Archiv: Bezalel Smotrich


08.12.2024 - 03:15 [ Middle East Monitor ]

In largest land grab since Oslo, Israel confiscates 6,000 acres in West Bank

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the confiscation of 24,000 dunums (5930.5 acres) of the occupied West Bank, classifying them as state lands, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.

Israel’s Channel 14 said this announcement is a dramatic step, expected to affect regional planning and change the face of the region.

27.11.2024 - 21:51 [ Times of Israel ]

Smotrich says half of Gazans can be ‘encouraged’ to leave within two years

(November 26, 2024)

Once the initiative is ‘successfully’ implemented in the Strip, it can be replicated in the West Bank, far-right minister claims, adding that ‘occupying Gaza is not a dirty word’

27.11.2024 - 21:41 [ Middle East Monitor ]

Israeli finance minister: we will half Gaza’s population in 2 years

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has openly called for the permanent military occupation of Gaza in order to depopulate the enclave of Palestinians. Smotrich also called for the same to happen in Lebanon and the West Bank, in what many critics are saying is a direct call for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and Arabs.

05.05.2024 - 10:40 [ Council on American-Islamic Relations ]

CAIR Says Israeli Official’s Call to ‘Annihilate’ Gaza Cities is Further Evidence of Genocidal Intent

(01.05.2024)

Haaretz reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is a member of the security cabinet, called for the “total annihilation” of Rafah and other areas of Gaza.

He said on Monday: “There are no half measures. [The Gazan cities of] Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – total annihilation. ‘You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”

01.05.2024 - 08:37 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Police Violence as Thousands in Tel Aviv Demand End of War and Deal with Hamas

Thousands protested in Tel Aviv on Monday night, April 29, in a rally that later descended into clashes with police forces, arrests, and police violence toward protesters and relatives of hostages. The rally reached the King George Street near of the ruling Likud party’s headquarters, where police used a water cannon and mounted cops to disperse the protest.

Cops shoved Ilana Gritzewsky, Matan Zangauker’s partner who was kidnapped on October 7 and released in the November deal. Early protesters blocked the army headquarters entrance at Begin Street and Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan, addressed Netanyahu, saying he had to choose between bringing the hostages home and keeping intact his government over the objections of racist ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who vehemently oppose a hostage deal that would require a ceasefire. Einav Zangauker told Ynet that cops had pushed her to the ground at the Likud headquarters and that the police used excessive force and sent in disproportionate forces to disperse the crowd, in what she called “stepped-up violence.”

30.01.2024 - 07:32 [ Times of Israel ]

Cabinet members call to resettle Gaza, encourage Gazans to leave, at jubilant conference

(29.01.2024)

Speaking amid a carnival-like atmosphere at the Jerusalem International Convention Center, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the ultranationalist Religious Zionism party, extolled the virtues of creating new settlements, declaring: “God willing, we will settle and we will be victorious.”

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the extreme-right Otzma Yehudit party, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was not present, and the audience that it was “time to return home to Gush Katif” — the name of the Israeli settlement bloc in Gaza that was evacuated in the 2005 Disengagement.

06.01.2024 - 23:53 [ i24news.tv ]

Combative security cabinet meeting on post-war Gaza uncovers coalition‘s crisis

Israel‘s War Cabinet gathered overnight on Friday to discuss the future of the Gaza Strip after the nation‘s war against Hamas ends. The meeting was reportedly cut off after lawmakers clashed with the defense establishment over the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) investigation of the mistakes leading to the October 7 tragedy that had previously been promised to start after the Israel-Hamas war.

Miri Regev, Minister of Transport and Road Safety, pointed out that the decision over the probe had been made without lawmakers‘ knowledge and argued that the army should be fully focused on the combat in the moment.

03.01.2024 - 07:55 [ Al Jazeera ]

Biden under pressure to act amid new fears of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza

“The United States remains firmly opposed to any forced or enduring displacement of Palestinians from Gaza,” a State Department spokesperson told Al Jazeera in an email on Monday evening, without commenting specifically on the Israeli ministers’ most recent remarks.

12.10.2023 - 14:49 [ Blake Allen / Twitter ]

Obviously we won’t know until more details come out but since the unity government is with Benny Gantz and not Yair Lapid that means that Ben Gvir and Smotrich will remain in government. That’s horrible for a host of reasons

12.10.2023 - 14:45 [ Louis Weijl / Twitter ]

It‘s not clear to me who is and isn‘t in it. Not Lapid (yet), Liberman, nor Michaeli, but Ben Gvir and Smuthrich? What kind of ‚unity‘ is that? We are used to Gantz immediately taking action. As soon as he can move up a step, he forgets principles and agreements.

