Bezalel Smotrich

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Contents

2019–2020
Bezalel Smotrich
Bezalel Smotrich.jpg
Smotrich in 2023
Ministerial roles Minister of Transport

On Palestine and the Palestinians

Smotrich is a supporter of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and opposes Palestinian statehood. [5]

In a 2015 interview Smotrich stated that "The Palestinian Authority is a burden, and Hamas is an asset", [40] [41] [42] [43] 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". [40]

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) [44] 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". [44]

Anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian sentiment

Smotrich's radical views on Jewish-Arab relations are controversial within the Religious Zionist sector. [45]

In July 2015 Smotrich caused controversy by declaring in a Knesset Interior meeting that developers in Israel should not have to sell homes to Arabs. The meeting took place following accusations that Galil Homes refused to sell homes to Arabs in Ma'alot, a northern Israeli town. Smotrich defended the developer, saying that, "Anyone who wants to protect the Jewish People and opposes mixed marriages is not a racist. Whoever wants to let Jews live a Jewish life without non-Jews is not a racist." He added that Jews are the ones deprived in Israel because "they don't get free land in the Negev", a reference to Bedouin. "I believe in God's words. I prefer that Jews make a living and wouldn't sell a house to Arabs." [46]

Smotrich has argued that price tag assaults on Palestinian people or property, while criminal in nature, are not to be classified as examples of terrorism, which he defined as "only violence carried out by an enemy within the framework of war against us". Commenting on a specific case, the Duma arson attack, in which a Palestinian family of 3 were killed, and for which a Jewish settler was indicted, Smotrich stated that to brand such deeds as terrorism causes "mortal and unjustified harm to human and civil rights". [47]

In April 2016 Smotrich tweeted that he supports segregation of Arab and Jewish women in hospital maternity wards: "It is natural that my wife would not want to lie down next to someone who just gave birth to a baby that might want to murder her baby in another 20 years." [48] The tweets were condemned by several Israeli politicians, including opposition leader Isaac Herzog and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett. [49] [50]

Smotrich has advocated a shoot-to-kill policy for the military when they deal with Palestinians throwing stones. Asked what he would do were another intifada to arise, and a Palestinian child were to throw stones, he replied: "Either I will shoot him, or I will jail him, or I will expel him." [51] [23]

In April 2018 Smotrich tweeted that Ahed Tamimi, a 17-year-old Palestinian serving an eight-month jail sentence for assaulting a soldier, incitement, and interfering with a soldier in the line of duty, "should have gotten a bullet, at least in the kneekap". Twitter responded by suspending his account for 12 hours and asking him to delete the tweet, saying that the tweet was "abusive" and could incite harassment. Smotrich refused to delete the tweet, saying that for Twitter, "freedom of speech is only reserved for one side of the political spectrum", and that he stood by his tweet. [52] [53]

In October 2021 he stated to Arab lawmakers that, "You're here by mistake, it's a mistake that Ben-Gurion didn't finish the job and didn't throw you out in 1948." [54]

On his arrival in Great Britain in February 2022, the Board of Deputies of British Jews tweeted him, telling him to go back where he came from. [55]

After the 2023 Huwara rampage on 26 February 2023 Smotrich said, on 1 March, "I believe that the village of Huwara should be wiped out. I believe that the state of Israel should do so, and not, God forbid, ordinary individuals." [56]

In March 2023, speaking from a podium that depicted a map of Israel that incorporated Jordan, Smotrich denied Palestinian identity, saying that there isn't any "Palestinian history or culture", continuing by saying that there is "no such thing as a Palestinian people"; [57] these remarks were decried as "racist, fascist, and extremist" by the Palestinian foreign ministry. [58]

In November 2023 he called for Palestinian-free zones around Israeli settlements in the West Bank, saying that Israel must "create sterile security areas around [Jewish] communities and roads and prevent Arabs from entering them, including for the purpose of olive harvesting." [59] In the same month he called for the "voluntary immigration of Gaza Arabs to the countries of the world" and said that "The state of Israel will no longer be able to put up with the existence of an independent entity in Gaza". [60] On 3 January 2024, Smotrich said that "more than 70% of the Israeli public today supports a humanitarian solution of encouraging the voluntary immigration of Gaza Arabs and their absorption in other countries." [61]

On 27 November 2023 Smotrich said that "there are 2 million Nazis" in the West Bank, "who hate us, exactly as do the Nazis of Hamas-ISIS in Gaza". [62]

In August 2024 Smotrich said that the distribution of aid inside Gaza should be controlled by Israel, adding that "no one in the world would let us starve and thirst two million citizens [of Gaza], even though it may be just and moral until they return our hostages" from the October 7 attacks. [63] His comments were condemned by Germany, the UK and the EU. [64]

Reactions

The European Union's foreign policy chief has requested that some Israeli ministers be sanctioned by the 27 member states of the bloc for their 'hate messages' towards Palestinians. He didn't specify the ministers, but recently he's publicly criticized Ben-Gvir and Smotrich for statements he described as 'sinister'. [65]

Statements about homosexuality

Smotrich opposes gay marriage, and says that he wants to "promote the traditional family". [66] In 2006, Smotrich helped organize a "beast parade", where participants led goats and donkeys through the streets, in opposition to the Jerusalem gay pride parade. [66] In 2015, he referred to homosexuals as "abnormal", stating: "At home, everyone can be abnormal, and people can form whatever family unit they want. But they can't make demands from me, as the state." In the same discussion, he told the audience: "I am a proud homophobe." [16] He later apologized, and retracted his statement, saying: "Someone shouted from the crowd, and I responded inattentively." [67] [68] In July 2015, after a fatal stabbing attack on the Jerusalem gay pride parade, he referred to the march as an "abomination" and a "beast parade". [69] [70] The following month, Smotrich accused LGBT organizations of controlling the media and silencing those who share his conservative views. [71] [69] Ometz, an Israeli NGO, filed a complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee to intervene and investigate Smotrich's comments. [72]

