Human Rights Organizations: Smotrich’s Threat to Egypt Violates International Law; Sinai Residents Have the Right to Return and to Safety on Their Land

The undersigned organizations strongly condemn the recent statements made by Israeli Finance Minister and Security Cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich about Sinai. In a video interview on October 5, 2026, the minister stated: “What will cause Egypt not to attack us? They know that if they attack, there will be no Sinai.” He added, “It won’t happen again. There is no Begin,” in a reference to the former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who signed the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty with the late President Anwar Sadat, an agreement under which Israel withdrew from the Sinai Peninsula.

Following these remarks, Egyptian news outlets reported on October 7, 2026, citing a well-informed Egyptian source whose identity was not disclosed that Egypt rejects the invocation of Sinai in the Israeli minister’s statements. The source described Smotrich’s comments as an escalatory move aimed at achieving electoral gains and reaffirmed Egypt’s rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. As of the issuance of this statement, the Egyptian government has not issued an official public response to this direct threat, which concerns a territory inhabited by hundreds of thousands of its citizens.

The organizations assert that these statements constitute a violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which prohibits not only the use of force against the territorial integrity of any state but also the threat to use such force. The fact that the threat was framed as a response to a hypothetical attack does not alter this assessment. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) established in its Advisory Opinion of July 8, 1996 (paragraph 47) that a threat of force becomes unlawful if the force threatened is itself unlawful. This applies to Smotrich’s statements, in which he alluded to wiping out an entire territory inhabited by hundreds of thousands of civilians, an action that violates international humanitarian law principles of necessity and proportionality, which must be followed even in cases of self-defense. The gravity of these statements is compounded by the fact that they were made by an Israeli minister and member of the Security Cabinet, rather than a marginal figure.

Furthermore, the minister’s remark that “there is no Begin,” referencing the Israeli withdrawal from Sinai, implies a threat of permanent occupation or annexation of sovereign Egyptian territory. Such actions are categorically prohibited under international law as the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by force is a customary rule binding on all states. This was affirmed by the ICJ in its Advisory Opinion of July 9, 2004 (paragraph 87), and the rule admits no exceptions, not even in cases of self-defense. This is the same principle upon which the UN Security Council based Resolution 242 (1967) regarding the territories occupied by Israel that year, including Sinai.

These statements come from an official who had previously called, in 2023, for the wiping out of the Palestinian town of Huwara, which led the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway to impose sanctions on him in June 2025 for inciting violence. This also occurs against the backdrop of escalating and repeated rhetoric from Israeli officials calling for the displacement of Gaza Strip residents to Sinai. The signatory organizations firmly reject this proposal on the basis of international law rules that prohibit the forced displacement of civilians, whether to or from Sinai.

The undersigned organizations recall that local residents in Sinai have paid a heavy price in terms of their rights over the past decade: tens of thousands of residents from the cities of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid remain barred from returning to the lands from which they were forcibly displaced, amid a continued closure of the area to independent press and civil society organizations. They affirm that the right of Sinai residents to return to their lands is a constitutional right as Article 63 of the Egyptian Constitution prohibits the arbitrary forced displacement of citizens in all its forms. They further reiterate that any development projects in Sinai must be designed with resident participation and consent and must serve their economic empowerment, rather than being implemented at the expense of their right to their land.

The signatory organizations call on the Egyptian government to:​​​​​​​

• impose punitive measures against the Israeli minister Bezalel Smotrich, following the example of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Norway, in response to his statements threatening the unity and integrity of Egyptian territory and the security of its inhabitants; and
• enable Sinai residents to return to the lands from which they were displaced, while ensuring fair compensation and full redress for the harm they have suffered.

Signatories:

1. Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
2. Refugees Platform in Egypt
3. El Nadeem Center