‘You will not force us into ghettos again,’ Smotrich tells German chancellor after Judea-Samaria criticism

Israeli officials on Monday slammed German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after he warned against “de facto annexation of the West Bank” in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The days when Germans dictated to Jews where they were permitted or forbidden to live are over and shall not return,” tweeted Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a Samaria resident who heads the Religious Zionism Party. “You will not force us into ghettos again, certainly not in our own land.”

“On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the German Chancellor should bow his head and apologize a thousand times on behalf of Germany, rather than daring to preach morality to us on how to conduct ourselves against the Nazis of our generation—who murdered, raped, slaughtered and burned women, the elderly and children in the most horrific massacre perpetrated against the Jewish people since the terrible Holocaust,” Smotrich stated.

Established in 1951, Israel’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) is observed annually on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nissan. The national day of remembrance started at sundown on Monday with a prerecorded state ceremony broadcast on television stations.

The Jewish state “will not accept instructions from hypocritical leaders in Europe, a continent that is once again losing its conscience and its ability to distinguish between good and evil,” Smotrich wrote.

“Our return to the Land of Israel—our biblical and historical homeland—is the answer to anyone who tried or tries to destroy us, and we do not apologize for it for a single moment,” concluded Smotrich, adding: “Am Yisrael Chai [The People of Israel live].”

On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, the German Chancellor should bow his head and apologize a thousand times on behalf of Germany, rather than daring to preach morality to us on how to conduct ourselves against the Nazis of our generation—who murdered, raped, slaughtered,… https://t.co/9Rmwz2AtM9

— בצלאל סמוטריץ’ (@bezalelsm) April 13, 2026

The Netanyahu government has led an unprecedented drive to expand Jerusalem’s control of Judea and Samaria, having approved more than 50,000 homes and dozens of new communities since being sworn in three-and-a-half years ago.

The Israeli Cabinet, in a closed meeting some two weeks ago, reportedly approved the establishment of 34 additional communities across Judea and Samaria.

Simcha Rothman, a fellow Religious Zionism Party lawmaker who heads the Knesset’s powerful Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, responded on X to Merz, “It is always great to hear opinions from Germans on where Jews should or should not live. Such a refreshing experience in comparison to our shared history. Today we mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. Never again. Am Yisrael Chai.”

Religious Zionism’s Zvi Sukkot, writing in German, added: “There must never be a policy in the world that aims to create areas free of Jews.”

However, Israeli Ambassador to Germany Ron Prosor on Tuesday told the Kan Reshet Bet radio station that Smotrich’s X post “erodes the entire issue of Holocaust remembrance and presents things in a completely distorted manner.”

“I want to condemn this unequivocally. It is possible and entirely legitimate to argue with the Germans, especially on this day—it is an emotional matter—but under no circumstances [should it be done in this way],” he added.

Netanyahu in 2016 first accused the the Palestinians of advocating what he denounced as “ethnic cleansing” of Judea and Samaria’s Jewish population.

It’s “outrageous that the world doesn’t find it outrageous,” Netanyahu charged in a video published by his office, urging followers to ask themselves whether they would accept “a territory without Jews, without Hispanics, without blacks” in their country.

“At this moment, Jewish schoolchildren in Judea and Samaria are playing in sandboxes with their friends,” he said. “Does their presence make peace impossible? I don’t think so.”