Bezalel Yoel Smotrich (; born 27 February 1980) 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.
Smotrich is a settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, living in the settlement of Kedumim, which is illegal under international law. His residence was also built illegally outside the settlement proper.
Smotrich's statements, often dubbed "racist" and "homophobic", have led to several controversies. As part of the Israeli far-right, he is a supporter of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, opposes Palestinian statehood, and denies the existence of a Palestinian people. As minister with powers in the occupied Palestinian territories, he has led clandestine Israeli efforts to annex territories in the West Bank, first as a fait accompli, then by force of law.
Biography
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. His other 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 although he made several public statements proclaiming to have a master's degree in public and international law from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 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.
Political activism 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. This account was corroborated by Dvir Kariv, who was an agent with Shin Bet at the time.
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 Regavim, a non-governmental organization 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.
Political career 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 what was described as a "landslide victory". Smotrich won 83 votes, with Ariel winning 40 votes.
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 from 2015 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. He was appointed the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety.
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.
He was also expected to be given a position within the Ministry of Defense, which would give him "authority over civil affairs in the West Bank". 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 master of the house 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". He stated that "Gaza will be under Israeli control" after the Gaza war. On 14 November 2023, Smotrich called for a "voluntary emigration" of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other countries, stating that Israel would "no longer be able to accept the existence of an independent entity in Gaza".
Smotrich was expected to return to the Knesset in early 2025, pushing out Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer, which would have balanced out the amount of Knesset seats belonging to Otzma and RZP, following Otzma's withdrawal from the government, but Smotrich withdrew his resignation before it came into effect as negotiations were underway.
He was expected to submit his resignation in April 2025; if he had, Otzma Yehudit MK Yitzhak Kroizer would have been expelled from the Knesset. Smotrich withdrew his pending resignation as Netanyahu made a deal that would enable Almog Cohen to resign instead, with former MK Zvi Sukkot returning to the Knesset.
In February 2026, the government approved Smotrich's directive of increasing the VAT exemption ceiling on imports from $75 to $150, which proved unpopular with business owners as they were set to protest the decision. After the Knesset struck down the approval with a 59–25 vote, Smotrich circumvented the ruling by increasing the VAT rate to $130, citing the measure as a way of lowering the cost of living in Israel. Subsequently, the Knesset, with a vote of 59–23, struck down the proposal for a second time.
Sanctions On 10 June 2025 the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway announced that they would impose travel bans on Smotrich and freeze his assets alongside National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, accusing them of inciting settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. The decision was criticized by the two ministers and the United States. Smotrich responded to the sanctions by ordering accountant general to cancel a policy that enabled correspondence between Israeli and Palestinian Authority banks. The move was reported to be an effort to collapse the PA's economy. In July 2025, he was also sanctioned by the governments of Slovenia and the Netherlands. In September 2025, the government of Spain sanctioned him. In June 2026, the governments of Ireland and France sanctioned him.
Political positions
Palestine West Bank Smotrich is a supporter of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and opposes Palestinian statehood.
In a 2015 interview Smotrich stated that "The Palestinian Authority is a burden, and Hamas is an asset", noting that, while the PA was harming Israel in international forums, Hamas' status as a terrorist organization meant that "no one will recognize it, no one will give it status at the [International Criminal Court], no one will let it put forth a resolution at the U.N. Security Council".
According to journalist Ron Ben-Yishai, in his dual role as finance minister and adjunct minister in the Ministry of Defense, Smotrich intends to implement ideas set forth in his "Decisive Plan" (2017) which, according to Ben-Yishai, foresees: "Flood[ing], simply so, the areas of Judea and Samaria with settlements and Jewish settlers. When this happens, the Palestinians are supposed to understand that they have no chance to get a state of their own, and they would have to choose between one of the three options – a life of subjugation under Israeli rule, emigration, or a shahid [martyr] death".
In August 2025 Smotrich announced the resumption of the 3400-home settlement plan in the E1 area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. By creating a physical link between Ma'ale Adumim and Jerusalem, international observers and the Palestinian Authority condemned the approval of the plan as it would seemingly "bury the idea of Palestinian state". Smotrich controversially reiterated this intention, stating before the plan's final approval that the recognition of a Palestinian state "will receive an answer from us on the ground", and the idea of a Palestinian state was "being erased". Alongside the planned resumption of the E1 plan, Smotrich also announced the approval of 350 homes to be built in Asa'el, an Israeli settlement.
Ahead of the intended recognition of the State of Palestine by several nations in September 2025, Smotrich called for Israel to annex "roughly 82 percent of the West Bank". Through potential annexation, Smotrich highlighted that the Palestinian Authority could "continue to run their own affairs" on a local level, but that the "territory would be ours".
As a result of certain clauses of the Disengagement Plan Implementation Law relating to the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip being repealed in March 2023, the Israeli security cabinet approved a proposal backed by Smotrich and Israel Katz in December 2025 for the establishment of 19 new settlements in the West Bank area. The approval included the re-establishment of all former Israeli settlements in the West Bank (notably Kadim and Ganim), with the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration agency also announcing the eventual construction of 126 housing units in Sa-Nur. Smotrich highlighted that "We are eradicating the disgrace of the expulsion from northern Samaria and are settling the Land of Israel anew".