating for the resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza.
The spokesman described the rhetoric as "inflammatory and irresponsible."
"We have been told repeatedly and consistently by the Government of Israel, including by the Prime Minister, that such statements do not reflect the policy of the Israeli government. They should stop immediately."
Miller stressed that the US has been "clear, consistent, and unequivocal that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian land.
- Ben-Gvir challenges the US
Both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich issued a retort, brushing off the criticism.
"I admire the United States of America, but with all due respect, we are not another star in the US flag," Ben-Gvir tweeted, repeating the exact phrase he had previously used to respond to criticism from Washington.
"The United States is our best friend, but before everything else, we will do what is good for the State of Israel: The emigration of hundreds of thousands from Gaza will allow residents [of the border area] to return home and live in security and protect Israeli soldiers," the far-right minister added.
Smotrich claimed in a statement that "more than 70 percent of the Israeli public today supports" encouraging emigration as "a humanitarian solution."
A resettlement policy is necessary, he said, because "a small country like ours cannot afford a reality where four minutes away from our communities there is a hotbed of hatred and terrorism."
Israeli far-right is running a massive campaign to convince the public to support displacement.
The right-wing newspaper Makor Rishon called on the Israeli writer and historian Yoav Sorek to place the issue of the displacement of the people of Gaza at the top of their attention.
Netanyahu promised to form a working group to study the idea of encouraging voluntary migration for the people of Gaza.
Last October, Israeli media revealed a document prepared by the Ministry of Intelligence, a week after the start of the war, in which it recommended expelling the population of Gaza.
According to the document, Israel must "evacuate the Gazan population to Sinai" during the war, establish tent cities and new cities in northern Sinai for the expelled Gazans, then a buffer zone several kilometers long inside Egypt, and prevent the return of the "population to activities/residences near the border with Israel."
