Finance Minister of Israel; minister in the Israel Ministry of Defense with West Bank powers
Minister of Finance · Person · Israel · in office since Dec 29, 2022
Bezalel Smotrich controls the money and the land permits. He has been finance minister since late 2022 and is also a minister inside the Israel Ministry of Defense. In February 2023 he was given control of settlement planning, land allocation and state-land registration in the occupied West Bank. In 2005 he was arrested with 700 litres of fuel on suspicion of taking part in a plot to blow up the Ayalon Highway. He said the Palestinian village of Huwara "needs to be wiped out". In August 2024 he said letting 2 million civilians in Gaza die of hunger "might be justified and moral", regretting only that "nobody will let us". He declared 2025 "the year of sovereignty". He pushed through 3,401 settler homes in E1 under the slogan "Burying the idea of a Palestinian state". In July 2026 he secured NIS 1.3 billion ($434M) for 34 new settlements. His record 2026 budget gives the Israel Ministry of Defense over NIS 142 billion ($45.3B). Eleven countries, from the UK and Canada to France, have sanctioned or banned him.
● confirmed by a primary document · ○ reported
NIS 850.6 billion ($271 billion) ... the largest in Israeli history ... more than NIS 142 billion ($45.3 billion), a record
The Bank of Israel estimates the fiscal cost of the war from 2023 through 2026 at about NIS 350 billion, with roughly half financed through borrowing.
authority over the planning and construction bureaucracy in the West Bank, which will come under the control of the new Settlements Administration ... full authority over land purchases, land surveys and the registration of land as state land in Area C
arrested in 2005 while in possession of 700 litres of gasoline on suspicion of participating in an attempt to blow up Ayalon Highway ... I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the state of Israel should do it.
1.3 billion shekels ($434 million) for establishing 34 new settlements ... 1.075 billion shekels would be approved to pave roads to the new settlements ... a day of celebration for Israel and settlements
NIS 850.6 billion ($271 billion) ... the largest in Israeli history ... more than NIS 142 billion ($45.3 billion), a record
the core of the budget is the addition of tens of billions so that we can finish the campaign and dramatically improve our geopolitical and diplomatic standing
1.3 billion shekels ($434 million) for establishing 34 new settlements ... 1.075 billion shekels would be approved to pave roads to the new settlements ... a day of celebration for Israel and settlements