D4Bezalel Smotrich — Finance Minister
Huwara remark: 1 Mar 2023; starvation remark: 5 Aug 2024; five-country sanctions: 10 Jun 2025
- “The village of Huwara needs to be wiped out.”
- Said starving two million Gazans might be “justified and moral.”
- Sanctioned by the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway.
Smotrich said in March 2023 that "the village of Huwara needs to be wiped out" and that "the State of Israel should do it" (Times of Israel, Al Jazeera), and in August 2024 told the Katif Conference that "nobody will let us cause two million civilians to die of hunger even though it might be justified and moral until our hostages are returned" (CNN), a remark the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned as justifying the war crime of starving civilians. On 10 June 2025, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway imposed sanctions on him — asset freezes and travel bans — for having "incited extremist violence" against Palestinians in the West Bank, per the joint foreign ministers' statement.
The record — 15 sources
Date, publication and headline for each source, as the source itself published them. Sorted by publication date. 15 of 15 dated; a blank means the publisher's page didn't expose it, and we don't guess.
| Date | Publication | Headline |
|---|
| 2024-08-05 |  Middle East Eye | Smotrich says it's 'justified, moral' to let Gaza's Palestinians die of hunger |
| 2024-08-05 |  Haaretz | Israeli finance minister: Starving Gazans 'to death' may be moral, but world won't let us |
| 2024-08-06 |  CNN | Israeli minister says it may be ‘moral’ to starve 2 million Gazans, but ‘no one in the world would let us’ | CNN |
| 2024-08-09 |  UN News | UN rights chief ‘shocked and appalled’ by Israeli minister’s comment on starving Gazans to death |
| 2025-06-10 |  UK Government (sanctions notice) | UK and partners unite to sanction ministers inciting West Bank violence |
| 2025-06-10 |  Al Jazeera | Australia, Canada, NZ, UK, Norway sanction two Israeli far-right ministers |
| 2025-06-10 |  The Independent | UK sanctions two far-right Israeli ministers over ‘monstrous’ Gaza comments |
| 2025-06-10 |  ABC News | UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers |
| 2025-06-10 |  LA Times | U.K. and others sanction far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers over violence in the West Bank |
| 2025-06-10 |  CBC | U.S. condemns Canada, 4 other nations over Israeli sanctions | CBC News |
| 2025-06-10 |  Sydney Morning Herald | ‘Entirely unacceptable’: Ambassador condemns Australian sanctions on senior Israeli ministers |
| 2025-06-10 |  CBS News | U.S. allies sanction 2 Israeli cabinet members |
| 2025-06-11 |  NBC News | U.K., Canada, Australia and others sanction 2 far-right Israeli ministers for 'inciting extremist violence' |
| 2025-06-11 |  Euronews | Rubio criticises UK over Gaza-related sanctions on Israeli ministers |
| 2025-06-11 |  The Guardian | Australia sanctions two ‘extremist’ Israeli ministers for inciting violence against Palestinians |