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 4, 2026
Lean Left
Smotrich is approving record settlement budgets and promoting legalization of outposts while cutting social spending in his ministry portfolio.
Labor/Meretz condemn him as the architect of de facto annexation, a direct obstacle to the two-state solution and to Israeli democracy.
Aug 4, 2026
Center
The Finance Minister, who also holds a Defense Ministry portfolio, has not publicly responded to the Blot dismissal or the resulting storm.
His silence despite formal defense responsibilities shows the far-right prioritizes settlement and budget politics over the integrity of the security establishment.
Aug 3, 2026
Far Left
The finance minister is advancing settlement expansion and withholding funds from Palestinian communities while demanding the annexation of the West Bank.
Hadash portrays Smotrich as the architect of de facto annexation, turning the occupation into a religious mission financed by the Israeli budget.
Aug 3, 2026
Far Right
The Religious Zionism party leader now faces coalition fallout from Erdan's threat and Netanyahu's draft announcement.
RZ voters look to Smotrich to hold the right-wing bloc together, preserve settlement policy, and keep the Jewish identity agenda dominant in the next government.
Aug 2, 2026
Far Left
The finance minister is advancing settlement construction and punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Hadash calls out Smotrich's annexation agenda as a direct assault on the possibility of a two-state solution and Palestinian rights.
Aug 2, 2026
Far Right
Smotrich, as Religious Zionism's leader and finance minister, is central to the settlement policy Canada condemned and to right-wing demands on Gaza.
He is championed for defending Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria and pushing back on any deal that treats settlements as illegal.
Aug 2, 2026
Lean Left
Smotrich is advancing legalization of outposts and settlement expansion in the West Bank at the same time the U.S. administration is demanding restraint.
Labor and Meretz see his actions as a deliberate provocation against the international community and a confiscation of any diplomatic horizon for a two-state solution.
Aug 1, 2026
Far Left
He is using his finance powers to fund settlement expansion and to strip budgets from Palestinian communities and left-wing NGOs.
Hadash accuses Smotrich of stealing state resources to entrench apartheid and to make the two-state solution physically impossible.
Aug 1, 2026
Lean Left
Advancing settlement legalization and restructuring the finance ministry budget to deepen West Bank annexation.
For Labor/Meretz he is the main strategic threat to the two-state solution and to equal public funding.
Jul 30, 2026
Center
Advanced de facto annexation in the West Bank through settlement expansion and transfer of authority, bypassing formal sovereignty.
Yesh Atid criticizes Smotrich's policies as destabilizing, inflaming tensions, and isolating Israel diplomatically without legal basis.