‘Occupation. Expulsion. Settlement’: Israeli politician campaigns on platform to ethnically cleanse Gaza

A former Israeli lawmaker has published election campaign adverts on public buses bearing the slogan: “Occupation. Expulsion. Settlement.” Moshe Feiglin, chairman of the Zehut party, defended the slogan after it drew criticism online. A longstanding advocate of expelling Palestinians from their homeland, Feiglin said on Instagram that people should get used to his policies. “We will not delete a single comma. Take a very good look at these signs, because they are not going anywhere,” he said. “You read it perfectly correctly, letter by letter: Occupation. Expulsion. Settlement,” he added. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Feiglin said his party would “settle” every inch of what he called the Land of Israel. The hardline politician has built his political career around opposition to a peace agreement with the Palestinians. 'As Hitler said, ‘I cannot live if one Jew is left’. We can’t live here if one ‘Islamo-Nazi’ remains in Gaza' - Moshe Feiglin, Israeli politician He has advocated building the Third Temple on the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, annexing the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and expelling Palestinians. Feiglin served in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, from 2013 to 2015 as a member of the Likud party. He left Likud and established Zehut in 2015. Last month, he signed an electoral agreement with Bezalel Smotrich to merge their parties into a single bloc, ahead of the 27 October elections. The move could secure him a seat in parliament if the alliance wins the projected five to six seats. 'Every baby in Gaza is an enemy' Earlier this week, Feiglin told the Jerusalem Post that he wanted “to see Gaza empty”. “Occupation, transfer all, all the Arabs. I don’t care. They cannot stay there after what they did,” he said. He added that the entire population of Gaza, including babies and children, were the “enemy”, rather than just Hamas. “The baby that will be born in Gaza tomorrow will do exactly the same [as the 7 October attack], God forbid, to your baby that will be born tomorrow in Jerusalem,” he said. “There’s no other way. That’s the reason they live for. That’s what they learn with their mother’s milk.” “You’re not going to change them. You’re not going to educate them,” he added. "The enemy is Gaza, not Hamas.” Speaking to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin said that the entire population in Gaza, children, are the “enemy”, while framing total forced expulsion, permanent annexation, and settlement in Gaza as a moral obligation https://t.co/9yWLSGyoTE — Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) October 6, 2026 Feiglin has made similar remarks in the past. Last year, he said during an interview on Israel’s Channel 14 that “every child, every baby in Gaza is an enemy”. “We need to occupy Gaza and settle it, and not a single Gazan child will be left there. There is no other victory,” he said. In 2024, Feiglin invoked Adolf Hitler while calling for Palestinians to be expelled from the Gaza Strip, describing them as “Islamo-Nazis”. “As Hitler said, ‘I cannot live if one Jew is left’. We can’t live here if one ‘Islamo-Nazi’ remains in Gaza,” he argued. Feiglin has also previously called for the “complete destruction of Gaza, before invading it ... Destruction like Dresden and Hiroshima, without a nuclear weapon,” in an interview with Al Jazeera in October 2023. Copyright © 2014 - 2026 . Middle East Eye. All rights reserved. Only England and Wales jurisdiction apply in all legal matters. Middle East Eye ISSN 2634-2456