Political struggle of far-right ally Smotrich shows faultline in Netanyahu coalition

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich faces a fight for political survival in elections after angering his fellow West Bank settlers.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich faces a fight for political survival in elections in October after angering his fellow West Bank settlers by voting not to punish ultra-Orthodox Jews who refuse to serve in the military.

The political travails of Smotrich are a sign of how tricky it will be for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to shepherd allies in his quarrelsome coalition through the Oct. 27 election, Israel’s first since the start of the Gaza war.

A lifelong settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Smotrich, 46, leads the Religious Zionism party, which opposes a Palestinian state and argues that Jews’ claim to land between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea arises from the Bible.

Several Western countries have banned him from entering over accusations he supports violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, which he and the Israeli government reject.

Though less overtly pugnacious than the other main far-right cabinet member, Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, with whom he is often compared, Smotrich has used his time in office to ramp up settlement building. He defends the cause with a caustic turn of phrase and is still lionised by many in the movement.