Minister was speaking at an ultra-nationalist youth conferenceby
Jason Ditz*
June 12, 2025
Unusually far-right even in the generally far-right Israeli cabinet, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu has sparked some new controversy today in a speech to an ultra-nationalist youth conference, where he called for Israel to have full control over both Syria and Lebanon, on top of annexing Gaza and the West Bank.
Eliyahu asked the crowd “Do we want Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]? Do we want Syria? Do we want Lebanon? Do we want Gaza?” leading to thunderous cheers and him admonishing that the crowd needs to “shout it out.”
The comments take on more relevance as Israel is already actively occupying parts of southern Lebanon and southwestern Syria, and the far-right is increasingly advocating for an expansion of that.
Israeli Heritage Minister Avichai Eliyahu | Image from Wikimedia
The conference was by the youth organization of the Ribonut organization, which advocates the extension of “sovereignty” over the West Bank and argues that it is immoral to even contemplate a two-state solution. They have called the Gaza War as an “opportunity” for their goals, though they did not previously go so far as to advocate taking Syria and Lebanon as well.
Minister Eliyahu, the grandson of a former Sephardi Chief Rabbi, has made the news several times lately. Last month he said in an interview that he sees no problem with Israel bombing food supplies in the Gaza Strip because “they need to starve.”
That statement didn’t lead to any repercussions politically for Eliyahu, and there hasn’t been any suggestion today’s comments will be any different. Back in 2023, however, he was temporarily suspended from cabinet meetings for a radio interview where he suggested that dropping a nuclear weapon on the Gaza Strip was an option.
Eliyahu is a minister from the Otzma Yehudit party of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has claimed credit for preventing Israel from reaching ceasefires in the ongoing Gaza War.
*Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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