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Doha – In a disturbing scene from the recent documentary “Holy Redemption: Stealing Palestinian Land” by Turkish broadcaster TRT World, the leader of a radical Israeli illegal settler group was filmed organizing boat tours for families to view the destruction in Gaza while making genocidal claims about the territory’s future.
“From now on, Gaza will be completely Jewish,” Daniella Weiss, head of the far-right Nachala settler movement, declared to the tour group, which included young children as well as a member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
Son Har-Melech, the member of the Knesset from the Jewish Power Party, was reported to have said, “We will build and witness the settlement of Zion and the settlement of the Israeli people in Gaza.”
The settlers were seen gloating over the harrowing devastation in Gaza due to Israeli bombardment while pointing out areas they aimed to occupy.
The filmmakers stated that their interviews exposed the extremist aims of fringe settler groups, who openly express that Palestinians must be expelled or killed.
“They themselves chose to say that living with Palestinians was impossible, that Palestinians have to leave Palestine, or that the settlers would have to kill them all,” the TRT journalist stated.
The documentary showcased the close ties between Weiss and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and stated that the government turns a blind eye to settler violence against Palestinians.
Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding these allegations.
“We are all very familiar with the settlements, but we have never been shown the mechanics of how they start, with Zionist families living in caravans on hilltops, the Israeli army coming to ‘protect’ them, and then declaring the place as part of Israel,” the documentary’s makers said.
The genocide carried by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in Gaza has taken a horrific human toll. Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed and 95,000 wounded in Israeli airstrikes targeting the densely populated enclave.
Israel says it is targeting Hamas militants, but the documentary showed extensive damage to civilian infrastructure including hospitals, schools, businesses and agricultural land. Thousands more Palestinians are believed to remain trapped under rubble.
While the scale of Palestinian suffering in Gaza is immense, the dehumanizing and inappropriate rhetoric and actions of extremist settlers organizing triumphalist tours to view the destruction risk inflaming an already explosive situation.
Read also: Palestine and the Continuing World Injustice
