Bezalel Smotrich
Finance minister; heads the joint Religious Zionist-Zehut list
Bezalel Smotrich gets a D-
Score: 61 out of 100, the average of 5 measures. Graded on what Smotrich has said and done, because I count recorded votes only for the US Congress. Every line is below, with its source.
- D-TyrannyMostly with liberty, 4 sources
- AFree nationsWith liberty, 1 source
- ?Free speechNot clear either way, 1 source
- DFree marketsMostly with liberty, 4 sources
- FConscienceAgainst liberty, 1 source
- DDefenseMostly with liberty, 3 sources
Smotrich, on the record
14 things Smotrich has said and done. Each one has its source, and each is marked with the same test I use for votes in Congress. A line that doesn't settle the question is marked as not clear and counts for nothing.
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Before the 2022 election, as he prepared to petition the Central Elections Committee to bar the Islamic party Ra'am, the party of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, he said Israel could not let it sit in the Knesset.
“cannot allow a Hamas-like party to have a place in its parliament”
- By the test I use for votes
- Not clear either way
Ra'am is a legal party in Israel's parliament. Governing with it, or trying to bar it from the ballot, is judged by what the government then does, not by the religion of a partner, so this line does not settle the test.
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As a member of the security cabinet he voted for the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying his conditions had been written into the decision.
“I voted in favor because I believe we will.”
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
Voting to stop fighting a terror army while it is still armed ends pressure on it, the same side given to everyone who voted for this ceasefire.
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As finance minister he signed the seizure of frozen Palestinian Authority funds, held back because of its payments to the families of terrorists, and ordered the money paid to families of terror victims.
“Instead of the Palestinian Authority transferring money to terrorist families, we will transfer the money to the families of terror victims.”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Taking away money set aside for payments to terrorists' families is a financial measure against funding terror.
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At his party's weekly meeting he opposed the agreement between the United States and Iran and said Israel would keep working to bring down the government in Tehran.
“The agreement with Iran is a bad agreement for Israel and for the entire free world. Iran must not have nuclear weapons, and we must not accept a reality in which the extremist regime in Tehran continues advancing toward that goal.”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Opposing a deal with the Islamic Republic and demanding it never get nuclear weapons is pressure on the Islamic Republic.
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Speaking at a conference of school principals in Eilat, he said Israel would return to fighting in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed if it is not disarmed by other means.
“Hamas must be completely destroyed.”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Calling for the war against the group that attacked Israel to go on until it is defeated backs the country's defense.
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The government in which he sits as finance minister voted unanimously to shut down Army Radio; he later said the aim was to privatise the station, not close it.
- By the test I use for votes
- Not clear either way
Army Radio is the army's own station, so a government deciding to close it is not the state silencing citizens' speech, and the line does not settle the measure.
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He published draft orders to cancel for good the taxes on sugary drinks and disposable tableware, which he had suspended on taking office, and answered a court challenge by saying taxes are not there to steer how people live.
“Taxes are not intended to educate people”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Abolishing a tax and leaving the choice to buyers is on the lower-taxes, less-regulation side.
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He decided to put a special 15 per cent tax on the excess profits of Israel's five largest banks, about double the rate proposed by the committee he had appointed.
“It is right that part of these profits be returned to the Israeli public, and for that reason I decided to impose a special tax on the banks and adopt the differential profit tax alternative proposed in the report.”
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
A new tax aimed at one industry's profits is on the higher-taxes side of the measure.
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The 2026 state budget that went to the Knesset for its first reading while he was finance minister brought a new tax on building land and a tax on electronic cigarettes, and kept VAT at 18 per cent instead of returning it to 17.
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
New taxes and keeping a tax rise in place are on the higher-taxes side of the measure.
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As finance minister he signed an order cutting the excise tax on fuel, which lowered the price of petrol by half a shekel a litre.
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Cutting a tax is on the lower-taxes side of the measure.
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His party supported two bills sought by the Haredi parties, one writing Torah study into a Basic Law and one freezing arrests of Haredi men who do not report for army service, and he removed from Knesset committees the one party member who voted against the first.
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
Writing a religious value into constitutional law and shielding a religious exemption from enforcement puts religion's rules into law.
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At a tax advisers' conference he said the defence budget could not stay at its wartime level and had to come back down.
“While the budget will remain higher than it was before the war, it cannot continue at the levels of the past two years, during which it essentially received a blank check. We must return to normal figures.”
- By the test I use for votes
- Against liberty
Calling for the defence budget to be brought down is on the cut-defence side of the measure.
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With the prime minister he announced that the 2026 budget would be passed at once with a larger defence budget at its centre; the government approved an increase of about 30 billion shekels that night.
“we are now moving toward the immediate passage of the state budget, at the center of which will be the required increase to the defense budget to finance the war”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Raising the defence budget is funding and equipping the armed forces.
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He set a condition for any law on Haredi army service: that Haredi leaders declare that every man who is not studying Torah must enlist.
“The condition for any law must be a clear declaration by the Haredi leadership: 'Whoever is not studying Torah must enlist,'”
- By the test I use for votes
- With liberty
Demanding that men who are not studying be drafted backs the conscription the army depends on.
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