Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Monday morning revealed for the first time that he wanted to resign his position following the October 7 massacre.
Speaking at the Noam-Tzvia educational network's online conference to hundreds of teachers, he shared personal moments, and for the first time, shared his decision to resign after the October 7 massacre - a decision that was not carried out due to his father.
"It takes about two months to get into some sort of emergency routine, and then the terrible and excruciating stomach pains start. We know that good things are sent through the righteous, and I ask myself, 'How did this happen under my watch, under our watch?'"
"And I try to dig, and dig, and dig, and I don't understand. Like everyone else," Smotrich continued, mentioning the protests he had been a part of in the past: "I was beaten up in eighth grade when we protested against Oslo, I was detained by the Shin Bet in the Gush Katif struggle, and it was clear in my throat - 'Don't give them guns, and don't leave Gush Katif,' which they tried to prevent. And for years we shouted that Hamas isn't deterred and that we could succeed in conquering the Gaza Strip."
Smotrich added that he spoke with his father and considered resigning: "I'll tell you the truth - there was a point where I called my father and asked him to come. My father, my teacher and mentor, I told him, 'Dad, I'm leaving,' because if I did soul-searching and find something - it's not that there isn't something to fix, because I'm not that righteous. But now I look at national accounts, if I could understand where I went wrong, resulting in this great duty under my watch, I could fix it, but I can't find it. So something is wrong, I’m leaving, I can't continue. And my father supported me, and we continue to fight the war."