Smotrich told a campaign event in Rishon LeZion in February 2026 that he aspires to another term at the Treasury. He has not repeated his 2022 demand for the Defense portfolio this cycle.
Who they are
Bezalel Smotrich is finance minister and the minister in the defence ministry responsible for settlement administration in Judea and Samaria. He was born in 1980 in Hispin on the Golan Heights and grew up in Beit El, the son of Rabbi Haim Yeruham Smotrich and Yocheved, a teacher. He was schooled at the Yerushalayim LaTze’irim yeshiva high school, studied at the Kedumim yeshiva and read law at Ono Academic College. He enlisted at twenty-eight and served about sixteen months in the operations division of the General Staff.
Smotrich co-founded the Regavim association and ran its operations, and directed the Kedumim yeshiva. He stood unsuccessfully in 2009 for the National Union, and reached the Knesset six years later when the death of minister Uri Orbach moved him up the Jewish Home list. He passed twelve bills as first sponsor, among them an amendment letting the government delegate settlement powers to the World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division. He chaired National Union-Tkuma from 2019 and was transport minister before the finance ministry.
The Shin Bet arrested him in July 2005, with four other right-wing activists, on suspicion of organising the road blockades staged during the disengagement protests. He was held three weeks in Shikma prison and three more under house arrest, then released without charge.
Positions and record
Sovereignty: Annex Area C now; Palestinian statehood never.
Finance: Sectoral budgets and wartime fiscal hawkishness.
Judiciary: Complete the overhaul in full.
Record: The Shin Bet held him for six weeks in 2005 during the protests against the Gaza disengagement, on suspicion of organising road blockades. He was released without charge.
Where they stand
Holds the party line on every issue.