In Israel’s latest Cabinet, widely considered the country’s most marginal government, one of the figures frequently criticized by the international community is Bezalel Smotrich. While serving as minister of finance, Smotrich also held roles within the Ministry of Defense. As the leader of the far-right Religious Zionist Party (HaTzionut HaDatit), he has consolidated an increasingly radical base in Israel and has become one of the key figures in the formation of recent Netanyahu governments. Through his views, statements and political reflexes, he has emerged as one of the primary actors in the tensions and conflicts caused by Israel.
Born in the Jewish settlement of Hapsin in the occupied Golan Heights, Smotrich spent his childhood and youth in Beit El in the West Bank. Known as an ideological settlement and considered one of the centers of the radical settler movement, Beit El played a significant role in the development of its ideological views.
He received his education at Merkaz ha-Rav, recognized as one of the most important centers of religious Zionist ideology in Israel, which conveys a worldview that fuses Judaism and Zionism around the teachings of Avraham Kook. Smotrich then continued his education at yeshivas (traditional Jewish religious schools) in the Jewish settlements of Jerusalem and Kedumim, developing an ideological foundation that combines uncompromising adherence to religious rules with an active commitment to serving in the State of Israel and its military. He later earned his law degree at Ono Academic College near Jerusalem and obtained his license to practice law.
In 2005, he played an active role in protests against Israel’s plan to withdraw from Gaza and Lebanon, becoming one of the leading figures in demonstrations opposing the evacuation of Jewish settlements. During this period, he was detained by the Shin Bet on suspicion of “Jewish extremism” because he had participated in organizing illegal demonstrations and was held in custody for approximately three weeks. Smotrich, who dedicates a significant portion of his political agenda to Jewish settlements, currently resides in the settlement of Kedumim, which was established illegally by Israel in the northern West Bank in the 1970s.
Smotrich ran on the far-right National Union (Ha-Ihud Ha-Leumi) list in the 2009 elections but failed to win a seat in the Knesset. In 2012, he was active in the organization Regavim, which was established to monitor Palestinian structures in Area C of the West Bank and the Negev and to pursue legal actions to have them demolished under various pretexts. In 2013, Smotrich ran in the elections on the Jewish Home (Ha-Bayit Ha-Yehudi) list. Despite his party’s success, once again he failed to enter the Knesset.
He achieved this goal following the general elections held in March 2015, when he gained prominence for his harsh rhetoric, polemics with other members and policies regarding Jewish settlements, and was elected deputy speaker of the Knesset.
In 2018, following a split within the Jewish Home Party, he assumed leadership of Tkuma, representing the party’s radical wing. In 2019, he entered the Knesset through a unified list within the right-wing alliance and became minister of transportation. His directive to halt public infrastructure work on the Sabbath sparked controversy during his tenure as minister. Though criticized by the secular sector, Smotrich argued that the religious character of the Jewish state must be preserved.
In the March 2021 elections, he ran on a joint list under the name “Religious Zionism Alliance,” alongside Otzma Yehudit led by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the ultra-conservative Noam led by Avi Maoz, and other small parties. Following the formation of the coalition by Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, he declared the new government “illegitimate” and launched harsh attacks, particularly against Bennett, accusing him of being a “traitor” who stole the will of the right-wing electorate to bring the left and Arabs to power.
In the November 2022 elections, the alliance led by Smotrich secured approximately 11% of the vote, winning 14 seats and becoming the third-largest faction in the Knesset. In the new government formed in December 2022, he became minister of finance, and with this role as deputy minister in the Defense Ministry, he became the top official responsible for implementing Israel’s policies in the West Bank and the most authoritative figure regarding Jewish settlements.
Prioritizing his ideological goals in his roles within the Israeli Cabinet, Smotrich secured significant funding allocations for the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and Jewish settlements in the occupied territories during the first budget process. He was also one of the key figures in repealing the provisions of the 2005 Disengagement Law pertaining to the West Bank and paving the way for resettlement in previously evacuated areas such as Homesh. Smotrich, who has described this process as the correction of a historical mistake, has also made decisions to grant retroactive legal status to many outposts established without authorization.
