Israel’s nearly two-year-old war in Gaza is showing no signs of abating, with even some of Tel Aviv’s closest friends questioning the real motives behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war plans.

Now, amid widespread international criticism, Netanyahu’s open endorsement of a maximalist “Greater Israel” vision has further unsettled the Arab world.

In a recent interview with an Israeli media platform, i24NEWS, Netanyahu said that he feels he is on a “historic and spiritual mission,” and that he is “very attached” to the vision of the Promised Land and Greater Israel.

“Do you connect to the vision of (Greater Israel)?” Netanyahu’s interviewer and former right-wing MP, Sharon Gal, asks.

“Very much,” the prime minister replies.

“Really?” asks Gal.

“Very much,” Netanyahu repeats.

“It is Greater Israel,” Gal stresses.

Netanyahu then explains his sense of “historic and spiritual mission.”

“If you ask me, we are here,” Netanyahu says, adding, “You know I often mention my father. My parents’ generation had to establish the state. And our generation, my generation, has to guarantee its continued existence. And I see that as a great mission.”

Netanyahu then discusses the sense of purpose among Israelis today, highlighting that sense of purpose among soldiers, including reservists and their wives.

At the end of the show, Netanyahu also accepts an amulet from Sharon Gal showing “a map of the Promised Land.”

Expectedly, Netanyahu’s comments kicked up a storm in the Arab world with strong condemnations from almost all Arab countries.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry denounced Israel’s “expansionist ideas” and warned the international community against “continued blatant violations, which … threaten security and peace at both the regional and global levels”.

While Netanyahu’s comments are recent, the idea itself has a long pedigree and predates even the state of Israel.

What Is ‘Greater Israel’?

While the map on the amulet was not shown, the concept of ‘Greater Israel,’ though not clearly defined, includes all of Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and parts of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

However, in certain more expansionist renderings, the map of Greater Israel also includes parts of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and even Kuwait, stretching as far as the Iraq-Iran border in the East, and Southern Turkey in the North.

The Long Pedigree Of The Idea Of “Greater Israel”

The concept of ‘Greater Israel’ has held constant appeal, even if only within certain ultranationalist sections of the Israeli society, for more than a century.

The concept could be traced back to Theodor Herzl, who is also considered to be the founder of Zionism.

Herzl recorded in his diaries that Eretz Yisrael included not only the traditional Jewish areas within Palestine but also the Sinai, Egyptian Palestine, and Cyprus, with the totality stretching from “the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates”.

The phrase is taken from the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, where God grants Abraham and his descendants a vast expanse of land stretching “from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates.”

As such, the land of Israel would cover not only Palestine, but the Sinai desert, parts of Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, the greater part of Saudi Arabia, and even parts of Southern Turkey.

According to this dogmatic view, rooted in scriptures, the land of Israel, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf in the Southeast, and the Euphrates River in the East and North, was given by God himself for the exclusive use by Abraham and his descendants, meaning the Jews.

Some Israelis refer to a narrower vision mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy (part of the Old Testament), where God instructs Moses to lead the Israelites in taking possession of Palestine, Lebanon, and parts of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria – the so-called ‘Promised Land’.

Yet others invoke the Book of Samuel, which describes lands secured by Kings Saul and David, including Palestine, Lebanon, and sections of Jordan and Syria.

Those who ascribe to this view in a literal sense, the project for Greater Israel is not just a political project; instead, it is the fulfillment of a divine mandate.

However, notwithstanding these grand designs, the state of Israel came into being in 1948, when, following the end of the 30-year mandate for British administration of Palestine, the Jewish Agency declared the territory as the independent state of Israel under Jewish control.

Initially, the UN had allocated approximately 56% of Mandatory Palestine to the Jewish state and 43% to the Arab state, with Jerusalem as an international city (corpus separatum).

However, the Arab states refused to accept the UN plan and the division of Palestine into Jewish and Muslim states. A war ensued, in which Israel emerged victorious, and almost since its inception, by accident or by design, the Jewish state embarked on a path of conquest and expansion.

The Six-Day 1967 War & The Return Of The Idea Of ‘Greater Israel’

Israel’s beginnings on a modest piece of land in Palestine meant that initially, for the first two decades, there was no talk of the idea of ‘Greater Israel’.

However, Israel’s wild success in the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel not only defeated a coalition of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, but also occupied huge chunks of land in all three directions, meant that the idea of the ‘Greater Israel’ was back.

During this war, Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and the Golan Heights in Syria.

These territories, collectively referred to as the “Occupied Territories,” significantly expanded the land under Israel’s control beyond the 1948-1949 armistice lines. Sinai was later returned to Egypt as part of a peace treaty, while the Golan Heights were formally annexed.

The war brought renewed attention to the idea of “Greater Israel”, particularly among religious Zionists.

After the 1967 war, a new political party came into existence in Israel, called the ‘Movement for Greater Israel’, which advocated the formal annexation of all occupied territories and populating them with Jewish citizens.

Since the current Israeli government came to power in 2022, references to “Greater Israel” have become more common, the Middle East Eye reported.

Last year, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was filmed advocating for the expansion of Israeli borders to include Damascus, the capital of Syria.

“It is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus,” he said, invoking the “Greater Israel” ideology.

In a January 2024 recording, Israeli politician Avi Lipkin stated: “Eventually, our borders will extend from Lebanon to the Great Desert, which is Saudi Arabia, and then from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates.”

“And who is on the other side of the Euphrates? The Kurds! And the Kurds are friends. So we have the Mediterranean behind us, the Kurds in front of us, Lebanon, which really needs the umbrella of protection of Israel, and then we’re gonna take, I believe we’re gonna take Mecca, Medina, and Mount Sinai, and to purify those places,” Lipkin added.

At the same time, many lawmakers have discussed a controversial plan that includes moving out millions of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and formally annexing the territory into Israel.

In this context, Netanyahu’s comments will undoubtedly give more fillip to the views of ultranationalist sections within Israeli society.