Bezalel Smotrich

At his party's weekly meeting he opposed the agreement between the United States and Iran and said Israel would keep working to bring down the government in Tehran.

“The agreement with Iran is a bad agreement for Israel and for the entire free world. Iran must not have nuclear weapons, and we must not accept a reality in which the extremist regime in Tehran continues advancing toward that goal.”

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With liberty

Opposing a deal with Tehran and demanding it never get nuclear weapons is pressure on the Islamic Republic.

At a tax advisers' conference he said the defence budget could not stay at its wartime level and had to come back down.

“While the budget will remain higher than it was before the war, it cannot continue at the levels of the past two years, during which it essentially received a blank check. We must return to normal figures.”

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Against liberty

Calling for the defence budget to be brought down is on the cut-defence side of the measure.

With the prime minister he announced that the 2026 budget would be passed at once with a larger defence budget at its centre; the government approved an increase of about 30 billion shekels that night.

“we are now moving toward the immediate passage of the state budget, at the center of which will be the required increase to the defense budget to finance the war”

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Raising the defence budget is funding and equipping the armed forces.

He set a condition for any law on Haredi army service: that Haredi leaders declare that every man who is not studying Torah must enlist.

“The condition for any law must be a clear declaration by the Haredi leadership: 'Whoever is not studying Torah must enlist,'”

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With liberty

Demanding that men who are not studying be drafted backs the conscription the army depends on.

Before the 2022 election, as he prepared to petition the Central Elections Committee to bar the Islamic party Ra'am, the party of the southern branch of the Islamic Movement, he said Israel could not let it sit in the Knesset.

“cannot allow a Hamas-like party to have a place in its parliament”

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With liberty

Acting to bar the party of the Islamic Movement from parliament is acting against an Islamic political organisation.

His party supported two bills sought by the Haredi parties, one writing Torah study into a Basic Law and one freezing arrests of Haredi men who do not report for army service, and he removed from Knesset committees the one party member who voted against the first.

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Against liberty

Writing a religious value into constitutional law and shielding a religious exemption from enforcement puts religion's rules into law.

He published draft orders to cancel for good the taxes on sugary drinks and disposable tableware, which he had suspended on taking office, and answered a court challenge by saying taxes are not there to steer how people live.

“Taxes are not intended to educate people”

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Abolishing a tax and leaving the choice to buyers is on the lower-taxes, less-regulation side.

He decided to put a special 15 per cent tax on the excess profits of Israel's five largest banks, about double the rate proposed by the committee he had appointed.

“It is right that part of these profits be returned to the Israeli public, and for that reason I decided to impose a special tax on the banks and adopt the differential profit tax alternative proposed in the report.”

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Against liberty

A new tax aimed at one industry's profits is on the higher-taxes side of the measure.

The 2026 state budget that went to the Knesset for its first reading while he was finance minister brought a new tax on building land and a tax on electronic cigarettes, and kept VAT at 18 per cent instead of returning it to 17.

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Against liberty

New taxes and keeping a tax rise in place are on the higher-taxes side of the measure.

As finance minister he signed an order cutting the excise tax on fuel, which lowered the price of petrol by half a shekel a litre.

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With liberty

Cutting a tax is on the lower-taxes side of the measure.

The government in which he sits as finance minister voted unanimously to shut down Army Radio; he later said the aim was to privatise the station, not close it.

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Against liberty

A government decision to close a broadcaster is shutting down media, whoever the target is.