Smotrich takes steps to make his major settlement policy shift harder to reverse

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has taken steps to entrench the powerful Settlements Administration agency he established in 2023 within the Defense Ministry to make it more difficult for any potential new government to dismantle.

According to a statement put out by Smotrich’s office, he, together with the Defense Ministry and the Civil Service Commission, has turned the Settlements Administration, which has broad powers over civilian life in the West Bank, into a formal agency of the Defense Ministry.

In addition, the term of the civilian head of the Civil Administration — which also has significant control over civilian matters in the West Bank — who answers to Smotrich, was extended from four to six years.

Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry, claimed that these changes will help to perpetuate his success in massively expanding the settlement enterprise over the last four years and make it more difficult for a new government to undo those gains.

“The decision to anchor the Settlements Administration and the position of deputy head of the Civil Administration will de facto implement the continuation of the settlement revolution and the emphasis and priority on the civilian aspect of life in Judea and Samaria, and not just as a ‘second fiddle’ to the security component, even after the elections, when the mechanism built by Minister Smotrich over the years will continue to function even after his tenure,” his office stated, using the biblical term for the West Bank.

During his tenure in office and as a result of the new powers Smotrich took control of through the Settlements Administration, 185 new illegal outposts were established in the West Bank and were not demolished, over 40,000 housing units were approved for construction in settlements, and 103 new settlements were either approved or retroactively legalized, all of which represent all-time records compared to previous governments.

At the same time, demolitions of illegally constructed Palestinian homes in the West Bank by the Civil Administration have more than doubled since Smotrich asserted control over that agency, and in 2025 represented nearly 100 percent of demolition orders issued for Palestinian homes, according to the Bimkom human rights organization. Just 20% of demolition orders against illegal settler construction were carried out, by comparison. Out of more than 1,000 planning applications by Palestinians for Area C of the West Bank, zero were approved.

Smotrich’s massive settlement expansion program, together with increasing Israeli civilian control over the West Bank, has led campaign groups against the settlements and some opposition parties to accuse the government of carrying out de facto annexation of the territory.

Smotrich’s office said the steps to bureaucratically entrench the Settlements Administration in the Defense Ministry were being taken due to concerns that a new government would reverse his “settlement revolution,” demolish settlements and establish a Palestinian state.

Despite these claims, it would still be possible for a new government or defense minister to reverse these decisions and dismantle the administration if they so wish. Such steps would, however, be more complex due to the measures taken by Smotrich to entrench the agency in the ministry and require stronger political will to carry out.

In 2023, the Settlements Administration was established within the Defense Ministry in accordance with demands made by Smotrich of the coalition, and crucial powers over civilian life in the West Bank were transferred from the Civil Administration headed by an IDF officer to the new agency, which is subordinate to Smotrich.

The Settlements Administration was given authority over illegal construction demolitions as well as key powers over the construction process in the West Bank.

These powers gave Smotrich the ability to massively ramp up settlement construction, as he has done, and also gave him the power to stop the demolition of illegal settlement outposts, dozens of which have been established during the current government’s tenure.

In addition, the position of a “civilian deputy” within the Civil Administration was created and filled by a close ally of Smotrich, Hillel Roth, giving the minister even greater authority over West Bank civilian affairs.

Then in May 2024, the then-head of the IDF Central Command, Maj. Gen Yehuda Fox, signed an order allowing the head of the Civil Administration to delegate his areas of authority to the new civilian deputy.

The powers delegated to Roth under Fox’s order included authority over real estate transactions, government property, land and water arrangements, forestry laws, tourism, public bathing, planning of cities, villages and construction, some land registration processes, and management and administration of regional councils.

Critics have argued that these changes amounted to a de facto annexation of the West Bank by the Israeli government, since key powers previously held by military officials were transferred to civilian officials in government ministries, and constitute increasing oppression of Palestinians in the territory.

“In recent years, the West Bank, under its ‘governor,’ Bezalel Smotrich, has become fertile ground for pogroms and disturbances on a criminal scale unprecedented in the past, driven and encouraged by the most extremist ministers in the government,” said Alon Cohen-Lifshitz of Bimkom.

“The silencing of moderate voices within the system, together with the enlistment of professional bodies in the service of an ideological agenda, has led to an unrestrained orgy of takeover, destruction, death, looting and devastation.”

Smotrich himself has boasted of having created a system of civilian rule over the settlements, replacing military governance, which he has said was a “mega-dramatic” achievement. He has openly said his moves are aimed at advancing Israeli sovereignty in the territory, which Israel has ruled militarily since seizing it during the 1967 Six Day War.

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