Palestine
Smotrich is a supporter of expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and opposes Palestinian statehood.
In a 2015 interview Smotrich stated that "The Palestinian Authority is a burden, and Hamas is an asset", noting that, while the PA was harming Israel in international forums, Hamas' status as a terrorist organization meant that "no one will recognize it, no one will give it status at the [International Criminal Court], no one will let it put forth a resolution at the U.N. Security Council".
According to journalist Ron Ben-Yishai, in his dual role as finance minister and adjunct minister in the Ministry of Defense, Smotrich intends to implement ideas set forth in his "Decisive Plan" (2017) which, according to Ben-Yishai, foresees: "Flood[ing], simply so, the areas of Judea and Samaria with settlements and Jewish settlers. When this happens, the Palestinians are supposed to understand that they have no chance to get a state of their own, and they would have to choose between one of the three options – a life of subjugation under Israeli rule, emigration, or a shahid [martyr] death".
In August 2025 Smotrich announced the resumption of the 3400-home settlement plan in the E1 area of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. By creating a physical link between Ma'ale Adumim and Jerusalem, international observers and the Palestinian Authority condemned the approval of the plan as it would seemingly "bury the idea of Palestinian state". Smotrich controversially reiterated this intention, stating before the plan's final approval that the recognition of a Palestinian state "will receive an answer from us on the ground", and the idea of a Palestinian state was "being erased". Alongside the planned resumption of the E1 plan, Smotrich also announced the approval of 350 homes to be built in Asa'el, an Israeli settlement.
Ahead of the intended recognition of the State of Palestine by several nations in September 2025, Smotrich called for Israel to annex "roughly 82 percent of the West Bank". Through potential annexation, Smotrich highlighted that the Palestinian Authority could "continue to run their own affairs" on a local level, but that the "territory would be ours".
As a result of certain clauses of the Disengagement Plan Implementation Law relating to the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip being repealed in March 2023, the Israeli security cabinet approved a proposal backed by Smotrich and Israel Katz in December 2025 for the establishment of 19 new settlements in the West Bank area. The approval included the re-establishment of all former Israeli settlements in the West Bank (notably Kadim and Ganim), with the Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration agency also announcing the eventual construction of 126 housing units in Sa-Nur. Smotrich highlighted that "We are eradicating the disgrace of the expulsion from northern Samaria and are settling the Land of Israel anew".
Despite Smotrich hinting that the International Criminal Court (ICC) was seeking to issue an arrest warrant for his activities in the West Bank, he has threatened in response to the unconfirmed warrant to evict the residents of Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian Bedouin village in the West Bank area. Located between the Israeli settlements of Ma'ale Adumim and Kfar Adumim and near land to be used for the controversial E1 plan, the village had been previously set to be removed after the Supreme Court of Israel upheld an eviction order for its residents in 2018. Smotrich then urged the Israeli populace to "raze the town and expel its residents to make room for the expansion of Jewish settlements in the area."
In June 2026 Smotrich called for the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority, the abolition of the Oslo Accords, and the removal of the distinctions between Areas A, B and C in the West Bank. He stated that Israel should "take control of the entire territory" and argued that Israel was "destroying the idea of a Palestinian state". Smotrich also said that cancelling the Oslo Accords would lead to the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority and the application of Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, and suggested replacing the Palestinian Authority with a new military administration. Shortly after, Smotrich signaled his intent of increasing the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank by announcing that 2,162 new homes were to be built in areas near Jerusalem, Hebron and Nablus.
Smotrich's radical views on Jewish-Arab relations are controversial within the Religious Zionist sector.
In July 2015 Smotrich controversially declared in a Knesset Interior committee meeting that developers in Israel should not have to sell homes to Arabs. The meeting took place following accusations that Galil Homes refused to sell homes to Arabs in Ma'alot-Tarshiha, a northern Israeli town. Smotrich defended the developer, saying that, "Anyone who wants to protect the Jewish People and opposes mixed marriages is not a racist. Whoever wants to let Jews live a Jewish life without non-Jews is not a racist." He added that Jews are the ones deprived in Israel because "they don't get free land in the Negev", a reference to Bedouin. "I believe in God's words. I prefer that Jews make a living and wouldn't sell a house to Arabs."
Smotrich has argued that price tag assaults on Palestinian people or property, while criminal in nature, are not to be classified as examples of terrorism, which he defined as "only violence carried out by an enemy within the framework of war against us". Commenting on a specific case, the Duma arson attack, in which a Palestinian family of 3 were killed, and for which a Jewish settler was indicted, Smotrich stated that to brand such deeds as terrorism causes "mortal and unjustified harm to human and civil rights".
