Bezalel Smotrich

בצלאל סמוטריץ'

Minister of Finance; Minister in the Defense Ministry (Judea and Samaria civil affairs)

Religious-Zionist settler activist and lawyer based in Kedumim; leads the Religious Zionist Party.

Positions and record

Religious-Zionist settler activist; co-founded the Regavim NGO in 2006 focused on enforcing Israeli land law and protecting state lands in Judea and Samaria from illegal construction
Entered the Knesset in 2015 with the Jewish Home / Tkuma alliance; took over Tkuma in 2019 and rebranded it the Religious Zionist Party in 2021
As Finance Minister has steered Israel's economy through the wartime period, funding the largest defense buildup since the founding generation while preserving the country's investment-grade credit ratings
Champion of the religious-Zionist settler movement; has overseen the most significant expansion of Jewish community construction in Judea and Samaria in years
Long-time advocate of applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria and reforming the judicial system

Bezalel Smotrich, The State of Israel. https://thestateofisrael.com/mk/bezalel-smotrich