Ahead of Passover and amid the ongoing Operation Roaring Lion, leaders of the Nachala movement on Thursday sent a formal letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, urging the government to adopt a proactive policy to renew Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip on both security and ideological grounds.
Nachala chair Daniela Weiss and co-chair Zvi Elimelech Sharaf wrote that recent security developments demonstrate that military control alone is insufficient. “A territory without Jewish settlement becomes a hub for Islamic terror," they stated, adding that lasting security for border communities cannot be achieved without a civilian presence in Gaza. They described Gaza as an inseparable part of the Land of Israel and called for its transformation into a thriving Jewish region to prevent future attacks.
In their appeal, the movement’s leaders drew parallels to historic Passover Seders that preceded the establishment of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. They cited the well-known Seder held at the Park Hotel in Hebron as a symbolic turning point, arguing that this year’s Passover should similarly mark the beginning of renewed settlement efforts in Gaza.
The Park Hotel massacre was a suicide bombing carried out by Hamas at the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel on 27 March 2002, during a Passover seder. 30 civilians were killed in the attack and 140 were injured.
“Reestablishing Jewish settlement in Gaza is the most decisive response to the strengthening of Hamas," Weiss and Sharaf concluded. “It is essential not only for the security of Israeli communities, but also for Israel’s moral and strategic standing on the global stage."