Smotrich: "Settler violence is a marginal phenomenon, just like violence on the beach in Tel Aviv"
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, speaking at the ynet and INSS conference, dismissed criticism of settlers as an "antisemitic campaign." He also warned against ingratitude toward President Donald Trump and criticized the opposition, predicting the formation of a "Season government" if they return to power.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said this morning (Monday) at the National Security Conference of ynet and "Yedioth Ahronoth" in cooperation with the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) that "statistically, there is the least amount of violence among the settlers in Judea and Samaria. There are no residents who provoke, that is a lie. There is a false campaign, just as there is violence on the beach in Tel Aviv."
According to him, "it is an antisemitic campaign, a blood libel. BDS activists want to defame the entire State of Israel and there are people who cooperate with this among us as well. I think that among the settler public there is the least amount of violence of any other sector in Israeli society and in the world. There is violence in Tel Aviv, in Ra'anana, and in Beersheba as well. This is a marginal social phenomenon that we are trying to eradicate and reduce, but statistically, there is the least amount of violence among the settler public. This is a dedicated, idealistic, pioneering, heroic public. They are the security belt of Israel. If they are not on the farms, then the pickup trucks of October 7 will reach Kfar Saba."
Smotrich also addressed the political landscape: "To this day, we are licking the bleeding wounds of Oslo. I invest in farms so that buses, God forbid, do not explode in front of the Democrats' headquarters in Tel Aviv. We were there not long ago - the Left only pretends. Eisenkot announced that he would withdraw from the security belt. This is the concept of surrender. Political agreements are not worth the paper. He will evacuate the settlements I established, he will return us to the terrible Oslo path. The Left will establish a 'Season government'."
Regarding Iran, he stated: "It may be that we managed to reach a 90% result, but not 100%. We reached excellent results in all arenas. This is a war of existence, there is no option. When intelligence says that Iran is racing to a bomb, we are not ready to accept it, the State of Israel will not be able to live under a nuclear mushroom cloud. The biggest challenge for a politician and leader is to map the arena and make a calculation of what is essential and what is trivial. It tore my heart to release terrorists with blood on their hands, but I knew that we were going to the people like lions and it is forbidden to dismantle the government."
Regarding relations with the US, he noted: "Let us not be ungrateful to President Donald Trump, he did what no one did before him. The USA is leading this - and it is good for us. We do not need to be portrayed as those who lead the President into a campaign, he also has responsibility for the entire global economy."
On the issue of Qatar, Smotrich said: "It is an enemy state. I criticized very strongly the fact that they made it a mediator at the beginning of the war, but until Bennett signs that Qatar is an enemy state, I do not believe a word he says. I think Qatar causes huge damage to the State of Israel, but this is a patent of people in the opposition. Lieberman, for example, 'eliminates Haniyeh and the Iranian threat within 48 hours' and Bennett writes a book on 'how to beat a pandemic within 48 hours'. Everyone is smart in the stands."
Addressing the Haredi enlistment, he said: "I told the truth - the Haredim must enlist. I say this as someone who has two sons who fought in the war. I have great pain and great anger at the Haredim who remain outside, but it will not work by force. It is possible to reach an agreement that has positive and negative incentives. I thought it was not right to dismantle this government - which fortified security for decades to come."
Concluding his term as Finance Minister, Smotrich remarked: "The data speaks for itself. I was a Finance Minister who worked very hard, learned, listened, and made decisions. I passed a great many budgets and reforms. In parallel, I laid the foundations for a very strong economic growth of the State of Israel from war to growth, I think I did a good job."
