Minister of National Security Itamar Itamar Ben Gvir, chairman of Otzma Yehudit, spoke at the "Victory Conference," which was held with the participation of thousands at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, calling for a return to the settlements that were evacuated during the Disengagement from Gush Katif and Northern Samaria.
"Nineteen years ago, I moved with my wife, Ayala, to live in Maoz Hayam Gush Katif. We were a young couple who came to fight for the Land of Israel. We heard about the government’s deportation plan at that time, and we left everything and crossed the Kissufim checkpoint to live in the Gaza Strip," said Ben Gvir.
He added, "I remember that then I said that deportation would encourage terrorism. I lay on the road during the demonstrations, shouting that the missiles will reach Sderot and Ashkelon, and I was given an administrative removal order, to keep me away from the area and shut my mouth."
"What didn't they say about us then: that we don't understand security, that I had not been Chief of Staff, and that if so many former chiefs of staff are saying that the Disengagement is a good thing – then it is a good thing. Everything was said there, 19 years ago, when the concept was considered supreme. I wasn't the only one standing there. We all stood, you and your parents, we shouted and warned wherever we could. These were red words, words in red and orange. But they didn't listen and didn't make any plans. So rockets landed in Sderot and Be'er Sheva and Ashkelon and the state of Hamas was established in Gaza. And there is no law and no justice in Hamastan," said Ben Gvir.
He added that even the government did not pay much attention to him: "About a year ago my friends in Otzma Yehudit and I were elected to the Knesset and we joined the coalition. I have been in the cabinet for a whole year and when I said that there should be targeted responses to terrorism in Gaza, they again said that I do not understand security. When I said that workers from Gaza should not be allowed into Israel, they again said that I was not the Chief of Staff, and when I said that Hamas was not deterred, all sorts of experts claimed that if they say that everything is fine, then everything is fine. And again, the same mistake in conception that this time cost us not only in the deportation of thousands of people but in massacre, murder, rape, looting – war."
"Part of our ability to correct this mistake is by recognizing the sin of the conception that brought October the 7th on us and the Disengagement is to return back home. Like my friends from Otzma Yehudit, including my friend Limor Son Har Melech, who are leading a mission to return home, to Gush Katif and Northern Samaria. We need to return to the Land of Israel because it is our home, because this is the Torah and this is the morality and this is historical justice. This is the logic and this is what is right. But today everyone already understands that running away also brings war and if you want there to be no more October 7ths, you have to return home to control the territory, as well as offer a moral and logical solution to the humanitarian problem: encouraging immigration and a death penalty law," he emphasized.
Ben Gvir stressed, "This is not only historical justice towards the murdered, the precious citizens who were uprooted and expelled from their homes in those days and at this time, it is also a picture of our victory and their understanding that we have been here since time immemorial."
Minister Ben Gvir ended his speech by calling on the Prime Minister: "I am addressing you from this stage, Mr. Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. It is a shame to wait another 19 years to understand that we must return to the Gush Katif bloc and Northern Samaria – the role of brave leadership is to make courageous decisions. It is time to return home to Gush Katif and Northern Samaria. It is time to encourage immigration, it is time to win."