Israeli Finance Minister Vows to Expand Settlement Policies to Negev and Galilee

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said that policies his government has implemented in the occupied West Bank will be extended to the Negev and Galilee regions inside Israel, according to a report by Turkey's Anadolu Agency.

The report, published by Anadolu Agency, quoted Smotrich as saying the government's approach in the West Bank would be applied "three times over" in the Negev and Galilee areas.

Anadolu Agency described Smotrich as an "extremist" minister and characterized the described plans as an expansion of what it termed the "Judaization" of these regions, a term used to describe policies aimed at increasing Jewish population and control over land in areas with significant Arab populations.

The Negev, in southern Israel, and the Galilee, in the north, both have substantial Bedouin and Arab populations. Palestinian and rights groups have long raised concerns about land allocation, home demolitions and development policies affecting Arab communities in these areas.

Smotrich, who holds a senior role in the current Israeli government, has previously been associated with settlement expansion policies in the West Bank, which is considered occupied Palestinian territory under international law and where Israeli settlement construction is widely viewed by the international community as illegal.

Further details of Smotrich's specific remarks, including the context, venue and date on which they were made, were not immediately available beyond the Anadolu Agency report.

EGazette could not independently verify the full context of the minister's statements at the time of publication. The Israeli government did not immediately provide additional comment on the report.