Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist coalition partners are particularly notable these days for their radical rhetoric. His war cabinet gives the prime minister some breathing room. But he needs the ultra-right.
Itamar Ben-Gvir is in favor of imposing the death penalty against Palestinian extremists. “If we pass the death penalty law for terrorists, Hamas will have something to lose. If we pass the death penalty law for terrorists, it will help…”
Members of the Hamas hostages interrupt Ben-Gvir. They see the lives of the hostages in danger if Israel expands the rules on the death penalty. So far it has only been possible in the case of crimes against humanity or in times of war.
Ben-Gvir personally distributes assault rifles
The scene from a hearing in the Israeli parliament yesterday shows how polarizing Ben-Gvir is. He is Israel’s minister for national security – and a member of the right-wing extremist party “Jewish Strength”.
Since the beginning of the war, his agency has issued around 1,700 weapons licenses every day. The authorities had relaxed the rules for this. Ben-Gvir personally distributes assault rifles to civilian security teams – especially in border towns, settlements in the occupied West Bank and in cities with large Arab residents.
Nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip?
Ben-Gvir’s party colleague Amichai Elijahu – the minister for cultural heritage – also caused a stir. In a radio interview he was asked whether a nuclear bomb should be dropped on the Gaza Strip.
“Yes, that would be a possibility,” Elijahu said. “We should look at what scares and deters them. Because threatening to kill them is not enough. They are not afraid of death.”
In the interview, the minister also rejected any humanitarian aid for the people of the Gaza Strip. He called the Palestinians “monsters from Gaza.” They should go “to Ireland or the desert.”
Israel’s right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke out in favor of Arab countries receiving money to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu rebukes Elijahu
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu often ignores the statements of his right-wing extremist coalition partners. But the matter of the atomic bomb was too much for him. Netanyahu initially excluded Elijahu from cabinet meetings.
“What Minister Elijahu said was wrong, unrealistic and does not reflect our policies. I reprimanded and punished him. If he does it again, he will no longer be part of the government.”
Netanyahu continues to face pressure from the ultra-right
The war cabinet’s decision to supply fuel to Gaza shows that Netanyahu is not completely indifferent to his right-wing extremist partners and their supporters. Ben-Gvir called it a “humanitarian gift” for the enemy.
Netanyahu then hastened to declare that diesel for Gaza was in Israel’s interest. This gives the government some international diplomatic breathing space and protects Israeli soldiers in action. They would otherwise be traveling in an epidemic area when the water and wastewater pumps no longer work. Netanyahu only briefly mentioned that the fuel would marginally improve the humanitarian situation of the people in the Gaza Strip.
He can still make the most important political and military decisions in a small circle – in the war cabinet with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the opposition politician Benny Gantz. But by the end of the war at the latest, his right-wing extremist coalition partners will also want to have more influence again.
Opposition calls for government to resign
For opposition leader Jair Lapid there is only one way out: the government as a whole must go. “We need a government we can trust,” said Lapid. “We cannot wage war for a long period of time if the people do not trust the prime minister.”
It is actually an unwritten law in Israel not to question the country’s political leadership during war. But that also seems to be slowly changing after the trauma of October 7th.