Bezalel Smotrich

Bezalel Yoel Smotrich (בְּצַלְאֵל יוֹאֵל סְמוֹטְרִיץ׳, born 27 February 1980) is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who has served as the Minister of Finance since 2022.

The leader of the National Religious Party–Religious Zionism, he previously served as a Knesset member for Yamina.

Smotrich is a settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, living in the settlement of Kedumim, which is deemed illegal under international law.

His residence was also built illegally outside the settlement proper.

Smotrich's extremist politics and often racist and homophobic statements have led to several controversies.

He is a supporter of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, opposes Palestinian statehood, and denies the existence of the Palestinian people.

Smotrich was born in Haspin, a religious Israeli settlement in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, and grew up in the Beit El settlement, deemed illegal under international law, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

His last name is derived from the Ukrainian town of Smotrych, where he says his ancestors lived.

His grandfather Yaakov immigrated to Mandatory Palestine before World War II, and subsequently lost his parents, who drowned on an Aliyah Bet ship trying to reach Palestine, while his grandmother Bruria survived the Holocaust before immigrating to Israel.

According to former Shin Bet deputy chief Yitzhak Ilan, who interrogated him at the time, during the protests against the Israeli disengagement from Gaza, Smotrich was arrested in 2005 while in possession of 700 litres of gasoline on suspicion of participating in an attempt to blow up Ayalon Highway, a major arterial road.

He was held in jail for three weeks but not charged after refusing to speak.

In 2006, he helped organize the "Beast Parade" as part of protests against a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, although he later admitted regret at the incident.

He is co-founder of the NGO Regavim, which monitors and pursues legal action in the Israeli court system against constructions undertaken by Palestinians, Bedouins, and other Arabs in Israel and the West Bank without Israeli permits.

His grandfather Shimon was a 13th-generation native of Jerusalem, and his grandmother Sara was born in Metula to a family of Zionist pioneers.

Smotrich's father was an Orthodox rabbi, and Smotrich received a religious education, attending Mercaz HaRav Kook, Yashlatz, and Yeshivat Kedumim.

During his short service in the Israel Defense Forces, he served as a secretary in the Operations Division of the General Staff.

He earned a BA in law from Ono Academic College, and began a master's degree in public and international law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, though he did not complete it.

He is licensed as a lawyer.

Smotrich is an Orthodox Jew, and is married to Revital, with whom he has seven children.

The family lives outside the Kedumim settlement in the West Bank, in a house that was illegally built outside state land and in breach of the settlement's master plan.

In the build-up to the 2015 Knesset elections, Smotrich won second place on the Tkuma list after party leader Uri Ariel.

The party ran in the elections as part of the Jewish Home, with Smotrich placed eighth on its list for the elections.

He was elected to the Knesset as the party won eight seats.

In 2018, he announced that he would challenge Uri Ariel for the leadership of the National Union faction.

On 14 January 2019, he defeated Ariel in a landslide victory.

He is said to have played a key role in Israeli legislation to legalize the annexation of Palestinian lands and a law banning advocates for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement from visiting Israel.

Smotrich is a co-sponsor of proposed legislation change stating that sources of Jewish religious tradition such as the Torah have to be considered when dealing with legal matters that cannot be decided by legislation or court rulings.

Other sponsors of this legislation are Miki Zohar from Likud, Yoav Ben-Tzur from Shas, and Nissan Slomiansky from The Jewish Home.

In June 2019 Smotrich campaigned for the Ministry of Justice, saying that he sought the portfolio to "restore the Torah justice system."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from the comments, and appointed openly gay MK Amir Ohana to the post.

According to Channel 13, Smotrich subsequently requested the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, but was not granted the position due to fears that he would strain ties between Israel and the Jewish diaspora.

Smotrich initiated legislation which passed in the Knesset calling for government ministers, Knesset members, judges, senior military personnel, and police officers to declare their assets every six years.

On 21 November 2022, in a compromise with the Religious Zionist Party, it was reported that Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu would appoint Smotrich as Minister of Finance in Netanyahu's incoming government.

In February 2023 he was entrusted with a large part of the administration of the occupied West Bank.

His mission is to develop the settlements and unify their administration with that of the Israeli territory.

After a Palestinian attack on settlers, he called for "striking the cities of terror and its instigators without mercy, with tanks and helicopters".

He also said that Israel should act "in a way that conveys that the landlord has gone crazy".

On 30 October 2023 Smotrich froze the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority.

The move was criticized by the United States.

On 5 November 2023 Smotrich expressed support for the blockade of the Gaza Strip, saying that fuel will not enter Gaza "under any circumstances".