Smotrich: “For Every Explosive Drone, Ten Buildings Should Fall in Beirut”

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said today (Monday) that he approved a budget of about 2 billion shekels for developing technological solutions to deal with the drone threat, and made clear that in his view, the response cannot rely on defense alone but also requires a change in the approach to deterrence and retaliation.

Smotrich made the remarks during a visit to the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria, where he inaugurated the “Rimon” land registration system in the area. During the visit, the minister addressed the drone threat, which he said requires broad state investment alongside different operational thinking.

Smotrich said: “This week I approved a massive budget of about 2 billion shekels for technological solutions to the drone threat. Among other things, the money will allow civilian bodies to offer creative solutions and out-of-the-box ideas. But the truth is, we will not defeat drones through defense, but through offense.”

Smotrich laid out an especially hard line on how Israel should respond to the threat: “For every explosive drone, ten buildings should fall in Beirut. A strategic threat is not answered only with protection, but by changing the rules and the equation. We will not be able to spread nets over the entire State of Israel, nor cover it with automatic machine-gun systems. We cannot protect ourselves to death. Extracting a deterrent and disproportionate price from the enemy must be part of the effort to defend our fighters.”

Later in the visit, Smotrich linked security activity in Judea and Samaria to the broader effort to confront wider threats against Israel, arguing that the Israeli presence on the ground has direct significance in preventing the spread of additional threats.

He concluded: “We are standing here in the Judea and Samaria Division. Our presence here is the reason there still are no explosive drones in Jerusalem and Kfar Saba, in Afula and Be’er Sheva. Our physical hold on the territory, the intelligence, the determined military activity, and the deterrence we create here, day after day and hour after hour, are the security belt of the State of Israel, because settlement brings security. Period.”