Bezalel Smotrich
Bezalel Yoel Smotrich is an Israeli politician and lawyer who has served as the Minister of Finance since 2022. The leader of the Religious Zionist Party, he previously served as a Knesset member for the Jewish Home and Yamina, leaving in 2023 after resigning under the Norwegian Law, allowing him to remain a minister in the government while his seat in the Knesset could be taken by another candidate from his party.
Standing...
Stories...
Aug 17, 2026
Lean Left
The finance minister controls settlement budgets, outpost legalization, and the coalition funds flowing to far-right causes.
Labor/Meretz cast him as the architect of an annexationist economy that replaces welfare and public services with colonial spending.
Aug 17, 2026
Far Left
He is advancing settlement construction, annexationist budgets, and a new regime for the occupied West Bank.
As finance minister, he is directing war funds toward settlers and deepening apartheid, making him the most dangerous figure for Palestinian rights.
Aug 17, 2026
Lean Left
The finance minister is advancing settlement budgets and insisting Israel retain full security control over Gaza.
For Labor and Meretz, Smotrich's annexation drive and his statements on withholding humanitarian aid are beyond the pale.
Aug 17, 2026
Far Left
He is moving record budgets into settlement enterprise and continues to withhold Palestinian Authority tax funds while new settlement outposts are approved.
Hadash portrays him as the main engineer of de facto annexation, using the finance ministry to erase any future Palestinian state.
Aug 16, 2026
Lean Left
His finance ministry is crafting a 2025 budget that expands settlement funding and cuts public services.
Labor and Meretz see his budget as a direct attack on welfare and a cash transfer to the occupation and his political base.
Aug 16, 2026
Center
A report reveals he repeatedly approved Palestinian bank clearing lifelines only in exchange for settlement expansion, drawing a public jab from Ben Gvir.
Yesh Atid views this as proof that the finance minister uses economic leverage to serve the settlement project rather than security and stability.
Aug 15, 2026
Lean Right
His Religious Zionist party saw three judges appointed to the Jerusalem Supreme Rabbinical Court.
Likud celebrates this as a coalition victory that shifts religious courts to the right and weakens old elites.
Aug 15, 2026
Lean Left
Smotrich is presenting a 2025 budget that deepens settlement budgets and cuts hospital and social welfare inputs.
For Labor/Meretz, Smotrich is the architect of the annexation regime and the economic impoverishment of the periphery and working class.
Aug 15, 2026
Far Left
Smotrich is advancing settlement annexation and settlement budget increases while imposing welfare cuts.
For Hadash, Smotrich's Finance Ministry policies institutionalize occupation and austerity in one hostile package.
Aug 14, 2026
Far Right
The Religious Zionism party leader remains a central coalition figure while the Gaza offensive and West Bank tensions continue.
He is the ideological guarantor for RZ voters that the government will hold the line on security and settlements.