11.10.2023 - 17:09 [ Times of Israel ]

For years, Netanyahu propped up Hamas. Now it’s blown up in our faces

Most of the time, Israeli policy was to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset. Far-right MK Bezalel Smotrich, now the finance minister in the hardline government and leader of the Religious Zionism party, said so himself in 2015.

According to various reports, Netanyahu made a similar point at a Likud faction meeting in early 2018, when he was quoted as saying that those who oppose a Palestinian state should support the transfer of funds to Gaza, because maintaining the separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

04.08.2023 - 18:11 [ Haaretz ]

Netanyahu‘s Mafioso Ministers Gave Israelis a Foretaste of Tyranny

When cabinet ministers, under the leadership and guidance of the prime minister and justice minister, two human demons who have taken over the state, insult and denounce the High Court of Justice merely for hearing petitions (which it could end up rejecting), Israel can no longer be seen as a democratic, liberal state. Nor is it Jewish, because what Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir and Eliyahu and Strock represent is not Judaism. It is messianism, racism and degradation.

23.07.2023 - 21:12 [ Haaretz ]

Smotrich in Tel Aviv: ‚Overhaul protesters, way you feel now is how we felt in Oslo‘

Speaking to a crowd of pro-judicial overhaul demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: „Those against the reform, I understand how you‘re feeling, this is how we felt during Oslo,“ referencing how right-wing Israelis felt during the Oslo peace process led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin during the 90s.

18.07.2023 - 10:26 [ Haaretz ]

In Israel, Growing Fascism and a Racism Akin to Early Nazism

(Jan 19, 201)

The left is no longer capable of overcoming the toxic ultra-nationalism that has evolved here, the kind whose European strain almost wiped out a majority of the Jewish people. The interviews Haaretz’s Ravit Hecht held with Smotrich and Zohar (December 3, 2016 and October 28, 2017) should be widely disseminated on all media outlets in Israel and throughout the Jewish world. In both of them we see not just a growing Israeli fascism but racism akin to Nazism in its early stages.

Like every ideology, the Nazi race theory developed over the years.

15.03.2023 - 17:44 [ Noga Tarnopolsky נגה טרנופולסקי نوغا ترنوبولسكي / Nitter ]

God knows why but FinMin Bezalel Smotrich cut short a planned visit to Panama, Mrs Netanyahu has cancelled her Berlin +1 & the PM has delayed his takeoff „til after 10 pm“ & shortened his trip to only 24 hours due to „talks on judicial reform & a security incident in the north“

13.03.2023 - 17:39 [ @IfNotNowOrg / Nitter ]

BREAKING: 13 Jewish IfNotNow activists were just attacked by security at the Israel Bonds Conference as they prayed Maariv to protest the visit by genocidal Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called for a Palestinian town to be wiped out.

13.03.2023 - 17:32 [ i24news.tv ]

Israel‘s Smotrich met by hundreds of protesters in Washington, DC

Protesters descended on the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC, where Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was giving a speech to an Israel Bonds convention on Sunday.

02.03.2023 - 09:31 [ Axios ]

U.S. says Israeli minister‘s call to wipe out Palestinian town is „disgusting“

What to watch: Smotrich is expected to visit the U.S. the second week of March for a meeting of the Israel Bonds organization.

Israeli officials said he hasn‘t asked for any meetings with the Biden administration.
Two U.S. officials told Axios that even if he asked for meetings with Biden officials, he likely wouldn‘t get them.

02.03.2023 - 09:27 [ CNN ]

US condemns Israel far right minister’s call for Palestinian town ‘to be erased’

Price issued a strong condemnation from the US State Department podium Wednesday, saying, “I want to be very clear about this. These comments were irresponsible. They were repugnant. They were disgusting.”

“And just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amount to incitement to violence,” he said at a State Department briefing.

Price also called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “and other senior Israeli officials to publicly and clearly reject and disavow these comments.”

01.03.2023 - 15:12 [ Haaretz.com / Nitter ]

Following Sunday‘s deadly settler riot in the West Bank village, MK Zvika Fogel (from Ben-Gvir‘s Otzma Yehudit party), said he „looks favorably on the results“

01.03.2023 - 15:06 [ Haaretz ]

Palestinian ‚Village of Hawara Needs to Be Wiped Out‘: Israel‘s Far-right Finance Minister Justifies ‚Disproportionate‘ Response to Terrorism

Israel’s Finance Minister called for the destruction of a West Bank Palestinian village on Wednesday, days after it was attacked by a mob of settlers who torched dozens of homes and reportedly killed one resident.

