PHILADELPHIA, PA – January 5, 2024 – Israeli security, diplomatic, and political leaders presented “day after” plans for Gaza at the Knesset Israel Victory Caucus (KIVC) on Jan. 2. How, they asked, can battlefield victory become a permanent peace?
Created in 2017, the KIVC includes members of the Knesset from both the governing coalition and opposition and is assisted by the Middle East Forum’s Israel Victory Project (IVP).
Zvika Hauser, former head of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, laid out three conditions for victory: expel all Hamas members from the Strip; disarm Gaza of heavy weaponry; and create a buffer zone inside the Strip.
Yisrael and Naomi Weiser, whose son Staff Sergeant Roey Weiser was killed on October 7th, implored that “this war must continue until the IDF’s complete victory without respite to allow the enemy to rearm. Anything less will not achieve the goal for which our son was killed, which was the defense of the State of Israel.”
Ohad Tal, a member of Knesset and co-chairman of the KIVC, said, “It’s time we stop setting for ourselves as a goal more and more tactical victories. Hamas taught us that the time has come for a real and strategic victory. The goal of the war should be that the State of Israel controls the entire Gaza Strip, not temporarily, but permanently. Gaza is part of the State of Israel and should once again be in Israel’s hands.”
They were joined by Iranian opposition leader Vahid Beheshti, who warned, “Soon you will have to deal with the elephant in the room, which is the Iranian government. And you should not be afraid of attacking Iranian bases in Iran. This is the only language it understands.”
“The good news,” said Beheshti, the first Iranian opposition leader ever to address the Knesset, “is that you have an army of eighty million Iranians who are thirsty for freedom and democracy.” “The Iranian government is at its greatest weakness in forty-four years,” he added. “Help us overthrow the government. Try to imagine what the Middle East would look like without the Iranian government – just imagine.”
Nave Dromi, the head of IVP, observed: “We are delighted about the consensus for victory. But now a battlefield victory must become a permanent defeat for our enemies, and not just in Gaza.”
Created in 2015, IVP seeks to steer Israeli policy toward backing a victory over Palestinian rejectionism as the way to resolve a century-old conflict.
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