Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar claimed on Thursday that Gaza belongs to Israel, and that the nearly 2.3 million Palestinians in the enclave are “guests”.
In an interview with the Kan public broadcaster, while explaining the reason why he is considering denying funds to the Israeli film industry, after Israel’s most prestigious film prize, the Ophir Award, went to “The Sea,” a movie about a Palestinian boy from the occupied West Bank who is denied an entry permit to visit the beach in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, Zohar said the movie painted the Israeli forces in a bad light and made Israel look like an “apartheid country that is killing Palestinians”, according to The Times of Israel.
“It’s a movie that depicts a certain reality, that’s the reality of the occupation,” the radio said. “Maybe you have a problem with the occupation, but not with the movie, because the movie doesn’t lie in that regard.”
Zohar claimed that Israel “is not occupying anything”, adding “Judea and Samaria are ours,” using the biblical term for the occupied West Bank.
When asked about the Gaza Strip, and whether the Israeli presence there was considered an occupation, he rejected this, too, saying: “Gaza is also ours. We’re just letting them stay there as guests until a certain point, but Gaza is ours.”
He and other far-right members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition have repeatedly voiced staunch support for occupying Gaza and establishing illegal settlements. Ministers have also claimed that the West Bank and Gaza are part of Israel.
