By: Fern Sidman

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the launch of a sweeping, citizen-led campaign to demand full Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, urging supporters to emulate the highly visible Hostage Families Forum, whose relentless demonstrations helped shift both government policy and U.S. attitudes toward the Gaza war.

In a post published Saturday night and reported by Israel National News, Smotrich — leader of the Religious Zionism Party and one of the most outspoken advocates for applying Israeli law to the biblical heartland — proposed a sustained public mobilization effort he dubbed the “Sovereignty Movement.” The movement, he suggested, should mirror the determination, media attention, and moral urgency displayed by the families of Israeli hostages who have demonstrated weekly in Tel Aviv since the October 7 Hamas massacre.

“The families of the hostages and the prime minister who joined them didn’t stop explaining to the president how crucial this issue was for Israelis,” Smotrich wrote, referring to President Trump. “They succeeded. The president understood, changed his mind and his policy, and the result is known.”

Smotrich argued that the same model of sustained civic pressure could help persuade Trump — whom he called “a true friend of Israel who wants the best for it” — to endorse Israel’s sovereignty bid, even though the president recently urged restraint on annexation during ongoing ceasefire negotiations.

According to the information provided in the Israel National News report on Sunday, Smotrich’s proposal would transform what has long been a niche political demand of the religious right into a grassroots national campaign designed to build visible, persistent momentum.

He called on supporters to gather weekly in a symbolic location he named “Sovereignty Square,” to wear distinctive pins, and to display banners and slogans across major highways until the government formally declares sovereignty over Judea and Samaria — territories captured by Israel in 1967 and long regarded by Palestinians as part of a future state.

“If the movement for sovereignty keeps showing up every Saturday night for a year,” Smotrich wrote, “I have no doubt it will happen, God willing.”

The finance minister pointed to the Hostage Families Forum as proof that “consistent, nonviolent mobilization” could overcome political inertia. Their movement, he noted, succeeded in changing the priorities of the Israeli government — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to personally engage with hostage families — and in reshaping American diplomatic pressure.

The Israel National News report observed that Smotrich’s framing represents a strategic evolution: rather than relying solely on cabinet debates or coalition leverage, he is now turning to public activism as a vehicle to advance what he views as the next historic phase of the Zionist project.

Smotrich’s remarks come on the heels of a nonbinding Knesset resolution passed earlier this month, which expressed broad parliamentary support for applying Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. As Israel National News reported, the resolution passed by an overwhelming 71–13 margin, reflecting a growing consensus within right-wing and centrist factions that the time has come to formalize Israel’s control over the territory.

Though the measure carries no legal force, Smotrich said it revealed a deep alignment between the public and their elected representatives. Without citing polling data, he claimed that “most Israelis now favor” sovereignty and that “the political leadership must rise to meet that national will.”

In his post, Smotrich positioned sovereignty not as a fringe demand but as a moral imperative and the natural culmination of Israel’s historic mission.

“There’s nothing more natural,” he wrote, “than full Israeli sovereignty over our homeland in Judea and Samaria.”

As the Israel National News report noted, Smotrich’s remarks echo his long-standing argument that the continued legal and political ambiguity surrounding the territories undermines both Israel’s national security and its international legitimacy. He has repeatedly maintained that applying Israeli law to Jewish communities in the region would strengthen governance, deter terror, and clarify Israel’s claim to its biblical heartland.

Smotrich’s appeal arrives at a sensitive diplomatic moment, with President Trump publicly urging Israel to avoid unilateral annexation while ceasefire arrangements remain in place. However, Israel National News reported that the finance minister appears undeterred by American caution, framing Trump not as an obstacle but as a potential ally who can be persuaded through grassroots advocacy.

In his post, Smotrich drew a parallel between how the hostage families’ campaign allegedly influenced Trump’s policy shifts and how sustained pressure from pro-sovereignty Israelis could shape Washington’s stance on annexation.

“The families’ persistence showed the power of the Israeli people’s voice,” he wrote. “It’s the same with sovereignty. When the president hears from Israelis, when he feels the unity of purpose, he will understand this is not politics — it’s destiny.”

Smotrich, who has often clashed with both the Israeli Defense establishment and international mediators over Gaza and West Bank policy, has insisted that Israel must pursue peace and normalization “from a position of strength and national dignity”, not through concessions or foreign-imposed frameworks.

“We must not compromise our historic and religious connection to the land,” Israel National News quoted him as saying.

He dismissed warnings that sovereignty would derail normalization talks with Arab states, asserting instead that Arab respect for Israel depends on its confidence in asserting its biblical and national rights.

Smotrich’s latest remarks also reveal his continuing opposition to the U.S.-backed ceasefire arrangement with Hamas, which he views as a dangerous distraction from Israel’s broader strategic goals. As Israel National News has reported, Smotrich and other members of the nationalist bloc have argued that the ceasefire has emboldened Iran’s regional proxies, including Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, while delaying Israel’s long-term plans for sovereignty.

In his post, the finance minister contrasted what he called “the temporary and tactical” goals of ceasefire diplomacy with the “permanent and moral” objective of sovereignty. He suggested that the right wing’s failure to mobilize effectively in the past allowed external powers — including the U.S. and the European Union — to dictate Israel’s policy in Judea and Samaria.

“We’ve seen what persistence can do,” Smotrich wrote. “The hostages’ families didn’t take ‘no’ for an answer, and the government eventually changed course. That’s the model for us.”

The Israel National News report highlighted that Smotrich’s call is likely to energize settler organizations and religious Zionist groups that have long campaigned for annexation but lacked the broad-based public engagement that characterized the hostage movement.

If implemented, Smotrich’s “Sovereignty Movement” could quickly become one of the largest organized campaigns in Israel’s recent political history. His proposed tactics — weekly rallies, unified slogans, and a sustained media presence — are designed to create what he called a “moral echo chamber” that forces both the government and international observers to confront the strength of pro-sovereignty sentiment within Israeli society.

Israel National News reported that similar public movements, from the protests against the 2005 Gaza Disengagement to the campaign for judicial reform, have demonstrated how persistent civic activism can reshape Israel’s political agenda.

Political analysts told Israel National News that Smotrich’s strategy appears aimed at building bottom-up pressure to offset diplomatic and security constraints that have so far prevented annexation. One analyst described the plan as “a calculated fusion of ideology and activism — transforming the right’s frustration into a disciplined, visible, moral campaign.”

In his closing remarks, Smotrich framed the sovereignty campaign not merely as a policy initiative but as a spiritual and historical mission, invoking Israel’s biblical legacy and divine promise.

“This is not a political whim,” he wrote. “It’s the realization of our destiny as a people in our land. The same faith that brought us back after two thousand years must now guide us to complete the process — full sovereignty, full redemption.”

As the Israel National News report observed, Smotrich’s words signal a renewed determination within Israel’s nationalist camp to move beyond defensive wars and provisional arrangements toward a definitive assertion of Israeli authority in Judea and Samaria.

Whether his “Sovereignty Movement” gains traction remains to be seen, but his call marks a pivotal moment in the ideological struggle shaping Israel’s future — a struggle that, as the Israel National News report noted, may soon shift “from the cabinet table to the public square.”