Who is Bezalel Smotrich, the far-right minister at the heart of the controversy at the “Israel is forever” gala organized in Paris?

His possible presence had triggered the anger of French associations, unions and left-wing parties. The far-right Israeli minister, Bezalel Smotrich, whose visit to Paris was expected this week, will not travel to France, his spokesperson said on Tuesday. “No trip to Paris was planned,” he said.

However, the Israeli minister appeared on the poster announcing the “Israel is Forever” gala in Paris on Wednesday, an event in support of Israel organized by several far-right personalities. It is not excluded that he will participate virtually.

Aged 44, Smotrich grew up in Beit El, a settlement in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. Lawyer, elected member of the Knesset in 2015, he was also Minister of Transport and Road Safety in June 2019 in within Netanyahu’s fourth government.

“Proud homophobe”

The minister has made numerous intolerant remarks throughout his career. In 2016, he defended on Twitter (now X) the separation in maternity wards between Arab women and Jewish women. In 2015, he declared himself a “proud homophobe”, opposing equal marriage and calling LGBT+ people “abnormal”. He also defends a judicial system “in accordance with the laws of the Torah”.

A fervent defender of colonization, himself a settler, Smotrich notably campaigned within the organization Regavim, an organization which defines itself as “a public movement dedicated to the protection of Israel’s lands and national resources” and which opposes Palestinian construction in Israel and the West Bank.

Monday, during a speech in the Knesset, the minister, also responsible for civil management in the West Bank, and therefore the settlements, affirmed that the “creation of a Palestinian state (…) would endanger the existence of the ‘State of Israel’. And added: “The only way to eliminate this threat (…) is to apply Israeli sovereignty over the settlements of Judea and Samaria,” he said, using the name that the Israelis give to the West Bank. . A goal that he wants for 2025 and for which he is counting on the return of Donald Trump to the White House, which he describes as “an opportunity”.

“There are no Palestinians”

In August, he suggested that he believed blocking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip was “justified and moral until our hostages are returned to us”, even if it could result in the deaths of 2 millions of civilians from hunger. Comments which sparked a barrage of international condemnations, including France which expressed “its deep dismay”. Bezalel Smotrich also seized, for the fifth time, tax revenues intended for the Palestinian Authority which he describes as “terrorist funds”.

“There are no Palestinians because there is no Palestinian people,” he also declared during a private visit in March 2023, already organized by “Israel is Forever”. “After 2,000 years of exile, the prophecies (of the Bible) are beginning to come true and (…) the people of Israel are returning home,” proclaimed Bezalel Smotrich.

And Bezalel Smotrich added: “There are Arabs around who don’t like it, so what do they do? They invent a fictitious people and claim fictitious rights to the land of Israel.” Behind his desk, a map showing Israel including the territories it has occupied since 1967 and neighboring Jordan.