Smotrich gay
Who are Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli ministers facing sanctions?
The two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers facing sanctions from the UK, Australia, Canada, Brand-new Zealand and Norway are critical to the political survival of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In 2022 Netanyahu formed the most rightwing government in Israel’s history, brokering a coalition with Bezalel Smotrich, whose Religious Zionism party has 14 seats in the 120-seat Knesset, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose Jewish Force party has six seats.
They account for just 20 of his coalition’s 67 seats in parliament but carry outsize influence because if they quit – which both repeatedly threaten to do – the government will fall.
Netanyahu is currently on trial for corruption and fending off calls for an official inquiry into the 7 October 2023 attacks, and keen to avoid first elections.
Here are short details of both men’s lives and careers before entering government.
Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister
Smotrich is a messianic settler who was born in the occupied Golan Heights in 1980, now lives in the occupied West Bank and has repeatedly called for Israeli settlers to return to Gaza.
'Nobody cares about LGBTQ+ people' - Smotrich in surfaced recordings
In the conversation, Smotrich said that his position against the LGBTQ+ collective does not hurt him politically because his voters don't care.
Netanyahu signs Israel coalition deal with anti-LGBT Noam party
Avi Maoz is also acknowledged for his anti-Palestinian views. Last year, during one of the worst ever periods of inter-communal hostility in Israel, he visited the mixed Jewish-Arab town of Lod and said that the "blurring of the Jewish identity is the cause of the Arab enemy raising his head".
"We will fortify Jewish presence in Lod, and the city will return, God willing, to Jewish hands as it was for hundreds of years," he said.
The outgoing Defence Minister Benny Gantz tweeted on Sunday that Mr Maoz was promoting a "racist identity".
"We will fight this extremist Netanyahu government with all the tools at hand," he insisted.
Mr Maoz's appointment as a deputy minister in the office of the prime minister was described as a new "low point" by the Israeli LGBT rights group Aguda.
"His operate revolves around an obsession to take away rights from the LGBTQ+ people and to legitimise detest against it," it said.
He has since denied widespread media reporting that he would reinstate homosexual conversion therapy, which is outlawed in Israel, and has also said his
How could Israel’s modern government impact Homosexual people?
- Parties with history of homophobia connect government
- LGBTQ+ activists terror a rollback of rights
- Some far-right leaders say their include changed stance
By Daniel Ben-Ami
TEL AVIV, Dec 13 (Openly) - LGBTQ+ Israelis hold expressed alarm as far-right politicians with a history of homophobia prepare to take seats in the cabinet under a coalition deal.
Having placed first in the Nov. 1 election, conservative Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party have signed deals with the Religious Zionism (RZ) party and other far-right groups and ultra-orthodox parties to achieve a reliable parliamentary majority.
RZ head Bezalel Smotrich, who was quoted explaining himself as a "proud homophobe" in 2015, is expected to become finance minister.
Far-right nationalist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who took part in a "beast parade" mocking Homosexual Pride along with Smotrich, was named as the incoming national security minister. Both men speak they have since moderated their positions.
Noam, a far-right religious party
Bezalel Smotrich: The controversial and feared Netanyahu ally
"I am a proud homophobe." So declared Bezalel Smotrich, a controversial figure who has grow a major player in the Israeli political landscape.
A key figure in the coalition, the leader of the Religious Zionist Party lacks neither ambition nor nerve. And he does not intend to stay in the shadow of incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as heated negotiations in recent weeks over his future portfolios have proven.
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Bezalel Smotrich
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Intelligent, productive, and demanding, Smotrich is considered the best transportation minister Israel has ever had. But today, his radical ideas on security and social issues persist much of Israeli society.
Smotrich's background
Smotrich was born in Haspin, a religious settlement in the Golan Heights in northern Israel, but grew up in the Beit El settlement in the West Bank. His father was an Orthodox rabbi and he received a religious education. During his brief service in Israel’s army, he served as secretary in the Operations Division of the General Staff.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in statute from