“The village of Hawara needs to be wiped out. I think that the State of Israel needs to do that [and] not, God forbid, private individuals,” said Bezalel Smotrich, when asked why he had “liked” a tweet by deputy Samaria Regional Council head Davidi Ben Zion calling for Hawara to be “wiped out today.”

03.12.2022 - 17:02 [ J Street / Nitter ]

This is an excellent conversation with our friends @ShibleyTelhami & @ChrisVanHollen. Thank you, Sen Van Hollen, for calling out Ben-Gvir and Smotrich‘s extremism and bigotry and highlighting the important work being done by progressive groups in Israel and the US to oppose them.

02.12.2022 - 07:15 [ Tagesschau.de ]

Koalitionsverhandlungen: Wird Israels Rechtsstaat ausgehöhlt?

Verhandelt wird nun, ob die Knesset künftig die Möglichkeit erhält, sich über solche Entscheidungen in einer erneuten Abstimmung hinwegsetzen zu können. Dann könnte das Parlament Gesetze beschließen, die den grundlegenden Gesetzen Israels widersprechen.

02.12.2022 - 07:08 [ ORF.at ]

Israel: Netanjahu kurz vor neuer Koalitionsbildung

Parteichef Besalel Smotrich nannte die Vereinbarung einen „historischen Schritt“ in Richtung einer Regierung, die das „Siedlungsvorhaben regeln und entwickeln“ werde. Netanjahu sprach von einer „rechtsnationalen Regierung, die sich um alle Israelis kümmern“ werde.

01.12.2022 - 12:47 [ Haaretz ]

Bad Blood: Netanyahu, Smotrich, Ben-Gvir All Spin Terror for Gains

The echoes of the explosions of the coordinated attacks in Jerusalem were still ringing, and the area had not yet been cleaned of the blood and broken glass. Politicians, seeing the promised land of power before their eyes, pounced on the opportunity they were given. Otzma Yehudit urged Likud members to stop with this “nonsense” of negotiating over forming a coalition (meaning: yield to all their demands). Religious Zionism repeated their demand that Benjamin Netanyahu convene the heads of all the relevant parties in a closed room and wrap things up. Needless to say, for the sake of security.

02.11.2022 - 09:55 [ Haaretz ]

Kahanism Won. Israel Is Now Closing in on a Right-wing, Religious, Authoritarian Revolution

In recent years, Israel has become terrifyingly more extreme. Everything we were warned about is happening right before our eyes.

02.11.2022 - 09:45 [ Tagesschau.de ]

Wahl in Israel: Netanyahu kann Vorsprung ausbauen

In der Zeitung „Jediot Ahronot“ schrieb die Kolumnistin Sima Kadmon vor der Wahl: „Falls Netanyahu triumphiert, werden dies die letzten Tage des Staates Israel sein, wie wir ihn seit 75 Jahren kennen.“ Seine Kritiker sehen im Ex-Regierungschef eine Gefahr für die Demokratie. Würde er wieder Ministerpräsident werden, könnte das seine Chancen erheblich verbessern, eine Verurteilung oder eine Haftstrafe in den Korruptionsprozessen gegen ihn abzuwenden.

02.11.2022 - 00:55 [ Tagesschau.de ]

Wahl in Israel: Netanyahus Bündnis laut Prognosen vorn

Israel hat gewählt – zum fünften Mal binnen dreieinhalb Jahren. Erste Prognosen sehen das Bündnis von Oppositionsführer und Ex-Premierminister Netanyahu knapp vorn. Er will eine nationalkonservative Koalition schmieden.

02.11.2022 - 00:49 [ Haaretz ]

Israel Election Exit Polls: Netanyahu Secures Razor-thin Majority, Shock Triumph for Far Right

According to Kan 11 public television, the exit polls show:

– Likud: 30 seats
– Yesh Atid: 22 seats
– Religious Zionism: 15 seats
– National Unity Party: 13 seats
– Shas: 10 seats
– United Torah Judaism: 7 seats
– Labor: 5 seats
– Yisrael Beitenu: 5 seats
– The United Arab List: 5 seats
– Meretz: 4 seats
– Hadash-Ta‘al: 4 seats
– Habayit Hayehudi: Under electoral threshold
– Balad: Under electoral threshold

24.05.2022 - 03:59 [ Haaretz ]

A Warning From Israel‘s Left

We shouldn’t downplay the threat posed by a return to power by Netanyahu, a criminal defendant who caused great damage to the fabric of Israeli life, undermined its democratic institutions, eroded its values and is willing to cooperate with Kahanists to regain power. But this threat should not obscure the substance of Rinawie Zoabi’s arguments, which deserve serious attention. Not every abomination can be koshered by citing Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotric

21.10.2021 - 02:54 [ Haaretz ]

Lapid: The Ideological Descendants of Rabin’s Assassin Are Sitting in the Knesset Today

(18.10.2021)

Speaking earlier at the official ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem commemorating the 26th anniversary of the assassination, Bennett said at the official ceremony in Jerusalem‘s Mount Herzl that an entire Israeli generation is suffering from PTSD, whose lives were shaken and molded by the assassination in 1995.

