Friends,
As the details of Netanyahu’s “total victory” plan for Gaza come into sharper focus, it’s looking more and more like a catastrophic plan for permanent occupation – a goal long championed by the most extreme members of his government.
Netanyahu took another dramatic step in that direction yesterday – and we should be very clear about what that means for the hostages, Palestinian civilians and Israel itself.
Netanyahu’s war cabinet has now approved plans to “capture” and potentially fully re-occupy the entire Gaza Strip.
It’s a plan the Hostage and Missing Families Forum has condemned as “choosing territory over the hostages” and which right-wing ministers have championed as a step toward depopulation, settlement and annexation. Netanyahu and his extremist ministers have repeatedly said that the hostages are not their only priority.
“Once we occupy and remain in the Gaza Strip, we can start talking about sovereignty,” Bezalel Smotrich told his allies today. “The only aid that ought to enter Gaza should be for voluntary migration,” Itamar Ben-Gvir said.
While details are still emerging, it appears that Netanyahu’s plan is to force the entire Palestinian population into smaller and smaller areas of territory. After more than two months of a blockade on all medicine and food from every entry point into Gaza, the plan includes limited food distribution points in Gaza’s south.
Meanwhile, the government is now calling up tens of thousands of reservists – many weary from multiple deployments already – in order to operationalize the plan in the coming months.
Let’s not beat around the bush: This is a plan for endless war and a strategic quagmire.
It will be a human catastrophe first and foremost for families trapped in Gaza – already suffering through bombing, starvation and repeated displacement – but it’s a disaster for Israelis as well.
A government explicitly putting territorial control ahead of the lives of the hostages. No day-after plan to actually ensure the defeat of Hamas. Thousands more Israelis sent back to the frontlines of a war that just months ago had been halted by a ceasefire and hostage deal framework.
Meanwhile, as Netanyahu drags Israel further and further into a strategic and moral abyss, the Jewish homeland is alienating itself from the next generation of diaspora Jews and finding itself increasingly isolated internationally.
All of this in service of leaders more concerned with holding their right-wing coalition together and pursuing a vision of ‘Greater Israel’ than for the will and welfare of their own people.
Right now, we are still at a crossroads: Restoring the hostage deal and ceasefire framework is still possible – but it will take strong and broad outcry both in Israel and the United States, and a far tougher response from Trump, who will soon visit the region.
We’re working with hostage families and pro-peace allies in Israel to support and amplify their efforts, and will be pressing for action here as well.
Together, we have to ensure our community, our country and our leaders understand what’s at stake. That this ‘plan’ is a short-sighted and politically driven path to disaster. That the risks are immense not only to our vision and values for a better future, but for Israelis themselves.
Here’s how you can take action now:
📩 Forward this email to your networks – or share the blog post version on our website. Here’s the link.
💙 Consider setting a monthly contribution to J Street to help us build our movement and strengthen our advocacy both in our communities and on Capitol Hill. Set a monthly contribution here.
📚 For more on the realities of this next phase of the war, and the alternatives that still exist, I want to share this piece from J Street Policy Fellow and former US Special Envoy Frank Lowenstein. You can read, share and subscribe here.
📖 And finally, read and share deeper analysis of Netanyahu’s plan on my Substack, including a closer political comparison to the military quagmires America faced in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can read, share and subscribe here.
Thank you, sincerely, for standing with us in this critical moment.
Ilan Goldenberg
Senior Vice President and Chief Policy Officer