In a leaked recording of a private conversation published in January 2023 by Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, he said: "I won't stone gays [to death], and you won't force me to eat shrimp", and, in an apparent sarcastic remark, said: "I may be a far-right person, a homophobe, racist, fascist, but my word is my bond". [73] [74] [75] He has stated that gay pride parades are "worse than bestiality". [5]

Religious extremism

In July 2016 Smotrich stated he was "not willing to recognize Reform conversions and their fake religion". The comment came following the passing of a Knesset bill permitting local religious authorities to bar non-Orthodox from using public mikvahs for conversion ceremonies, which countered a Supreme Court ruling to the contrary. [76] [77]

In June 2019, while pushing to be appointed Justice minister (after the previous Justice minister had been fired), Smotrich stated: "We want the justice portfolio because we want to restore the Torah justice system", and that the country should aspire to run itself as "in the days of King David". [78] [26] [79] [80]

In August 2019 Smotrich stated: "We [Orthodox Jews] all would want the State of Israel to be run according to the Torah and Jewish law, it's just that we can't because there are people who think differently from us, and we have to get along with them." [81] [82] The United Right (a political alliance of right-wing parties, including The Jewish Home and Smotrich's Tkuma) referred to the negative reaction as a "media lynching", arguing that Smotrich "emphasized that he cannot and isn't interested in forcing it on others". [82] [83] However, Smotrich had said: "The government makes decisions that affect us and impedes our liberties every day; so, it is simply about what decisions are in the public interest enough to justify coercion... We, too, can force our needs on others, provided we are convinced ourselves of the validity of our demands." [84]

Support for conspiracy theory

In November 2022 he voiced support for a conspiracy theory that the assassin of late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, right-wing extremist Yigal Amir, was radicalized and incited to carry out the murder by the Israeli security agency Shin Bet. Likud MK and former Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter criticized the statement as "unhinged from reality". [85]

Support for judicial overhaul

An article by former United States ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk and former Jordanian United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid bin Ra'ad in Foreign Policy argued that the insistence of Israeli right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on curbing the powers of the Supreme Court stems from a desire to "more easily enact his vision of an Israel that extends unimpeded from river to sea", as the court had previously impeded the legalization of Israeli settlements built on privately owned Palestinian land. [86]

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References

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  2. ↑ Fritzhand, Troy (3 August 2023). "Religious Zionism to merge with Jewish Home". The Jerusalem Post . Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  3. ↑ Hezki, Baruch (8 February 2023). "צבי סוכות הושבע לכנסת". Israel National News (in Hebrew). Retrieved 12 February 2023.
  4. 1 2 Sommer, Allison Kaplan (15 January 2019). "Radical Settler, "Proud Homophobe" and Wunderkind: Meet the New Leader of Israel's Far Right". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
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  9. ↑ "Smotrich in the US: Despite all of our differences, we are one". Israel National News. 13 March 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  10. ↑ Haruti-Sober, Tal. בואו נדבר על התואר השני שאין לח"כ בצלאל סמוטריץ [Let's talk about the master's degree that MK Bezalel Smotrich doesn't have.]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 24 January 2021.
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  40. 1 2 Speri, Alice (14 October 2023). "Before they vowed to annihilate Hamas, Israeli officials considered it an asset". The Intercept. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
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  50. ↑ Douek, Daniel (5 April 2016). "Lawmaker Backs Segregated Jewish Arab Maternity Wards". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 10 April 2016.
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  69. 1 2 "Smotrich: LGBT community attacks, slanders anyone who thinks differently from them". The Jerusalem Post. 2 August 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
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  71. ↑ Karni, Yuval (15 August 2015). "Bayit Yehudi MK: Gays control the media". Ynetnews. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  72. ↑ Pileggi, Tamar (16 August 2015). "NGO files complaint against MK for 'Gays control the media' remark". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  73. ↑ Bachner, Michael (16 January 2023). "Smotrich: My voters don't care if I'm a homophobe or fascist; my word is my bond". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  74. ↑ ההקלטות שחושפות: סמוטריץ' משוכנע שפעולות נגד הלהט"ב לא ירחיקו מצביעים [The recordings that reveal: Smotrich is convinced that anti-LGBT actions will not alienate voters]. Kan (in Hebrew). 16 January 2023.
  75. ↑ "Israel's Far-right Finance Minister Says He's 'A Fascist Homophobe' but 'Won't Stone Gays'". Haaretz. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
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  82. 1 2 Oster, Marcy (6 August 2019). "Israeli right-wing lawmaker wants nation to be governed by Jewish law. He acknowledges it won't happen soon". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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  84. ↑ Azulai, Moran (8 June 2019). "Smotrich softens stance on Israel being ruled by Jewish law". Ynetnews.
  85. ↑ "Smotrich comes under fire after blaming Shin Bet for Rabin killing". The Times of Israel . 7 November 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  86. ↑ Indyk, Martin; Hussein, Zeid Ra'ad Al (2 October 2023). "What a Saudi-Israeli Deal Could Mean for the Palestinians". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
Party political offices
Preceded by Leader of Tkuma
2019–present		Incumbent
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