The Why Project
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Bezalel Smotrich

Coalition minister — Israel · Israel

Affiliated with State of Israel (government)

Government-funded research

Finance Minister and Religious Zionism leader; quoted on Gaza depopulation and settlement expansion in intent analyses.

Funding & financing

Government salary.

Affiliations

Religious Zionism party; settler movement.

Disclosures & conflicts

Leader of the Religious Zionism party and settler movement; Passover and other addresses calling for depopulation or 'total annihilation' in Gaza are cited in intent analyses. Government coalition partner — not sole author of military policy.

Credibility & caveats

Primary-source rhetoric cited by NGOs and UN experts as indicative of destructive intent; disputed by Israeli government.

On the record

Verbatim quotations in this project attributed to this person.

Cases in this record

This source informs the record’s methodology, data, or risk assessment rather than a specific case determination. See the methodology for how sources like this are used.

Sources & disclosures