In April 2016 Smotrich tweeted that he supports segregation of Arab and Jewish women in hospital maternity wards: "It is natural that my wife would not want to lie down next to someone who just gave birth to a baby that might want to murder her baby in another 20 years." The tweets were condemned by several Israeli politicians, including opposition leader Isaac Herzog and Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett.
Smotrich has advocated a shoot-to-kill policy for the military when they deal with Palestinians throwing stones. Asked what he would do were another intifada to arise, and a Palestinian child were to throw stones, he replied: "Either I will shoot him, or I will jail him, or I will expel him."
In April 2018 Smotrich tweeted that Ahed Tamimi, a 17-year-old Palestinian serving an eight-month jail sentence for assaulting a soldier, incitement, and interfering with a soldier in the line of duty, "should have gotten a bullet, at least in the kneecap". Twitter responded by suspending his account for 12 hours and asking him to delete the tweet, saying that the tweet was "abusive" and could incite harassment. Smotrich refused to delete the tweet, saying that for Twitter, "freedom of speech is only reserved for one side of the political spectrum", and that he stood by his tweet.
In October 2021 he told Arab lawmakers during a Knesset session that, "You're here by mistake, it's a mistake that Ben-Gurion didn't finish the job and didn't throw you out in 1948."
On his arrival in Great Britain in February 2022, the Board of Deputies of British Jews tweeted him, telling him to go back where he came from.
After the 2023 Huwara rampage by Israeli settlers, Smotrich said, "I think the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out. I think the state of Israel should do it."
In March 2023, speaking from a podium that depicted a map of Israel that incorporated Jordan, Smotrich denied Palestinian identity, saying that there isn't any "Palestinian history or culture", continuing by saying that there is "no such thing as a Palestinian people"; these remarks were decried as "racist, fascist, and extremist" by the Palestinian foreign ministry.
On 27 November 2023 Smotrich said that "there are 2 million Nazis" in the West Bank, "who hate us, exactly as do the Nazis of Hamas-ISIS in Gaza".
In November 2023 he called for Palestinian-free zones around Israeli settlements in the West Bank, saying that Israel must "create sterile security areas around [Jewish] communities and roads and prevent Arabs from entering them, including for the purpose of olive harvesting." In the same month he called for the "voluntary immigration of Gaza Arabs to the countries of the world" and said that "The state of Israel will no longer be able to put up with the existence of an independent entity in Gaza". On 3 January 2024, Smotrich said that "more than 70% of the Israeli public today supports a humanitarian solution of encouraging the voluntary immigration of Gaza Arabs and their absorption in other countries."
On 29 April 2024 Smotrich said, "There are no half measures ... Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat – total annihiliation. 'Thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.' There is no place for them under heaven." The Israeli newspaper Haaretz described his comments as a call to genocide.
In August 2024 Smotrich said that the distribution of aid inside Gaza should be controlled by Israel, adding that "no one in the world would let us starve and thirst two million citizens [of Gaza], even though it may be just and moral until they return our hostages" from the October 7 attacks. His comments were condemned by Germany, the UK and the EU.
In May 2025 Smotrich said, about the situation in Gaza, that "Gaza will be totally destroyed" and about the Palestinians that "they will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza, and will be looking for relocation to begin a new life in other places." After a report by CNN highlighting over 1,800 buildings in the Gaza Strip being destroyed and Israel controlling 40% of Gaza's biggest city, Smotrich stated in September 2025 that he was discussing the potential division of the territory with U.S. officials. Smotrich stated that a "business plan was set by the most professional people there is and is on President Trump's table and how this thing turns into a real estate bonanza", further acknowledging that "we've done the demolition phase... Now we need to build".
In October 2025, referencing Saudi Arabia, Smotrich said they can "keep riding camels in the sands of the Saudi desert" if the price of normalization is the establishment of a Palestinian state. He later apologized for his remark after it was widely condemned by the coalition and the opposition.
In January 2026 Smotrich announced his opposition to President Trump's plan for the post-war governance in the Gaza Strip after reports of the involvement of Turkey and Qatar in the Board of Peace. Smotrich highlighted that "the countries that inspired Hamas cannot be the ones that replace it. Those who support it and continue to host it even now will not be granted a foothold in Gaza. Period." Smotrich also called for the US-established Civil-Military Coordination Center in Kiryat Gat to be closed, stating his belief that Gaza should be "stormed with full force" in order to remove Hamas.
