Under the Biden administration, Israel’s far-right finance minister was the rare Israeli official whom the United States rebuked by name for his views, like his opposition to a cease-fire in Gaza.
Under the Trump administration, he is a welcome guest in Washington, where top U.S. officials are now aligning with some of his beliefs about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The minister, Bezalel Smotrich, met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday, remarking in a statement about his embrace after years of being effectively shunned.
“After four years during which, under the Biden administration, there was no ministerial-level meeting between the U.S. Treasury Department and the Israeli government, we are now entering the Treasury Department,” Mr. Smotrich said. He called Wednesday’s meeting “very important.”
After it concluded, Mr. Smotrich posted on social media a picture of himself shaking hands with Mr. Bessent and said in a statement that they had agreed to “enhance collaboration” on issues including economic policy, technology and financial regulation.
“This is a critical time to shape a new strategic economic future for both countries, reinforcing American global leadership and Israel’s role as a key economic partner,” the statement said.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to questions seeking further detail.
The meeting highlighted the Trump administration’s welcome of people and positions espoused by Israel’s far right that the United States had long eschewed and that many nations and rights activists have condemned. Those positions include the mass removal of Palestinians from Gaza, which Mr. Trump proposed last month and which experts say would violate international law.
In contrast to the outcry at Mr. Trump’s plan, Mr. Smotrich gave it his full support, saying he would work to implement it.
The Israeli finance minister has long backed not only Israeli occupation of the West Bank but also indefinite Israeli rule of the territory. He holds a powerful role overseeing funds for the Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the West Bank, and also a role in the defense ministry that has allowed him to advance Jewish settlements.
As a religious hard-liner and settler leader, Mr. Smotrich believes that the West Bank, which Israel seized in a war with Jordan in 1967, was promised to Jews by God in the Bible. His efforts to cripple the Palestinian Authority and support Jewish settlers frustrated Biden officials, but Mr. Trump has now elevated several figures who share Mr. Smotrich’s views.
Mr. Trump has picked former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a Christian Zionist and former Baptist minister, for ambassador to Israel and Elise Stefanik, a U.S. representative who has said she believes Israel had a biblical right to the West Bank, for ambassador to the United Nations.
Much of the world regards Jewish settlements in the West Bank as illegal, and some are illegal under Israeli law. The territory is home to about three million Palestinians and about half a million Jewish settlers. Palestinians in the West Bank live under military rule and cannot vote in Israel, while Israelis in the area live under civil law.
Israel has tacitly and explicitly allowed settlement expansion, and at a particularly rapid pace in recent years. The government argues that the territory remains disputed and says its fate should be determined in negotiations.
Mr. Smotrich has used his position as finance minister to cut off and threaten the flow of funds to the Palestinian Authority, which relies on the transfer of taxes collected by Israel and must transact with Israeli banks.
His actions led to clashes with his counterparts abroad, including former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who last year warned Israel against cutting off ties between Palestinian and Israeli banks.
Mr. Smotrich said he had been responding to three European countries declaring their recognition of a Palestinian state, and he ultimately released funds in exchange for the Israeli government legalizing additional settlements. In October, he extended the waiver under pressure from Ms. Yellen, who did not visit Israel as treasury secretary in part because he was her counterpart.
Mr. Smotrich also drew condemnation from the Biden administration for statements opposing a cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, among other things. A group of Democratic members of Congress had called for sanctions to be imposed on Mr. Smotrich, under an executive order that Mr. Trump has since withdrawn.
