May 5th, 2025 –
Early this morning, Netanyahu’s cabinet announced that it had voted unanimously to drastically expand military action in the Gaza Strip, ethnically cleanse large parts of the area, lay the groundwork for mass deportation, and set the stage for indefinite military occupation. This announcement was quickly followed by several cabinet members’ publicly indicating that their desire is the long-term Israeli settlement of Gaza. This plan is nothing short of a moral abomination.
The dramatic escalation is rooted not in Israel’s legitimate right to security, but in its current extremist government’s desire for domination of all territory between the river and the sea, and its delegitimization and dehumanization of the Palestinian people.
We recognize that this escalation is also a decision to deprioritize the Israeli hostages and put their lives in even greater danger. This was the categorical warning delivered to the Israeli Security Cabinet by the recently appointed Israeli army chief-of-staff, Eyal Zamir – a warning that was flatly ignored. We echo the condemnation of the government’s decision issued by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, and continue to stand with the hostage families.
Even as the Israeli cabinet announced today that it will continue to defer the establishment of a state commission of inquiry into its own lapses on October 7th, 2023, Prime Minister Netanyahu has again promised the Israeli people that the answer to their fears is more military pressure, and that “total victory” is just moments away. We know that the only real path forward for the region is not more bullets and bombs, but a diplomatic pathway that starts with an immediate bilateral ceasefire and that must lead to a regional arrangement that recognizes and provides for the equal right to safety, security, freedom, and self-determination of all people dwelling in the Land.
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