Bezalel Smotrich

Biography

Smotrich is the current Israeli minister of finance and an adjunct defence minister responsible for expanding defence policy in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Smotrich is also a former Minister of Transport and the leader of the Religious Zionist Party. He previously served as a Knesset member for Yamina — a political alliance of right-wing Zionist religious parties.

Smotrich has carved a controversial niche for himself, particularly through the lens of his far-right and extremist views. His political trajectory has been marked by a fervent opposition to Palestinian statehood, aligning himself with the faction advocating for the annexation of Palestinian territories. This rejection of the internationally endorsed two-state solution is coupled with active support for the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, reflecting a vision that further complicates the already delicate Middle Eastern geopolitical landscape.

One of the most contentious aspects of Smotrich's ideology is his overtly discriminatory stance, evident in his call for housing developers to refrain from selling homes to Arabs. This controversial statement, made during a Knesset Interior meeting in 2015, not only raises concerns about discriminatory practices but also contributes to an environment fostering ethnic and religious tensions within Israeli society.

The Minister's animosity toward Palestinians transcends housing policies, encompassing a wholesale denial of their rights, identity, and history. His refusal to acknowledge the distinct Palestinian narrative not only dehumanizes an entire population but also perpetuates a toxic atmosphere of hostility and intolerance.

Furthermore, Smotrich has advocated measures against Palestinians, including supporting a shoot-to-kill policy for the military when dealing with individuals throwing stones. His unwavering position on these inhumane and illegal measures raises concerns about the potential for excessive use of force and disregard for fundamental human rights in the pursuit of security objectives.

Smotrich’s controversial stance on so-called "price tag" attacks perpetrated by Jewish terrorist settlers, where he stops short of categorizing them as terrorism, has added fuel to the fire. This position has been particularly criticized in the context of incidents like the Duma arson, where a Palestinian family including a baby was burnt alive by settlers.

Dehumanizing remarks by Smotrich, such as his call for the eradication of the village of Huwara after a violent incident, further contribute to a narrative that undermines the dignity and humanity of the Palestinian people. Such inflammatory rhetoric, emanating from a government official, not only exacerbates tensions but also hinders efforts toward peace and coexistence.

Beyond his views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Smotrich has also drawn significant criticism for his regressive stance on LGBTQ+ rights. He has been outspoken in his opposition to the LGBTQ+ community, going as far as to label the LGBTQ+ pride parade in Jerusalem as a "parade of beasts."

Bezalel Smotrich's extremist views, encompassing anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, and anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments, continue to be a source of domestic and international concern, challenging the prospects for a just and lasting resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Evidence of Hate Speech/Incitement:

November 2023: In a letter sent to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Smotrich called for a ban on Palestinians harvesting olives close to Israeli West Bank settlements, and advocated for the creation of “sterile” no-go areas prohibiting the presence of Palestinians in the vicinity of the illegal settlements and major roads that lead to them.

March 2023: Smotrich said the Palestinian village of Huwara should be “wiped out” days after far-right settlers went on a rampage in the occupied West Bank villages, torching dozens of houses and cars in the wake of the killing of two Israeli brothers.

January 2023: Smotrich is said to have “a clear and organised plan to support and encourage settlements in the occupied West Bank, as well as to apply Israel’s sovereignty over the settlements there”.

June 2021: In a tweet, Smotrich published a photo documenting his participation in the flag parade in East Jerusalem, where he was one of the prominent far-right figureheads, in addition to Bentzi Gopstein and Baruch Marzel, who arranged the march and chanted “death to Arabs”, “may your village burn” and threatened the Palestinians with “a second nakba is coming”.

June 2021: In a recent tweet, Smotrich sheds the light on the events taking place in Eviatar and describes the overall scene as a “war crime” and that Arabs are suffocating terrorism and violence against the peaceful Jews who, without any legal grounding, decided out of a sudden, to establish an illegal settlement in Eviatar, demolish the houses of Palestinians and displace them.

2016: In a tweet, later deleted by Twitter, Smotrich supported the segregating of Jewish and Arab women in maternity wards. “It’s only natural my wife would not want to lie next to someone who just gave birth to a baby that might murder her baby in another 20 years,” he wrote.

December 2015: Smotrich defends Hilltop Youth members accused of the arson attack that took place in Duma, by saying that it was not a terror attack and “those who label it terror are distorting the facts, inflicting unjustified harm on human and civil rights, posing as UN officials tasked with maintaining order ‘on both sides,' and cheapening the notion of terror”, he added. Such statements promote violence, threaten national security and encourage Jew extremists to carry out attacks on Arabs.