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...
Sep 15, 2026
Far Left
Finance Minister Smotrich is advancing plans to legalize outposts and expand settlements, while also blocking funds to Arab municipalities.
Hadash sees Smotrich as a key driver of apartheid policies and calls for international sanctions against him and his settler enterprise.
Sep 14, 2026
Far Right
Threatening to leave the coalition if any hostage deal includes a Palestinian state or settlement freeze.
He is the guardian of settlement expansion and religious Zionism's coalition power, praised for standing firm against American pressure.
Sep 14, 2026
Lean Left
Smotrich is advancing settlement plans and demanding sweeping powers over West Bank civil administration as finance minister.
Labor and Meretz see him as a dangerous far-right ideologue whose policies entrench occupation and undermine any two-state solution.
Sep 14, 2026
Far Left
Smotrich is advancing settlement construction and withholding funds from Arab municipalities as Finance Minister.
Hadash sees Smotrich as a racist extremist whose financial policies deepen inequality between Jewish and Arab citizens.
Sep 12, 2026
Lean Right
No direct article, but as Finance Minister and Religious Zionist leader he influences West Bank policy and judicial appointments.
Likud's right flank views Smotrich's push for settlement expansion and religious Zionist judicial appointments as fulfilling the electorate's mandate, even as it strains relations with Washington.
Sep 12, 2026
Lean Left
Smotrich promotes settlement expansion and judicial overhaul while serving as finance minister.
The left sees him as a messianic extremist whose economic policies hurt the poor and whose annexation plans kill any hope for peace.
Sep 12, 2026
Far Left
Smotrich is advancing settlement expansion plans and tightening control over West Bank civilian administration as Finance Minister.
Hadash condemns Smotrich for formally annexing West Bank territory through administrative means and strangling Palestinian economic life.
Sep 11, 2026
Far Right
Finance Minister and Religious Zionism leader advocates for settlement expansion, recently celebrating vineyards in Samaria.
He is the political standard-bearer for the movement, pushing sovereignty and settlement as the answer to security and international pressure.
Sep 11, 2026
Lean Left
The finance minister and Religious Zionism leader continues to push for West Bank annexation and settlement expansion, clashing with the US administration.
Labor and Meretz view Smotrich as the architect of de facto annexation and a threat to any future two-state solution, and his economic policies are criticised for deepening inequality.
Sep 11, 2026
Far Left
Smotrich, as finance minister and overseer of West Bank settlements, is expanding settlement construction and blocking funds to Arab municipalities.
Hadash views Smotrich as a fascist settler ideologue whose policies entrench apartheid and deliberately impoverish Palestinian citizens of Israel.