Bezalel Smotrich pushes for West Bank evacuation after being linked with ICC warrant
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday that the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued an arrest warrant against him, calling it a “declaration of war,” and announced that in response, he would sign an official order to evacuate the Palestinian village Khan al-Ahmar, located in the West Bank.
“The Palestinian Authority opened a war, and it will receive war. I will immediately sign an order to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar,” he said in a press conference, and later published the official signed document.
His statements came following reports that the ICC was investigating additional Israeli political and military leaders for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against Palestinians in the West Bank. It was reported that Smotrich was one of the officials with an arrest warrant filed against him.
Smotrich said that on Monday night, he “was informed that a secret request for an international arrest warrant was submitted against me by the chief prosecutor of the so-called ‘antisemitic court’ in the Hague.”
He vowed “to all of Israel’s enemies” that signing the order to evacuate the village was “only the beginning.”
The Khan al-Ahmar Bedouin village has been part of an ongoing dispute for years, with right-wing ministers and settlement movement leaders calling for it to be cleared for Israeli settlement expansion.
In May 2018, the High Court of Justice determined that residents could be evicted, but the decision was then postponed. The United Nations, ICC, and other international groups stated that the demolition of the village would be a violation of international law and could constitute a war crime.
Smotrich accuses ICC of acting as PA voice
Smotrich said that by issuing the arrest warrants, the ICC was acting as the “voice of the Palestinian Authority.”
The ICC had issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant in 2024 amid investigations into allegations of war crimes in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas War.
Smotrich addressed those warrants as well, stating that “issuing arrest warrants against the prime minister is a declaration of war.”
He added that “issuing arrest warrants against the defense minister and the finance minister is a declaration of war.”
“Against a declaration of war, we will respond with war. I am not a submissive Jew. The Palestinian Authority started a war, and it will receive war.”
He vowed that the arrest warrants against him would not succeed and defended his role as a government minister.
“As a sovereign and independent state, we will not accept hypocritical dictates from biased bodies that consistently stand against the State of Israel, against our biblical, historical, and legal rights in our homeland, and against our right and duty to self-defense and security,” he said.
“On a personal level, [the arrest warrants] do not move me. I am willing to pay personal prices to serve my people.”
“But on a national level, they are not harming Benjamin Netanyahu or Bezalel Smotrich. They are trying to harm us as the leadership of the State of Israel,” he added.
“From now on, any economic or other target that I can act against within my authority as finance minister and as minister in the Defense Ministry will be attacked. Not words and gimmicks – actions,” Smotrich said.
Smotrich heads Settlements Administration, draws criticism
The far-right minister is the head of the Settlements Administration, a Defense Ministry body established in 2023 that oversees West Bank settlements and advances construction and housing in the area.
Smotrich’s statements calling for West Bank annexation often draw sharp international condemnation, as well as criticism for harming Israel’s global standing.
Under the 1990s Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank was divided into three areas: A, B, and C, with Area C under full Israeli control.
Israel’s roughly 500,000 “settlers” live mainly in Area C, with most settlements considered legal under Israeli law and built on state land through government-approved decisions.
Since the start of the current government’s term in 2022, over 51, 000 housing units have been approved for deposit and final authorization in the West Bank, according to Smotrich’s office at the end of 2025.