Smotrich vows to keep fighting ‘terrible idea’ of Palestinian state ahead of election

The government headed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led an unprecedented drive to expand Jerusalem’s control of Judea and Samaria.

By Akiva Van Koningsveld, JNS

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vowed on Monday to continue working against the “terrible idea” of partitioning the Land of Israel ahead of this fall’s election.

During his nearly four years in office, the government established 103 Jewish communities and some 200 farms in Judea and Samaria, “safeguarding one million dunams [almost 247,000 acres] of state land through agriculture,” Smotrich told JNS, speaking at a faction meeting of his Religious Zionism Party at the Knesset in Jerusalem.

The government would continue paving new roads and declaring additional territory as state land across Judea and Samaria, he said.

“We are killing the terrible idea of dividing the Land [of Israel] to establish a terrorist state in territory that overlooks all of the population centers from Beersheva to Afula,” he continued, referring to cities in the country’s south and north, respectively.

“We are looking after the security of the people of Israel, the State of Israel and the citizens of Israel, and we are doing it with great joy and great pride—and, thank God, with great success as well,” concluded the senior Cabinet minister.

The government headed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led an unprecedented drive to expand Jerusalem’s control of Judea and Samaria, having approved tens of thousands of homes and dozens of new communities in the past three-and-a-half years.

The push was made possible by the transfer of dozens of key powers from the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration to a civilian official appointed by Smotrich, effectively giving the finance minister far-reaching powers over Judea and Samaria affairs.

Following a visit to the Jordan Valley on Monday, Smotrich vowed to “continue to establish more and more farms and communities that will constitute protective walls for Ra’anana, Tel Aviv, Givatayim, Jerusalem, and the entire State of Israel.”

“Iran and its proxies are trying to smuggle in weapons to create another Oct. 7 here,” he wrote on X after the tour, referring to the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. “We will not allow Iran and its proxies to smuggle weapons across the border.”

Smotrich, during the visit, joined officials of the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization and helped distribute dozens of drones, off-road vehicles, and other security equipment to help thwart arms smuggling on the Jewish state’s eastern frontier.