Bezalel Smotrich’s political rhetoric and activities are shaped by a theocratic approach centered on Jewish religious law and an ethnic-nationalist ideology. He is among the leading figures in Israeli politics who openly advocate for a state order based on Jewish religious laws. In a statement made in 2019, he said, "The state of the Jewish people would return to being governed as it did in the days of King David and King Solomon, according to Torah law."
During his tenure as minister of transportation, Smotrich used the phrase, “I work for God, not for Netanyahu.” A few months later, at the Rabbis’ Conference held in Jerusalem, he stated, “We all want the state to act in accordance with the Torah and halakha,” which kept him at the center of criticism even within Israel. In fact, a member of Knesset, Avigdor Liberman, reacted sharply, stating, “It is unbelievable that Minister Smotrich, without batting an eye, has once again declared that if it were up to him and his associates, they would abolish the laws of the State of Israel and impose a state based on halakha upon us.”
Smotrich, who views Israel as a stage in a messianic process of redemption and the fulfillment of the prophecies and prophetic visions described in the Torah, has stated that there is no such thing as a Palestinian people, that this term emerged with the rise of Zionism and that the name “Palestine” is merely a geographical designation belonging to the Romans. He argued that the national goal of establishing a Jewish state in the area stretching from the river to the sea must be presented in a manner that leaves no room for debate or negotiation, and he deemed it imperative to enforce Israeli sovereignty over the entire West Bank and to establish new cities and settlements housing hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers.
He stated that a Palestinian state cannot be established within the borders Israel has defined, that as Jews, they will never abandon the goals of Israel and for this reason, it is the Arabs who must abandon any attempt to establish a different national structure within Israel’s borders.
In this context, he stated that Palestinians within the borders, which he referred to by the biblical names of Judah and Samaria, encompassing the West Bank, have two options: either to “live as individuals who have abandoned their national goals and accepted the authority of the Jewish state,” or “if they do not abandon these goals, they must emigrate to other Arab countries or different nations where they can realize them,” and that otherwise they must be eliminated by security forces.
He reiterated these views regarding the depopulation of Palestinian territories, particularly the West Bank, with the words: “We will continue to fight against the idea of a Palestinian state. This is my life’s mission.”
Smotrich, who frequently envisions an apartheid regime, has even opposed Arab and Jewish women sharing the same maternity wards, stating, “It is perfectly natural that my wife would not want to lie next to the mother of a baby who might one day want to kill my son.”
Unwilling to shy away from describing a newborn baby as a “murderer,” Smotrich has gone so far as to claim that Havara – a town where Palestinian civilians live and which has been devastated by attacks from Jewish settlers – must be completely destroyed and erased from the map. His assertion that starving 2 million people in Gaza – a region under siege for years and one of the greatest examples of genocide in modern times – could be "just and moral" has been characterized by the international community as an inhumane and shameful statement.
Having spent his life in Jewish settlements in the territories occupied by Israel, Smotrich has allocated a significant portion of Israel’s financial resources to the establishment of new settlements, the construction of tens of thousands of housing units and the resettlement of Israelis holding marginal views in these settlements. By redrawing the territorial divisions in the West Bank, he has sought to expand Israel’s de facto sovereignty in violation of international law, and has been actively involved in securing financial resources for the occupation of Gaza and Lebanon as well as for attacks on Iran.
Bezalel Smotrich is one of the Israeli political figures who has transformed his ideological rhetoric into concrete state policies through the critical roles he holds, and who has, from the very beginning, viewed steps that would escalate regional tensions as necessary. His theocratic approach, legitimized through religious references and his exclusionary policies with an ethnic-nationalist character, also demonstrates to the international public Israel’s transformation into an apartheid regime. By developing a discourse centered on Jewish supremacy regarding the Palestinian issue and establishing a conflict narrative grounded in dehumanization, he has positioned himself in opposition to international law through his policies in the West Bank and his rhetoric toward Gaza.
Unending wars and a genocide of more than 70,000 people are quite a natural consequence, as Cabinet positions in Israel have become mere tools for achieving marginal objectives of extremists like Smotrich.
