Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich claimed that the potential establishment of a government with Ra’am head Mansour Abbas was worse than the October 7, 2023, massacre, during a comprehensive interview on the Seven Nine program hosted by Gideon Oko and Amichai Atali on Radio 103FM.
According to him, while the massacre was a tragic and hard-to-digest event, the intentional aspect of a political partnership with an Arab party represents a greater danger in his view.
“The October 7 massacre is a horrible and terrible failure, but it is a tactical failure. Whoever knowingly sold the State of Israel to its enemies and to the Islamic movement has done something 1,000 times worse than the most terrible failure, because it was not a malicious act,” he said.
The interviewers reminded the minister that the surprise attack had taken the lives of more than 2,100 victims, along with many bereaved families and numerous injured, but he refused to retract his statement.
“Do you want to hold a competition in tragedies?” he asked. “You asked me, as a politician, what I consider to be worse. A politician who lied, betrayed his values, and targeted democracy – this is far worse.”
Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich speaks during a vote on the state budget at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, January 28, 2026. (credit: OREN BEN HAKOON/FLASH90)Smotrich claims that comments on Mansour Abbas taken out of context
In a post on X/Twitter made after the interview, Smotrich clarified that his meaning was not a comparison between the massacre and the government, but rather a reference to the “political act” of sitting in either the government with Abbas or the government in power during October 7.
“The question I was asked and answered was what *political act* is more severe – to go into a government with Hamas knowingly and deliberately out of lust for honor and power, or to sit in a government during whose watch a horrific massacre occurred in which Hamas attacked the State of Israel and murdered thousands of our people,” he said.
“So yes, to knowingly go into a government with Hamas through lies and deception and vote-stealing is the most severe act that Israeli politics has ever known.”
During the interview, when asked, “How would Bennett, if he were Prime Minister, manage this war differently from you?”, Smotrich responded: “The left, over the years, is the champion of taking military achievements and diluting them.”
Smotrich did not stop there and clarified that he is not referring to the previous prime ministers, whom he believes are people you cannot believe a word from, accusing them of turning 180 degrees against their voters within days.
“I am willing to argue with the right, willing to argue with the left – but I don’t know how to argue with someone who one day promises not to sit with Lapid and then does sit with Lapid, someone who promised not to form a government with anti-Zionist terror supporters, the sister movement of Hamas, and did so. Let’s talk about people who have a worldview,” he attacked.
Despite his central role in the leadership of the state, the minister also had criticisms of his senior partner, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly regarding the prolonged war and the fact that the terrorist organization in Gaza has not yet been fully defeated. When confronted with the reality that the enemy continues to control parts of Gaza, he argued that the situation on the ground is different.
“We control 60% of the Gaza Strip,” he said. “Hamas does currently control 40%, but this is not a game-changing situation. We are only bringing in 200 trucks today, much less than the 4,000 trucks that used to come in, and we will have to decide at what moment we choose how to fight.”
He added, “It is clear that we need to finish this war by ensuring there is no Hamas in Gaza. We want many years of peace.”
The minister rejected claims that the concept is still alive and well within the right-wing government. “I’ve had criticisms of Netanyahu over the years, and I don’t absolve him of responsibility,” he admitted unexpectedly. “I’ve had arguments with him for 20 years – but I look at the last two and a half years and the change in policy. Thank God, he made the right choice.”
Atali pressed Smotrich, saying, “Still, Benjamin Netanyahu is the father of the political concept. The entire event grew out of his framework. You’re just saying that since October 8, he became a new person.” The minister responded that “I still have sharp debates with him. I still think that this war must end with a change in the borders of the State of Israel, both in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria, and certainly in Judea and Samaria.” He did not hold back his opinion on the desired solution to end the campaign.
Smotrich calls for annexation in Lebanon
He stated that if it were up to him, IDF forces would carry out a large-scale annexation in Lebanon. “Yes, I think he is wrong. Consciously, our enemies don’t care how many terrorists we kill or how many bombs we drop on them. They don’t care. What matters to them is if we take land from them.” He clarified that he intends to promote a revolution in Judea and Samaria as well, to definitively remove the vision of a Palestinian state from the table.
Regarding the growing tension in the Gulf and the direct confrontation with the Ayatollah regime, the minister chose more cautious language but incorporated biblical imagery. When asked if the multi-front campaign is expected to expand again toward Tehran, he gave an implicit answer based on Jacob’s preparations before meeting Esau. “There is preparation for gifts, for prayer, and for war,” he noted, adding, “We maintain close coordination between us and the American administration. The IDF is ready for any scenario, both in defense and in attack.”
According to Smotrich, “The most important thing is that President Trump remains 100% committed to the dismantling of a nuclear Iran, with no missile capability and no proxies.” He avoided elaborating on possible attack targets but stressed the supreme importance of hitting Iran’s regime economically. “We want to crush this regime economically,” he said, adding that the goal is to bring its leadership to a position where it is hardest to recover. He assessed that the combined military and economic pressure would eventually allow the Iranian people, whom he claims are opposed to the regime, to overthrow the government from within and bring about a reality of regional peace with a more moderate leadership.
When Oko noted that “maybe as lessons from the first round, maybe all of us should be a little more humble this time,” Smotrich responded: “I don’t think we weren’t humble before.”
During the interview, the minister adopted a more personal and sensitive tone when asked about his son, Benaya, an IDF soldier who was injured in intense battles in southern Lebanon. After a period of hospitalization, his son was released from the hospital yesterday for continued rehabilitation.
“Thank God, he is improving,” he shared emotionally. “This is an opportunity to thank God and all the people who supported, cared, and prayed. The medical teams at Hadassah Hospital are wonderful, and the army is supporting us.”
He described the long recovery process still ahead for his son but made sure to maintain cautious optimism. The doctors, he said, expect several more months of patience and physical therapy. “We see great improvement,” he concluded with fatherly empathy. “We were blessed with him by a miracle. He feels much better and is already talking about returning to the mission with his friends.”
“We hope that by the time he is discharged, there won’t be an army,” Atali said with a smile.
Tzvi Jasper contributed to this report.