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Smotrich: "Until Damascus"

Bezalel Smotrich is Israel's finance minister and the leader of the Religious Zionism party, one of the parties that keeps Prime Minister Netanyahu's coalition in power. He also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry with authority over the West Bank. In October 2024 he gave an interview for a documentary that aired on the French-German public channel Arte, titled in English "Israel: Extremists in Power." What he said in it became one of the most shared clips of the war, because it put a sitting minister's voice to the idea that Israel's borders should reach Syria's capital.

His words​

As captioned from the documentary video:

A longer version that circulated widely gives the sentence as: "I want a Jewish state that includes Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. According to our greatest sages, Jerusalem is destined to extend all the way to Damascus" (DOAM on X, 10 October 2024). That longer version is a summary of the documentary, not a word-for-word transcript; the core words that are on the video are "Bit by bit" and "Until Damascus." Middle East Monitor wrote that "in Israel's classic strategy of 'bit by bit', according to Smotrich, Tel Aviv will eventually have to cut further into Syrian territory as 'it is written that the future of Jerusalem is to expand to Damascus'" (Middle East Monitor, 31 December 2024).

Two months later, Syria fell​

The interview aired in October 2024. On 8 December 2024 the Assad government collapsed and the Israeli army took Mount Hermon and the buffer zone. Reports put Israeli tanks a few kilometers from Damascus within days. Syrians who had watched the clip did not need an interpreter. Syria's new president said in March 2025, "There are expansionist intentions of the Israeli occupation in Syria" (Levant24 on X, 4 March 2025).

He has said it again since​

  • April 2026: "There will be expansion in Gaza that will extend our borders. In Lebanon, to the Litani, in Syria, Mount Hermon, parts of the north, south, and east" (video, 9 April 2026). X's news summary headlined it: "Smotrich Calls for Expanding Israel's Borders into Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria" (X trending summary, 9 April 2026).
  • August 2026: "God promised us the Land of Israel in its full biblical extent. I sincerely hope and pray that one day that vision will be fulfilled" (Mario Nawfal on X, 2 August 2026).

Why his words carry weight​

Smotrich is not a fringe voice. His party holds seats that Netanyahu's government needs to survive. He controls Israel's budget and the civil administration of the West Bank. When a minister with that power says "bit by bit" and "until Damascus," and the army then moves toward Damascus, the words are a statement of direction. Even an analysis that calls Greater Israel a fringe idea admits that Smotrich "has made statements suggesting the annexation of parts of Syria, extending Israeli sovereignty as far as Damascus" (Outer Ideas, 18 September 2026).

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED (his words on video).

Status: Bezalel Smotrich is alive. Nothing on this page states that he committed a crime.

Sources​

Research captures: twitter/t24__v277.md, twitter/t24__v280.md, twitter/t24__v281.md, twitter/t24__v282.md, twitter/t24__v283.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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