16.06.2021 - 08:00 [ Haaretz ]

Seventeen Palestinian Protesters Arrested as Thousands Attend Jerusalem Right-wing March

Thousands of people took part in the controversial right-wing Flag March in Jerusalem on Tuesday, with police clashing with hundreds of Palestinian protesters near the Old City‘s Damascus Gate as tensions with Gaza run high after last month‘s fighting.

Mounted police and skunk water were used to disperse them, while at Herod’s Gate, police fired sponge-tipped bullets at protesters. Police arrested 17 Palestinian protesters.

13.06.2021 - 18:49 [ David Brinn / Jerusalem Post ]

Shameful display in Knesset ahead of new gov‘t swearing-in – COMMENT

The shameful scene also revealed that indeed, it was high time for the outgoing members of the government to head to the opposition. As Lapid said, their behavior reminded him why it was so important to replace them. Their concept of democracy and free speech has been distorted beyond recognition by too much time in power.

24.05.2021 - 06:12 [ Fox News ]

Bernie Sanders calls Hamas a ‚terrorist group‘ but says Israeli government has ‚overt racists‘

Pressed on how the U.S. can take an „evenhanded“ approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when the Hamas terrorist group does not recognize Israel‘s right to exist, Sanders slammed the Netanyahu government, saying it is not innocent in the hostilities.

„What you have got to do is also understand that over the years the Netanyahu government has become extremely right-wing. And that there are people in the Israeli government now who are overt racists,“ Sanders told the CBS program. „You have in West Jerusalem people being evicted from their homes. Tremendous pressure on people within Israel, the Arab community, as well as Gaza.“

21.05.2021 - 08:41 [ Haaretz ]

Gideon Sa‘ar Mulling Power Sharing Deal With Netanyahu, Despite Election Promise

(18.05.2021)

Gideon Sa‘ar, head of the New Hope party, is looking into a power-sharing government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Haaretz has learned.

Sa‘ar has agreed to advance the initiative by the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, Betzalel Smotrich, after Naftali Bennett announced that establishing a „government of change“ headed by him and Yair Lapid was off the table.

16.05.2021 - 15:11 [ Haaretz ]

Lapid Suggests Political Considerations Are Behind Israel’s Gaza Operation

Lapid, who has been tasked with forming a coalition after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mandate expired, also accused Kahanist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir of having a central role in the escalation in tensions that led to rioting around the country and ultimately Israel‘s flare-up with Gaza. “No one would let a card-carrying lunatic like Itamar Ben-Gvir to set Jerusalem and then the entire country ablaze.”

11.05.2021 - 07:34 [ Ynetnews.com ]

Far-right lawmakers‘ visit to Sheikh Jarrah reignites clashes

(10.05.2021)

Religious Zionist Party chief MK Bezalel Smotrich, who arrived at the contentious area with several members of his faction, slammed law enforcement and security forces‘ for their lax treatment against Palestinian violence and called for the formation of a stable government that can tackle the unrest.

25.03.2021 - 12:48 [ i24news.tv ]

Gulf officials warn Israel against forming gov‘t with far-right candidates: report

“A right-wing policy is one thing,” the officials were quoted as saying. “But expressions against Muslims and Arabs by Members of Knesset [Israel Parliament] that are a part of [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s government will harm and sabotage the normalization between Israel and Arab countries.”

25.03.2021 - 11:20 [ Haaretz ]

Israel Election Results: Far-right Leader Rules Out Netanyahu-led Coalition With Islamist Party

The Islamist United Arab List party, headed by Mansour Abbas, and Naftali Bennett‘s Yamina have not yet declared their support for either bloc.

24.03.2021 - 19:55 [ ORF.at ]

Israel-Wahl: Kleinpartei als Zünglein an der Waage

Likud bleibt zwar mit 30 Mandaten die stärkste politische Kraft, aber selbst mit seinem ultrarechten Rivalen Naftali Bennett von der Jamina-Partei käme sein Lager nur auf 59 von 120 Mandaten. Die arabische Partei Ra’am schafft die 3,25-Prozent-Hürde und ist nun Zünglein an der Waage.

Ra’am erhält fünf Mandate.