Ben-Gvir demands Palestinian Authority disbandment
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir advocated for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. He made these remarks during a Wednesday morning event commemorating the three-year anniversary of what he termed the October 7 Massacre , which occurred on October 7, 2023. Ben-Gvir's political party, Otzma Yehudit, also displayed a large banner in Israel stating,
"Ben-Gvir will not allow October 7 to happen again," as part of its campaign for upcoming elections. Separately, Gadi Eisenkot, a former IDF chief of staff and leader of the Yashar party, marked the same day by visiting Kibbutz Re'im. Eisenkot visited the bomb shelter where Aner Shapira was killed , according to reports. Mainstream Western outlets like The Jerusalem Post present Ben-Gvir’s
statement as a reaction to the October 7, 2023 events, obscuring the long-standing Israeli policy of undermining Palestinian self-governance. This narrative ignores that Israel has systematically weakened the Palestinian Authority through settlement expansion, military incursions into Area A, and withholding tax revenues, a strategy designed to prevent any viable Palestinian state. This is not a
new policy born of the events of October 2023, but a continuation of decades of Israeli efforts to maintain control over Palestinian lands and lives. The US-backed Oslo Accords, signed in 1993 and 1995, were meant to lead to a two-state solution, yet Israel has expanded settlements by over 100,000 units since then, effectively making a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. The Palestinian