A radical campaign that began in 2023 is entering its final phase.

After Hamas massacred some 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, the Israeli settler right converged on a plan. In 2005, Israel had uprooted about 8,000 settlers from Gaza, ceding the territory to Palestinian control. Many of the settlers never forgave the state for removing them; now they saw a chance to return. And so while other Israelis mourned, the hard right went to work, methodically building a political movement to retake the Gaza Strip, annex it, and repopulate it with Jewish settlements. As I warned in late 2023, these activists planned on “displacing or expelling Palestinians,” and their dream was “not restricted to the political fringes, and should not be expected to stay there.” Since then, more than a third of the lawmakers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government have joined the cause.

The Israeli security establishment opposes this land grab. So do most Israelis, surveys have found for years. That dissent spilled into view last week when thousands of settler activists toured the Israeli border region near Gaza. “I hear these things and I’m horrified,” a soldier tasked with protecting the group told a reporter. “It’s revolting, because I know that my friends and younger brother are the ones who will guard those settlements.” Referring to one of the activists, he added: “My greatest fear is that your vision will come true, and that keeps me up whole nights. I don’t want my friends to sacrifice their lives for a goal that sanctifies the death of innocent people.”

But popular opinion may not matter, because Netanyahu is not responsive to popular opinion.