Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that if his daughter were to ask about military service, he would try to educate her not to enlist, citing the position of the Chief Rabbinate and his own religious convictions.
“If my daughter asks, I will try to teach her not to go there, because the Chief Rabbinate opposes it and because that is the position of my rabbis,” Smotrich, who heads the Religious Zionism party, said at a faction meeting. “This is a value system of several thousand years. I hope the great liberals will respect that. I respect anyone who thinks differently from me.”
Smotrich said his opposition to women serving in combat roles is based on religious and professional considerations, including concerns about mixed-gender units.
“I have my position — religious, faith-based, professional reasons — what mixing men and women does,” he said. “I think mixed units are bad for professional reasons. They create a problematic atmosphere and harm the professionalism of the military. Inserting mixed crews into tanks seems absurd to me. It’s not only a religious issue.”
He added that while he believes women serving in combat roles is “not right,” he does not seek to dictate personal choices. “Whoever thinks otherwise — fine, the army allows it,” he said.
Asked about the apparent involvement of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, Smotrich said there would be no role for it in the territory’s future governance.
“There is no entry of the Palestinian Authority,” he said. “There is a clear commitment from the Americans and from us — what will be in Gaza is not Hamas and not the Authority.”
Smotrich reiterated his party’s position that Gaza should come under full occupation, military rule, settlement and encouragement of emigration. “That is the truth,” he said. “Whoever does not yet have the courage to make such a decision — and unfortunately the prime minister is not there yet — will get there, because there will be no choice.”
He also said he hopes an ultimatum will soon be issued to Hamas to disarm. “Will it dismantle itself? Good. What will probably happen is that it will not, and we will need to dismantle it,” he said. “Hamas cannot significantly rearm. We control every grain that enters Gaza.”
Responding to reports that passports of Gazans crossing through the Rafah crossing were stamped with a Palestinian Authority seal, Smotrich said he had worked to prevent any formal entry of the Authority into Gaza but acknowledged that passport stamping stems from arrangements dating back to the Oslo Accords.
“Since the Oslo agreements, passports must be stamped. That is part of international law,” he said. “After it became clear which stamp was being used, the prime minister instructed that it be changed to a stamp of the Peace Council.”
Smotrich added: “The war will not end until we destroy these Nazis in a total way,” referring to Hamas.