Bezalel Yoel Smotrich (born February 27, 1981, in Haspin, a settlement in the Golan Heights, Israel) is an Israeli politician, lawyer, and prominent figure in the Religious Zionist movement. He is the leader of the National Union party and chairman of the Religious Zionism party. Raised in a religious family—his father is a rabbi—he grew up in the settlement of Yitzhar in the West Bank, where he became involved in far-right activism and settler movements. He studied law at the Ono Academic College, earning a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 2008, passed the bar exam that year, and worked as a lawyer before entering politics. Smotrich is married to Revital Smotrich and identifies as Orthodox Jewish within the Religious Zionist tradition. He has been a key player in ultranationalist politics, advocating for West Bank settlement expansion and opposing Palestinian statehood.

Smotrich founded the NGO Regavim in 2007, which monitors and challenges what it sees as illegal land use by Palestinians. He entered the Knesset in 2015 as a member of the Jewish Home party, later joined Yamina, and became the leader of the Religious Zionism alliance. Since 2022, he has served as Israel's Minister of Finance in the Netanyahu government, overseeing the national budget including military expenditures, and has pushed for policies favoring settlers and religious institutions. He also serves as Minister of Settlement and National Missions. In 2023, he resigned from the Knesset under the Norwegian Law to allow another party member to take his seat while remaining a minister.

Smotrich is politically aligned with Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he endorsed, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, with whom he shares a caucus. He has competed against Yair Lapid and is linked to organizations like Regavim, which he has financed, and the Central Fund of Israel for foreign funding influences. His influence extends to networks of religious settlers and far-right groups, with alleged financial ties to Israeli intelligence units like Unit 8200.

His political career is marked by controversies, including inflammatory statements against LGBTQ+ rights—he has called homosexuality a 'terrible disease' and LGBTQ+ people part of a 'spirit of delusion' in 2019, and opposed same-sex adoption—leading to widespread condemnation and accusations of homophobia. He has been accused of racism, incitement, supporting settler violence, and promoting Jewish supremacy, with allegations of involvement in anti-Arab activism during his youth in Yitzhar. In 2016, he was investigated for incitement after posting a Passover Haggadah version depicting Arabs as enemies, but charges were dropped. That same year, he was involved in a scandal over a leaked document proposing segregation of Jewish and Arab women in maternity wards, which he later defended. He has been criticized internationally for supporting Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount and for his role in the 2023 judicial overhaul protests. As Finance Minister, Smotrich controls significant funds, including allocations to settlements, and has been accused of using his position to advance settler interests and of economic plans seen as discriminatory. No criminal convictions are documented, but he has faced investigations related to incitement.