NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi looks into his rise to power in Israel. HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was once a wanted man by Israel's version of the FBI.

about a year and a half ago," Smotrich added. He said that now the goal is to end the war by defeating Israel's enemies. "With God's help and the bravery of your comrades in arms who continue to ...

In remarks at a “Settlements Conference” organized by the Makor Rishon newspaper in the West Bank settlement of Ofra, Smotrich also declared that Israel would “apply sovereignty” in the ...

Smotrich then launched a fierce attack on Gafni, saying that only someone who still holds a “diaspora mindset” and doesn’t believe that the State of Israel is the rightful “return to Zion ...

TEL AVIV — Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, drew outrage Monday when he said returning Israeli hostages still held by Hamas is not the war’s “most important goal.” ...

Bezalel Smotrich, the country’s powerful finance minister, suggested in a radio interview that ensuring that Hamas no longer ruled the Gaza Strip after its deadly 2023 attack in southern Israel ...