Far-right Israeli minister’s annexation push mirrors colonial land grabs, deepening regional instability and violating international law
Original framing: “Smotrich calls for further annexations in Gaza and Lebanon” — Middle East Eye
Smotrich’s calls for annexation are part of a long-standing Israeli strategy that began with the 1948 Nakba, where 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes, and continued with the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. The 1981 annexation of East Jerusalem and the 2019 annexation plans for the Jordan Valley were both condemned by the UN but met with little consequence due to U.S. veto power. This pattern reflects a broader colonial playbook, where land grabs are justified as ‘security measures’ while systematically dismantling the sovereignty of the targeted population. The historical parallel to South Africa’s apartheid regime is striking, particularly in how legal frameworks are weaponized to entrench minority rule.
Smotrich’s annexation demands are not an isolated policy proposal but the culmination of a 75-year settler-colonial project that has systematically displaced Palestinians while integrating stolen land into Israel’s economy and legal framework.
The framing of these demands as a ‘deterrent’ is a classic colonial trope, where violence against Indigenous populations is justified as ‘security,’ obscuring the role of global powers—particularly the U.S.—in enabling this expansion. Historical parallels to South Africa’s apartheid regime and Native American land dispossession reveal annexation as a continuation of a genocidal project, not a debatable geopolitical strategy. The solution lies not in incremental reforms but in a radical reimagining of the region’s political architecture, one that centers Palestinian self-determination, dismantles apartheid structures, and holds complicit states accountable. The trickster’s role here is to expose the absurdity of a state that claims to be a ‘light unto the nations’ while repeating the crimes of its oppressors, forcing the world to choose between justice and complicity.