As Israel’s relentless, U.S.-backed slaughter continues in Gaza, two events this past week sharply exposed the genocidal intent driving this slaughter, and full U.S. support for it. 

One: Israel’s Finance Minister says that eliminating “the problem of Gaza” by “relocating” Palestinians—NOT “freeing the hostages”—is Israel’s main goal

Israel has tried to justify its slaughter in Gaza by focusing public attention on the plight of its hostages there. “In international media, government spokespersons frequently cite the hostages as the primary reason for the ongoing war in Gaza,” the Israeli newspaper Haaretz writes.¹

On April 21, Israel’s powerful Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, blew a big hole in this lie by speaking an “inconvenient truth,” as Haaretz put it. Smotrich admitted that saving the hostages was not Israel’s “most important goal.” 

“We have promised the Israeli people that at the end of the war, Gaza will no longer be a threat to Israel,” Smotrich said. “We need to eliminate the problem of Gaza.”

And how should Israel eliminate the “problem” of Gaza according to Smotrich? Israel should focus on fully taking control of the Gaza Strip and relocating the local Palestinian population out of the coastal enclave, Haaretz reports, “rather than prioritizing the rescue of the hostages.” And then re-populating Gaza with Jewish settlers. 

In short, genocidal ethnic cleansing!²

Two: “Trump-Washing” Terror and Genocide—U.S. Cracks Down on Foreign Students, Welcomes Rabid Israeli Advocate of Genocide

The Trump/MAGA fascist regime has been busy clamping down on foreign students who want to study in the U.S., but it saw no problem in welcoming a rabid racist, terrorism-supporting advocate of genocide against the Palestinian people. 

We’re talking about Israel’s National Security Minister and key member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s cabinet, Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir is a fascist Jewish settler from the occupied Palestinian West Bank. He’s called for the deportation of all Palestinian citizens of Israel, and for years displayed a photo of Baruch Goldstein, the Zionist fanatic who massacred 29 unarmed Muslim worshippers in Hebron in 1994.

Ben-Gvir began a 10-day trip to the U.S. on April 21. He landed in Miami and attended a lavish fundraising dinner with leading Republicans and businessmen at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate (Trump wasn’t there). Ben-Gvir, who oversees Israel's prison system and police, also toured the Everglades Correctional state prison and met with the Miami Police Department. He’s spoken before Jewish groups in New Haven, Connecticut (near Yale), and Brooklyn, and will be heading to Washington DC. 

Ben-Gvir hasn’t been hiding his views. He’s said Israel should bomb food storage facilities in Gaza. He’s said that Israel should implement Trump's plan to forcibly relocate Gaza’s Palestinians to other countries. He’s bragged about hardening of prison terms for Palestinian prisoners, saying they had "lost weight" since he took office. He posted on X that his audiences “expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid depots should be bombed in order to create military and political pressure to bring our hostages home safely.”

Ben-Gvir has been met with protests and denunciations, in particular by Jewish people, everywhere he’s gone. One rabbi said his congregation had been “shaken” by Ben-Gvir’s visit. "It's absurd that while students are silenced, Ben-Gvir is getting a welcome."³

Ben-Gvir may not have met with Trump and top regime officials this time around, but his visit itself represents a big “thumbs up” from the Trump regime for Israel’s fascists and their depraved genocide of the Palestinian people.⁴

As if to underscore the message, a few days before Ben-Gvir landed, the Trump administration approved the sale of the thousands of assault rifles destined for Ben-Gvir. These rifles are likely to be used to escalate the violent terror and forced displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank.⁵