OCCUPIED AL-QUDS (Dispatches) -- Israel’s Sephardi chief rabbi David Yosef has denied the existence of Palestinians as a people and declared they “have no rights” during an address at the Gush Katif Museum here, while laying Jewish claim to Gaza and cities across the occupied West Bank.
“There is no such thing as a Palestinian people and they have no rights,” Yosef said, according to reports of the speech.
The chief rabbi also called for the destruction of Gaza and the establishment of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian enclave, joining growing calls from senior Israeli officials and far-right political and religious figures for the re-establishment of settlements in Gaza and the displacement of its Palestinian population.
The location of Yosef’s speech carries particular significance. The Gush Katif Museum commemorates the bloc of Israeli settlements that existed in the Gaza Strip until Israel dismantled them as part of its 2005 disengagement from the enclave.
Calls for rebuilding settlements in Gaza have moved increasingly into mainstream Israeli political discourse during the genocidal war that began in October 2023. 
Far-right insecurity minister Itamar Ben-Gvir recently reiterated that vision, saying he wanted Israeli settlements established “throughout Gaza” while calling for Palestinians to leave the enclave. 
Terrorist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and other Israeli political figures have likewise advocated renewed settlement in Gaza and what they describe as the “emigration” of its Palestinian population.
Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned Yosef’s statements as “hate-filled,” warning that rhetoric denying Palestinian existence and rights carries particular consequences amid the continuing war on Gaza.
“It is profoundly disturbing that a religious leader would deny the very existence and basic rights of an entire people,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said.
“Such rhetoric dehumanizes Palestinians and helps create an ideological and religious climate in which genocide is normalized and justified,” Awad added.
Awad stressed that Palestinian identity and rights were not matters for Israeli political or religious authorities to determine. 
“Palestinians are a people with a deep-rooted history, culture, identity and connection to their homeland. Their existence and their human rights are not matters for anyone to grant or deny.”
“The denial of Palestinian humanity and rights must not become normalized,” he added.