Daniella’s Gazan adventure

I imagine that she must have been extremely pleased with herself as she was skulking across the Gaza border this month. The director and main character of her own little thriller, Daniella Weiss managed to pull it off. Though restricted to Israeli civilians, Weiss claims to have succeeded in entering Gaza and even moving to the old site of the Netzarim settlement, thanks to the help of a few soldiers sympathetic to her cause. Weiss is a veteran, the former mayor of one of the first settlements in the West Bank, an extremist who once argued that former president Reuven Rivlin was not important enough to kill,  and someone who is determined to re-establish a settler presence in Gaza. And with this little operation she managed to embarrass the IDF as well, as she had entered and left Gaza, without the brass realizing what had happened. Moreover, it shows that Weiss has some impressive connections.

If I try to visualize it, I get this image of Daniella walking through Gaza, measuring tape in hand, blueprints under her arm, feverishly walking around envisioning her dream. Gazing towards the west and dreaming of visiting the beach accompanied by soldiers who are obligated to protect her in hostile territory. Looking towards the south and imagining a bustling re-established Gush Katif. Weiss boasted about having 700 families ready to move in and settle Gaza at a moment’s notice. When discussing her tactics for achieving this, she told an interviewer that she would use a tried and proven concept: latching onto a military presence and never leave. Does Weiss realize that she has basically compared herself to a parasite? Of course, it begs the following question: what will happen to the more than two million Palestinians who live there? Weiss had an answer for that. First of all, she claims that the entire Gazan population has lost the right to live there because of the October 7th  terror attacks. Even those Gazans who have dared to protest against Hamas and were persecuted for it – something that most Western media happily ignored throughout the years – need to go. Where should they go then? Well, Daniella suggested that the world would take them in. By now, Weiss’ delusions should be crystal clear to all of us.

So, let us be honest. Despite Weiss’ pride about having 700 families ready to move in, it is a laughable number. Even if we assume that each family consisted of twenty people, that would still leave us with 14,000 people. Most Israelis clearly do not share her dream. Therefore, all the Gazans must leave, so no one will see the embarrassing differences in numbers. Next to the fact that Weiss’ morally repugnant scheme to deport all Gazans is completely contrary to the Jewish values she claims to espouse, there was another vexing issue about her visit to Gaza. While Daniella was walking around, there were 101 hostages stuck in tunnels underneath her feet.

As she was traipsing around Gaza and safely exiting after her little stroll, 101 hostages were and still are languishing there. Shamelessly, she has used October 7th to further her own extremist agenda. Weiss does not care about the hostages, she was already mobilizing support for her Gaza plans in October 2023. Of course, this has always been her interest. Weiss will flout IDF rules when it suits her, but use the army for protection, when she sets up a few tents and ramshackle wooden houses. If her vision is realized, it would only lead to more bloodshed as soldiers and settlers would have to die in Gaza to keep her dream alive.

But the most worrying trend is that Weiss has become respected, organizing conferences attended by members of the government. Of course, I do not mean Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit, their support and participation is a given. No, a sizable number of Likud MKs and even ministers support this harebrained scheme. In the past year, these politicians have had plenty of time to give support to this endeavor and attend meetings, while many of them refuse to look the hostage families in the eye. Unfortunately for them, the latter will not stop reminding them of the fates of their loved ones.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has maintained that it is not in Israel’s interest to occupy and govern Gaza. Nonetheless, even if he truly believes that, it seems that many of his coalition partners and even members of his own party would disagree with him. This government has made narrow, extremist interests their main priority. This is not an Israeli interest. An Israeli interest would be to tackle the crime wave that continues to tear apart Arab Israeli communities. An Israeli interest would be listening to the grievances of the Druze community and working to address them. An Israeli interest would be devising a strategy to repair the economy. An Israeli interest is to protect Jews and all other Israelis against terror attacks. An Israeli interest would be to offer support to the reservists and their families. An Israeli interest would be to bring the hostages home. But, it would seem that many members of the government are more interested in re-settling Gaza.

As we watch this spectacle unfold before our very eyes, it is disconcerting that someone like Daniella Weiss could receive a nod from members of the Israeli government. Just this week she was touring the Gaza border area with United Torah Judaism’s Yitzhak Goldknopf. It is legitimacy which she and her movement do not deserve. Moreover, if Theodor Herzl and David Ben-Gurion could see this, I imagine that they would be very displeased. Ze’ev Jabotinsky would probably frown as well. But this would definitely put a smile on Meir Kahane’s face.