Background
Smotrich was born in the Golan Heights and grew up in the Beit El settlement in the West Bank. His father was a rabbi and Smotrich received a religious education, attending Mercaz HaRav Kook, Yashlatz and Yeshivat Kedumim.
Smotrich was born in the Golan Heights and grew up in the Beit El settlement in the West Bank. His father was a rabbi and Smotrich received a religious education, attending Mercaz HaRav Kook, Yashlatz and Yeshivat Kedumim.
He studied law at university.
He was arrested during protests against the disengagement plan in 2005, and was held in jail for three weeks but not charged. In 2006 he helped organise the "Beast Parade" as part protests against a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, although he later admitted regret at the incident. In July 2015 Smotrich caused a controversy by declaring in a Knesset Interior 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, a northern Israeli town.
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 Beduin. “I believe in God’s words.
I prefer that Jews make a living and wouldn’t sell a house to Arabs.”
Anti LGBT position
Smotrich opposes gay marriage. In 2015 he referred to LGBT people as abnormal, stating "At home, everyone can be abnormal and people can form whatever family unit they want, But they can’t make demands from me, as the state." In the same discussion he told the audience "I am a proud homophobe".
He later apologized and retracted his statement saying "someone shouted from the crowd and I responded inattentively".
In July 2015, after Jerusalem LGBT pride stabbing, he called it a beast parade and refused to retract his homophobic remarks. In August 2015, Smotrich accused LGBT organisations of controlling the media, claiming they use their control to gain public sympathy and silence those who share his views. An Israeli non-governmental organization Ometz filed a complaint to Knesset Ethics Committee to intervene and investigate Smotrich"s comments.
Proposed changes to law system
Smotrich is a co-sponsor of proposed legislation change stating that sources of Jewish tradition such as the Torah have to be considered when dealing with legal matters that cannot be decided by legislation or court rulings.
Smotrich is married with five children, and lives in the Kedumim settlement in the West Bank.
A member of Tkuma, he currently serves as a member of the Knesset for the Jewish Home. The party contested the elections as part of the Jewish Home, with Smotrich placed eighth on its list for the elections. Nationalism
Other sponsors of are Miki Zohar from Likud, Yoav Ben-Tzur from Shas and Nissan Slomiansky from The Jewish Home.
Smotrich defended the developer claiming, saying that “anyone who wants to protect the Jewish People and opposes mixed marriages is not a racist.