This Extremist Could Destroy Israel as We Know It
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Until two years ago, Itamar Ben-Gvir had a picture of Baruch Goldstein, who in 1994 massacred 29 Muslim worshippers in Hebron, hanging in his home.
Today, many expect him to be a minister in Israel’s next government. The story of how the 46-year-old became a political star (even after being disqualified at the age of 17 from compulsory military service due to his extremist record) is very much a story of Israel’s steady lurch to the right. And on the eve of the Nov. 1 election, observers anxiously watch as Ben-Gvir and his allies seek to remake the Jewish state in their destructive image.
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As the country approaches its fifth election in less than four years, this charismatic, media-savvy political kingmaker reportedly has his eye on either the Internal Security or Justice ministries. To achieve such stature (that was until recently inconceivable), Ben-Gvir has allied with Benjamin Netanyahu, who, desperate to re-enter the prime minister’s office, has brought the extremist politician—together with far-right politician Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism and the anti-LGBT Noam Party—into his right-religious bloc.
Fears of these individuals abound, and rightly so. Israel’s electoral system essentially prevents any single party from winning an outright majority; recent elections have seen the top party carrying roughly 35 of the Knesset’s 120 seats. Major parties consequently rely on minor parties to form government, handing otherwise outliers disproportionate influence. Without Ben-Gvir and Smotrich (an avowed anti-Arab racist, self-described “proud homophobe,” and head of the slate on which Ben-Gvir is running), Netanyahu’s chances of forming government are slim-to-none.
To accuse Bibi of striking a deal with the devil is hardly hyperbole. If, as polls predict, Netanyahu’s Likud Party wins the most seats, Ben-Gvir can hold him over a barrel during coalition negotiations. Netanyahu can either accede to his demands, or forget about forming a coalition and passing legislation to halt his own corruption trial. And if Ben-Gvir has his way, Israel will be headed down an unimaginably dark path.
Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks to media as he arrives in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah to open his parliamentary office in between the Jewish and the Muslim houses.
Ben-Gvir first came to national attention in 1995, weeks before Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination by a right-wing extremist. Proudly showing journalists an ornament he tore off Rabin’s Cadillac, he warned, “We got to the car. We’ll get to Rabin too.”
As a teenager he was active in the Kach Party—proscribed as a terrorist organization and banned in Israel in 1994. (Baruch Goldstein, who committed the Hebron massacre, ran for Kach in Israel’s 1984 election). As for why Ben-Gvir took down the Goldstein picture in his home, “I removed the picture,” he explained, “to prevent the formation of a left-wing government.” That Goldstein was a mass murderer appears not to concern him.
Disturbingly, Ben-Gvir’s rise in popularity has been meteoric. In the March 2020 election, his party received 0.42 percent of all votes. Last week, a poll predicted his slate would become Israel’s third-largest.
There are numerous explanations for this. He owes his popularity overwhelmingly to Netanyahu, who in 2021 brought him into the Knesset to enlarge his own bloc. Without the stamp of approval from Israel’s longest serving premier, Ben-Gvir would not be in the position he is today.
He also benefits from the current landscape, having “tapped into feelings of fear and vulnerability within wider parts of the Israeli public,” Fathom Journal’s Calev Ben-Dor recently observed. This fear was inflamed by the May 2021 riots in mixed Jewish-Arab cities, during which Arab mobs set upon their Jewish neighbors, all while Israelis were stuck in bomb shelters as Hamas rained down rockets from Gaza. Ben-Gvir meanwhile, was busy provoking further violence, and Israel’s police commissioner put the blame for the unrest in the mixed Jewish-Arab cities squarely on him.
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The effect of May 2021 on the Israeli psyche should not be underestimated. During the rioting, “Israeli Jews glimpsed a vision of their worst nightmare: Arab citizens of Israel violently undermining the most basic stability of the country,” Israeli author Yossi Klein Halevi told Ben-Dor. “When I speak to Ben-Gvir supporters I hear over and over references to those riots and the sense that we are dealing with a fifth column.”
These factors, coupled with copious media attention, support from first-time voters, and dissatisfaction with liberal democracy have helped Ben-Gvir grow his base. Anger at Israel’s “failing” political system is not too dissimilar to what propelled Donald Trump to power in the U.S. or the rise of the far right in numerous European countries. Ben-Gvir has, in fact, learnt from Europe’s hardliners and toned down his rhetoric, hoping to appeal to Israel’s mainstream and avoid being banned from parliament.
Defaced electoral posters of Itamar Ben-Gvir are pasted in the southern city of Beersheva on Oct. 25, 2022.
Reactions from Ben-Gvir and Smotrich’s opponents have been fierce. In September, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister warned of dire diplomatic consequences should they obtain senior ministerial positions. One week later, Israel’s Saturday Night Live equivalent compared Ben-Gvir to Adolf Hitler. Yaakov Katz, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, recently wrote that Ben-Gvir (along with Netanyahu) has “the ability to demolish the country.”
Outside Israel, major Jewish organizations traditionally reluctant to interfere in Israeli elections have roundly condemned Ben-Gvir.
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In February, while Smotrich toured the United Kingdom, British Jewry’s largest umbrella organization issued an unambiguous message to the far-right politician: “Get back on the plane, Bezalel, and be remembered as a disgrace forever.” Last week, the U.K. Jewish News plastered an impassioned plea on its front page: a picture of Smotrich and Ben-Gvir headlined by the question, “Where’s the outrage?” The accompanying editorial asked, “Is this the Israel [that] U.K. Jews want?”
The paper was right to employ such ominous language. The stakes in this election could hardly be higher.
While Ben-Gvir has carefully guarded his tongue, a recent interview laid bare his malignant intentions. Overlooking the Palestinian-majority city Hebron, Ben-Gvir discussed the need for a “Ministry to Promote Migration” of Palestinians. Where to? “There are many places in Europe,” he explained, “looking for working hands.”
November 1 will be a defining moment in what is ultimately a battle for Israel’s soul. Should Ben-Gvir and his allies attain senior ministerial positions, the Jewish state may soon look unrecognizable, and for the worse. But even if they are thwarted this time around, the Pandora’s box of Jewish extremism has been opened.
At least for the foreseeable future, there’s no turning back.
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