Smotrich vows to ‘trample’ Supreme Court President Amit, calls him a ‘violent megalomaniac’

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich accuses Supreme Court President Isaac Amit of being “a violent megalomaniac who is stealing Israeli democracy,” and vows to “trample him,” in a blistering attack on the country’s top court.

Speaking to reporters at the Knesset before a faction meeting of his Religious Zionism party, the far-right minister and fervent opponent of the judiciary says that he wishes he could reach a compromise with Amit, but “when one side becomes so extreme, it leaves you no option but to fight back with everything you’ve got.”

Smotrich has long supported the government’s attempts to overhaul the judiciary and has repeatedly attacked the Supreme Court and Amit specifically, often accusing them of undermining democracy when the courts are at odds with the government.

His divisive comments attract criticism from opposition leaders.

Blue and White party chair Benny Gantz says that Smotrich’s language is dangerous, “crosses a red line, and is a new peak in this coalition’s crazy attack against the justice system. What begins with words like this can end in blood. Stop the madness!”

The leader of the left-wing Democrats party, Yair Golan, says: “We are facing a criminal gang, but we will stand as a wall of defense around the rule of law and the State of Israel.”

“Smotrich, you will not pass the electoral threshold; what you have destroyed, we will fix this year,” he adds, referring to opinion polls that predict Smotrich’s party will fail to enter the next Knesset.

The Yesh Atid party’s Major General (res.) Noam Tibon calls the finance minister “a pyromaniac with a microphone,” accusing Smotrich of “inciting against a symbol of government.”

“I call on the head of the Shin Bet to review the security [protection arrangements] of President Amit. We will defend democracy against the failed minister and all his colleagues in the failed government,” he says.