Nir Barkat (Israel's Economy Minister; ex-Jerusalem mayor; tech entrepreneur; Likud) — European Parliament address on import reforms (per JNS, Mar 2025): free-market liberalization to cut the cost of living ("What is good for Europe is good for Israel") and an "economic peace" vision ("Palestinians should decide: Do they want the West Bank to become Dubai, or another Gaza?"). The economic-liberal / free-market Likud pole.

What is good for Europe is good for Israel.

Palestinians should decide: Do they want the West Bank to become Dubai, or another Gaza?

[Source is English (JNS, 6 March 2025, reporting his address and remarks at the European Parliament in Brussels on Israel's import reforms; Barkat spoke in English); tier-2, confirmed verbatim against the fetched page.] Declared positions of Nir Barkat — a high-tech entrepreneur (one of Israel's wealthiest politicians), the former mayor of Jerusalem (2008–2018), and Israel's Minister of Economy and Industry (Likud). Barkat is the leading FREE-MARKET / ECONOMIC-LIBERAL voice of the Israeli right: as Economy Minister he champions import liberalization, regulatory alignment with the EU, and competition/deregulation to lower Israel's high cost of living — "What is good for Europe is good for Israel" — applying a businessman's market logic to government. He extends the same economic-centric worldview to the conflict, favoring ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT and prosperity over political-territorial concessions ("economic peace"): he wants to expand the Abraham Accords and argues "Palestinians should decide: Do they want the West Bank to become Dubai, or another Gaza?" (pairing this with ideas like a "tribal federation" rather than a sovereign Palestinian state). This is the ISRAELI ECONOMIC-LIBERAL / FREE-MARKET / "ECONOMIC-PEACE" pole within the Likud right — pro-market reform, competition and trade at home, and development-led stabilization abroad — a distinct ECONOMIC axis not captured by the security (Israel Katz), settler (Orit Strock), religious (Avi Maoz) or populist (Miri Regev) right. [Axes: economy (free-market liberalism; import liberalization; competition / deregulation; lowering the cost of living; a business-first approach to the state), Israel-Palestine (economic peace / prosperity over statehood; expanding the Abraham Accords; "Dubai not Gaza"; against a sovereign Palestinian state — a "tribal federation" instead), foreign-trade (EU regulatory alignment; export-led growth), governance (applying private-sector / entrepreneurial methods to government).]