Bezalel Smotrich is a far-right Israeli lawmaker and leader of the Religious Zionist Party, who currently serves as the country's finance minister as well as a minister in the Defense Ministry. In the past, Smotrich also served as transportation minister.
Smotrich is a highly divisive figure in Israeli politics, having been accused of racism, extremism, and homophobia. Smotrich has also gone on record saying that he is a "proud homophobe," staunch support for Israel's West Bank settlements, and rejects both the future existence of a Palestinian state as well as the existence of the Palestinian people.
The Israeli Climate Forum sent an urgent letter to Netanyahu in early March, warning of the urgent need for emergency preparedness.
A national reset will not happen while Yoav Kisch lectures hostage families, Bezalel Smotrich berates the IDF, and Benjamin Netanyahu clings to power through blame.
Netanyahu is trying to walk a tightrope between avoiding new problems with the ICJ and new problems with Smotrich threatening to topple his coalition.
IDF Chief Zamir opposed soldiers distributing aid, to which Finance Minister Smotrich responded, "The IDF doesn’t choose its own missions."
The political leadership - including the prime minister, defense minister, and chief of staff - prefers to exhaust efforts toward a hostage deal.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich addressed Shin Bet employees in a letter on Tuesday, following the Monday affidavit submitted by the agency's chief.
Smotrich said that while returning the hostages is an important goal, destroying Hamas is more important.
Smotrich also quoted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Saturday night statements in which the Israeli leader said, "the war will not end until we destroy Hamas in Gaza."
The minister made the remarks following the revelation that a Shin Bet official arrested on suspicion of leaking classified information.
"The responsibility for Israel's security lies with the government, and therefore, the authority [to fire Bar] rests with it," Smotrich said.
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