Government officials representing various coalition parties sat down with JNS on the sidelines of the Regavim movement’s 2025 annual gala at Beit Habracha in Gush Etzion on Tuesday night, to share their thoughts on the war in Gaza, and their visions for the “day after.”
Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli (Likud) said that before discussing the “day after,” it is crucial for Israel to achieve a decisive victory.
He explained that antisemitism across the globe exploded after the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre as the haters of Israel derived hope that the Jewish state would be wiped off the map, after they saw Israelis being murdered in the kibbutzim and at the Supernova music festival.
“This is why we can’t end the war in Gaza and have a situation in which Hamas could say, ‘We managed to survive and keep our political power.’ We need to have a clear victory, and they have to be totally defeated,” said Chikli.
The minister added that it is crucial that the Arabs understand they lost the war badly, and Israel must make sure that for the next 100 years, they regret starting it.
Focused on his ministerial role, Chikli said, “The only thing that will provide security for our Jewish community abroad is victory of the Jewish people against radical Islam. Bottom line, this is a war of good versus evil.”
Likud Knesset member Amit Halevi said that Israel has only one option—total control over the Gaza Strip. Israel paid a horrible price in the form of the Oct. 7 massacre as a direct result of the 2005 disengagement from Gaza, he said.
“The real answer is ‘engagement,’ which means Gaza must be under Israeli control, otherwise you can’t defeat Hamas,” he said.
Halevi explained that if Israel doesn’t ultimately control the whole area, it will only be a matter of time before Hamas recruits new fighters into its ranks and builds up its terror capabilities.
The lawmaker made it clear that by total Israeli control, he means more than boots on the ground.
“When I say total Israeli control, it doesn’t mean only security. I’m talking about preventing the extremist education and all of the infrastructure—religious, educational, social. October 7 was the fruit bore from all of that.
“If we don’t want the neo-Nazi monster to rebuild itself,” Israel must be hands on in Gaza, he said.
Halevi said he was in favor of rebuilding Jewish communities in Gaza, as it is part of a general government plan, but the most important thing right now is establishing control.
Wherever a Jewish community is located in Judea and Samaria, that area is demilitarized, and the same would hold true in Gaza, he said.
“Gaza is an important part of our security, and mainly it is part of our biblical rights to be there. Gaza is part of our homeland exactly like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but at this stage it’s all about control,” Halevi said.
Religious Zionism Party MK Simcha Rothman said Israel can end the war in Gaza more quickly by applying sovereignty over Judea and Samaria. Once the enemy understands there is a price to pay for their belligerence, they will no longer want to fight, he reasoned.
However, if sovereignty doesn’t happen until the war’s conclusion, it will be a core issue for the country in the years to come, he said.
“The challenges of sovereignty will keep Israel busy for the next two, three, four years. But we must make sure it happens over Judea in Samaria as a reality on the ground, and not only on paper,” Rothman said.
Otzma Yehudit Party MK Yitzhak Kroizer is also adamant about Israeli sovereignty. He stressed his party, under the leadership of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, has been pressuring Prime Minister Netanyahu to apply sovereignty over all of Gaza.
Israel should not only be focused on retaking the areas where the Jewish communities of Gaza were located before the disengagement, but over the entire Strip, Kroizer said.
Once the Israeli hostages are freed from captivity, the prime minister must assert control over the entire area, he said. He also thinks that Arab emigration from Gaza to other countries is key for restoring Israel’s security.
Krozier said “We have to make it clear, from the river to the sea this is our land. This is the state of the Jewish people. In 1948 and 1967 there was Arab emigration, [and it can happen again]. We cannot allow for the ability of terrorists to carry out attacks again.”
During the event, Regavim presented awards for the protection of Israel’s national lands to six outstanding figures:
• Lifetime Achievement: Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, who co-founded the Sovereignty Movement more than 25 years ago.
• Legal Excellence: The late attorney Doron Nir Tzvi, one of the leaders in the legal struggle for the Land of Israel, who died three months ago.
• Pioneering Settlement: Tchiya and Dudu Klinger, founders of Ma’ayan HaNe’urim Farm in the Negev, established among hostile Bedouin villages, among the first of Israel’s “lone farms.”
• Heroism: Dr. Eitan Ne’eman, a pediatric intensive care physician at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, who was killed in action at the start of the Swords of Iron war in Sderot.
Meir Deutsch, Regavim’s director general, summed up the evening: “The ambitious goal of sovereignty and governance requires deep faith, perseverance and partnership. For the first time, we are seeing this vision become reality on the ground. In Judea and Samaria, the changes are nothing short of historic. … In the Negev, too, we are witnessing unprecedented developments that are beginning to change a decades-old reality.”
