Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich resigns from government
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has resigned from his post in a letter to Netanyahu.
A spokesperson for Smotrich said his resignation was a protest against a request by his erstwhile far-right ally, Jewish Power party head Itamar Ben-Gvir, for more ministerial positions upon Ben-Gvir’s return to the government.
The resignation is not likely to collapse Netanyahu’s coalition. The government passed its 2025 budget in Israel’s parliament last week.
Ben-Gvir, a former national security minister, left the government in January in protest against the ceasefire in Gaza but said he would rejoin the coalition this month after Israel resumed its war on the territory.
The parties of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir ran together in the last elections but operate independently.
The two figures share a far-right agenda and have both called for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza, but they have been at odds in recent weeks over funding for the police and Smotrich criticised Ben-Gvir for quitting the government in January.
Anti-Netanyahu protesters clash with police in Jerusalem
Demonstrators in Jerusalem protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demand the release of captives held in Gaza
Iran will have ‘no choice’ but to acquire nuclear weapons if attacked by US or Israel
Iran would have no alternative but to acquire a nuclear weapon if attacked by the United States or its allies, an adviser to the country’s supreme leader has warned, following a threat by Donald Trump.
The comments came hours after the supreme leader himself, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had promised to hit back if the US president made good on his threat to bomb Iran if it did not agree to a deal to curb its nuclear programme.
“We are not moving towards [nuclear] weapons, but if you do something wrong in the Iranian nuclear issue, you will force Iran to move towards that because it has to defend itself,” Khamenei’s adviser Ali Larijani said in an interview on Iranian TV.
“Iran does not want to do this, but … [it] will have no choice,” he added.
“If at some point you [the US] move towards bombing by yourself or through Israel, you will force Iran to make a different decision.”
