Prime Minister Netanyahu took to Twitter Monday afternoon to respond to a statement by Member of Knesset Betzalel Smotrich, who is vying for the newly opened Justice Minister position in order to return Israel to a “Torah State.”

“The State of Israel will not be a halakhic state,” Netanyahu wrote definitively.

Smotrich’s statement fueled Netanyahu’s opposition from Lieberman’s camp and the left who believe that the charedim have too much power in the government.