Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich faces a fight for political survival in elections in October after angering his fellow West Bank settlers by voting not to punish ultra-Orthodox Jews who refuse to serve in the military.

The political travails of Smotrich are a sign of how tricky it will be for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to shepherd allies in his quarrelsome coalition through the October 27 election, Israel’s first since the start of the Gaza war.

A lifelong settler in the Israeli-controlled West Bank, Smotrich, 46, leads the Religious Zionism party, which opposes a Palestinian state and argues that Jews’ claim to land between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea arises from the Bible.

Several Western countries have banned him from entering over accusations he supports violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, a claim he and the government reject.

Though less overtly pugnacious than the other main far-right cabinet member, Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, with whom he is often compared, Smotrich has used his time in office to ramp up settlement building. He defends the cause with a caustic turn of phrase and is still lionized by many in the movement.

“I think his achievements have been off the charts,” said Chaim Silberstein, a settler in Beit El, where Smotrich grew up and where new apartment blocks reflect the expansion he has championed.

But some one-time backers have been infuriated by his support last month for a law that would prevent the arrest of ultra-Orthodox Jews for avoiding the military draft.

“I don’t have a political home today,” said Sarel Halperin, 30, from the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut, who voted for Religious Zionism in 2022. “If we keep doing this for years, we........

© The Times of Israel