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The Netanyahu government is threatening to escalate the war in Gaza and occupy the enclave “because the right wing demands it and Netanyahu’s decision has been to simply prolong the life of his coalition at whatever cost,” according to Dan Perry, who formerly led the Mideast, Europe, Africa, and Caribbean bureaus at the Associated Press.
Perry made these remarks during an appearance on ILTV News Insider, just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reversed course and suggested Israel might occupy all of Gaza if the 59 Israeli hostages still being held were not released. Perry argued that occupying a highly hostile territory with more than 2 million Palestinians would not only be “unbelievably costly” but ultimately ineffective.
“Israel left [the Gaza Strip] in 2005 and almost 30 years of full occupation for a reason,” Perry said. “It was because it was a disaster.”
He added that reoccupying Gaza is unlikely to bring the hostages home. Instead, he warned it could increase the risk to the 21 hostages still believed to be alive, while also endangering the lives of more Israeli soldiers. Perry said the most viable path forward would be to support the Egyptian plan to rebuild Gaza, which proposes the return of the Palestinian Authority to govern the Strip in coordination with international peacekeeping forces.
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Offering a contrasting view, Ruthie Blum, a senior editor for JNS, said that Netanyahu’s plan to reoccupy Gaza is “a necessity, which should have happened right from the beginning of the war.”
Blum explained that the reason Hamas has not yet been fully destroyed is due to Israel’s recurring military strategy: entering a location, dismantling its terror infrastructure, and then withdrawing—allowing terrorists to regroup. She described this as a policy Israel has repeated in Gaza over the past 18 years.
“I have a son who fought there so many times, he is going to be 100 years old and still doing that,” Blum quipped.
She emphasized that Hamas values territory above all and that Israel needs military control in Gaza for its own security. While some members of Netanyahu’s coalition support reoccupying Gaza to enable Jewish resettlement, Blum said she does not believe Netanyahu himself will take that step.
She also dismissed the notion that the Palestinian Authority could serve as a credible governing force in Gaza. “When apples grow on cherry trees,” she said, “Hamas will put down its weapons.”
“It’s a farce to say that the PA is a partner for anything,” Blum continued. “We’ve seen it again and again. The PA is responsible for the radicalization of Hamas. The PA teaches the children in their school books to hate Jews, to martyr themselves. The PA pays stipends to terrorist families, including Hamas terrorists. The PA is not a partner for any kind of peace.”
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INSIDER - 06.05.25
(ILTV )
