Smotrich warns a left-led government would dismantle West Bank settlement and religious institutions

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich delivered a sharp warning on Monday at a faction meeting of Religious Zionism, saying the expected election outcome could produce a left-led government headed by Gadi Eisenkot with Yair Golan as defense minister. He argued that such a coalition would dismantle what he called Israel’s security buffer and roll back the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria.

Smotrich said Golan, who leads the Democrats and is polling as a likely senior partner in a future government, would shut down the Bnei David pre-military academy in Eli. He said Golan had already announced he would stop funding the institution if he and left-wing and Arab parties formed the next government. Smotrich stressed the academy’s wartime record, saying more than 50 of its graduates have fallen in battle in Israel’s wars, including 30 in the current war.

He also said that, in the eyes of Golan and his allies, figures such as Emmanuel Moreno, Roi Klein and Eliraz Peretz are valued only for dying in combat, not for living out their values in public life. Smotrich warned right-wing voters that Golan would become defense minister under Eisenkot, calling him a natural partner of Arab parties and accusing him of having labeled Smotrich’s camp “subhuman” and “death eaters.”

The minister said the threat goes beyond one academy. He predicted that the left would target the entire network of pre-army academies and hesder yeshivas of Religious Zionism, and he accused unnamed European Union officials and foreign-funded actors of working with opposition figures on a plan to undo settlement gains. According to Smotrich, the alleged plan includes removing 100 new communities and 160 additional farms in Judea and Samaria. He concluded that his camp is building “Israel’s security buffer,” while its opponents intend to dismantle it.