Status: 15.11.2022 06:38 a.m
In a future Netanyahu government, the extreme MP Ben-Gvir could play a central role. He has multiple criminal records and has been provoking right-wing extremists for years. Recently he has been moderate.
Riots break out in Nebi Samuel in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Protected by heavily armed security forces, a group of Israelis make their way to Samuel’s tomb. In fact, Israelis are forbidden to come here without a special permit. This group is still here. And in the middle of it all, a short, stocky man with a white kippa, Itamar Ben-Gwir.
He came to Nebi Samuel “to say clearly who owns the land in the State of Israel,” he explains. “We are the owners of this house.”
Ben-Gwir is unperturbed by the loud Palestinian protests. He calls on his Jewish comrades-in-arms to sing loudly, to pray in public, and to defy the Palestinians with determination. Only with difficulty can the security forces prevent both parties from attacking each other.
A targeted provocation: Ben-Gwir and supporters during their visit to Nebi Samuel.
Image: AFP
A right-wing provocateur with a past
Ben-Gwir loves to provoke – in Nebi Samuel as well as in the Knesset, where he has publicly insulted the members of parliament of Arabic origin as terrorists and suggested that they work better as politicians in Syria.
The 46-year-old, the son of Iraqi-Jewish immigrants, had right-wing extremist views even as a teenager. They were so extremist that he was dismissed from military service.
Inspired by Kahane
And very early on he showed himself to be an admirer of the radical Rabbi Meir Kahane. He was a staunch opponent of the Palestinians, wanted to turn Israel into a Jewish theocracy and advocated mass deportations of the Arab population from the West Bank.
Kahane, who was later murdered in New York, and his Kach party, classified as a terrorist organization and banned, are the political role model for Ben-Gwir. Kahane was “a prophet and a leader in our country,” says Ben-Gwir, promising: “We will continue on his path.”
With such sentences, Ben-Gwir was long considered unsociable in Israeli politics. Although he distanced himself from the controversial rabbi on some points, his admiration for him has not changed.
It was not foreseeable for years that Ben-Gwir would go so far up – for a long time he was considered too extremist to participate in government.
Image: EPA
Many conflicts with the judiciary
His radical attitude repeatedly brought Ben-Gwir into conflict with the judiciary. He was accused of extremist activities dozens of times and convicted eight times. Once even for supporting a terrorist organization.
A few years ago, a photo of the mass murderer Baruch Goldstein, who murdered around 30 Palestinians in Hebron in 1994, hung in his living room.
Stirrup holder for Netanyahu
In the parliamentary elections on November 1st, Ben-Gwir made significant gains. The alliance around his party “Otsma Jehudit” – translated Jewish Power – became the fourth strongest force and has 14 members in the Knesset. Due to his political high flight, he is also as good as an ally for Benjamin Netanyahu.
It is also a foregone conclusion that the far right of Israeli politics could soon emerge as cabinet ministers. He himself has already expressed an interest in the Ministry of Public Security.
That would come as no surprise to extremism researcher Shlomo Fischer. He refers to the recent elections in Sweden and Italy. The phenomenon of right-wing parties exists in many countries and is spreading more and more: “Israel is in line with the trend, so to speak, not against the trend.”
Netanyahu’s calculus
It was Likud leader Netanyahu who made Ben-Gwir socially acceptable by meeting with him and fellow right-wing party leader Bezalel Smotrich at his home in Caesarea ahead of the election. For Netanyahu, the calculus to expand the right bloc was a priority.
At the same time, his courtship turned the pariah of Israeli politics into a sought-after ally. And Ben-Gwir himself is aware of his role and his position in an Israeli society that has mostly shifted to the right in recent decades.
Outwardly meanwhile moderate
For example, a survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute found that almost two-thirds of Israelis are more to the centre-right on the political map. Before the election, Ben-Gwir, the extreme right of Israeli politics, tried to move a little to the center in order to appeal to even more voters. Which also led to success.
Outwardly, he now appears moderate and protests that he no longer wants to have all Arab Israelis deported. But: “I think that the terrorists, those who throw stones and Molotov cocktails, should be expelled. That’s what the new Itamar says.”
A view that many left-leaning Israelis do not believe in. Haim Shadmi, a prominent left-wing activist, recently said Israel is in a similar situation to Germany in 1930, where the Nazis were democratically elected. And Ben-Gwir is the symbol of a possible fascist and racist Israel.
skepticism abroad
And abroad, too, many are now looking to Israel with concern. After Ben-Gwir attended a memorial service for Rabbi Meir Kahane a few days after the election, there was massive criticism from the US State Department. It was “abominable” to celebrate the legacy of a terrorist organization – “there is no other word for it,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, is trying to allay concerns about a possible new government involving Ben-Gwir. Only on Sunday, when President Izchak Herzog gave him the task of forming a government, did the Likud leader try to portray the skepticism as a political maneuver by the opposition.
There is talk of the end of democracy and that Israel is facing a dark chapter, Netanyahu said. But this is not the first time something like this has been said.