Let's discuss, for starters.

The new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rewarded some of the most extreme figures in Israeli politics with key roles. The bigoted and anti-democratic views of the individuals below go far beyond the usual range of mainstream Israeli politics. Information regarding additional notable members of the new coalition government can be found in this paper.

• Itamar Ben-Gvir: A convicted supporter of terrorism, Ben-Gvir was found guilty by an Israeli court of racist incitement and supporting the Jewish supremacist Kahanist terror organization. Famous for his threats against Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin before the latter’s assassination, he was exempted from compulsory military service due to extremist activities. A proponent of unilateral West Bank annexation by Israel and revoking the citizenship of Palestinian Israelis deemed “disloyal,” Ben-Gvir has personally provoked and sought to escalate clashes with Palestinian residents of sensitive neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem. Netanyahu crafted the enhanced position of National Security Minister for Ben-Gvir, in which he will oversee Israel’s police, including its border police. The latter is a force with both military and police functions which is used in demonstrations and riots, and operates in Israel’s non-Jewish and “mixed” cities and in the occupied Palestinian territory. Ben-Gvir attempted to oust the police’s Tel Aviv district commander for not sufficiently cracking down on Israeli pro-democracy protesters. Israel’s Police Commissioner has since instructed officials under him to avoid direct contact with Ben-Gvir. He is advancing the establishment of a “national guard” under his command. Ben-Gvir’s top advisor Bentzi Gopstein, a “notorious Kahanist” who has been banned from running for the Knesset, advocated burning churches, and runs the far-right racist and anti-LGBT group Lehava, is facing charges of inciting racism and terrorism. He is reportedly “very involved in many decisions regarding the police top brass and its conduct.” Ben-Gvir’s Chief of Staff Chanamel Dorfman once said, “The only problem with the Nazis is that I was on the losing side.” Ben-Gvir leads the ultranationalist Jewish Power Party.

• Bezalel Smotrich: During Israel’s disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Smotrich was arrested by the Shin Bet on suspicion of planning to blow up cars on a major highway; he was caught in possession of 700 liters of gasoline. Smotrich co-founded Regavim, a right-wing NGO which works to prevent development by Bedouins and Palestinians in Israel and the West Bank. Recently, he proudly called himself a “fascist homophobe,” and he has called for segregated maternity wards in hospitals for Jews and Arabs because “Arabs are my enemies.” He published Israel’s Decisive Plan, in which he advocated for the annexation of the entire West Bank. As a Member of Knesset, he threatened to expel an Israeli Arab MK and other Muslims who do not “know that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people,” and later told Arab MKs: “You’re here by mistake; it’s a mistake that [Israel’s first Prime Minister David] Ben-Gurion didn’t finish the job and didn’t throw you out in 1948.” His far-right Religious Zionism Party advocates for Israel to become a Jewish theocracy. The Biden administration condemned Smotrich’s recent call for Israel to “wipe out” the Palestinian town of Huwara after a pogrom there by Israeli settlers. The Jordanian government accused Israel of “reckless incitement” and violating the Jordan-Israel peace treaty after Smotrich gave a speech in which he claimed “there’s no such thing as Palestinians” behind a map that depicted Jordan and the occupied Palestinian territory as part of Israel. The US State Department also denounced Smotrich’s remarks as “dangerous,” and Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Egypt issued condemnations, as well. Regarding the Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar, Smotrich stated that it “will be evicted not because it’s illegal” but because it is located “in a strategic area … that will determine if God forbid there will be Arab territorial contiguity that will connect [major Palestinian cities] Bethlehem, Nablus and Ramallah.” Smotrich serves as Minister of Finance and effectively as civilian governor of the West Bank as an additional minister in the Defense Ministry. He lives in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim.

• Avi Maoz chairs the anti-Arab, anti-LGBTQ Noam faction, which pushes for strict interpretation of Jewish religious laws. He opposes gay pride parades and calls LGBTQ people a threat to the family. He opposes mingling between Jews and Palestinians and went to the “mixed” city of Lod during a recent period of intercommunal violence to warn that “the blurring of the Jewish identity is the cause of the Arab enemy raising its head.” He sees Israel’s future as a battle between Israel’s religious and secular Jewish communities. After resigning from the government for three months over claims that it was not living up to commitments in the Noam-Likud coalition agreement, Maoz has returned to his post as as a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s OfficeHe will head a new National Jewish Identity, where his purview will include oversight of educational programming by external groups in public schools, raising concerns that Maoz will cancel programs related to peace-building, LGBTQ issues, and Jewish pluralism.

• Zvika Fogel is Chair of the Knesset’s National Security Committee and a member of Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power Party. He retired from the IDF with the rank of Brigadier General; his last post in active duty was Head of Southern Command. Following the swearing in of the Netanyahu government, he declared that “the occupation is permanent” and Israel has a right to “stop surrendering to different kinds of people that never existed and suddenly popped up.” He has stated that the concept of proportionality, required under international law, “should cease to exist.” Fogel has said, “If it is between one Israeli mother crying, or a thousand Palestinian mothers crying, then a thousand Palestinian mothers will cry.” He has also said, “An Arab who throws a stone at a soldier needs a bullet in the head; a Jew who throws a stone needs to be educated.” Fogel accused opposition leaders Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz of “treason against the state” for fomenting resistance to the Netanyahu government’s judicial overhaul plans and called for them to be arrested. Israeli police have opened an investigation into MK Fogel for alleged incitement to terror following his full-throated endorsement of a pogrom by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian town of Huwara. Fogel tweeted, “A closed, burnt Huwara – that’s what I want to see.”

• May Golan is Minister for the Status of Women, a newly created Cabinet position, despite her hostility toward feminists and having described “radical feminism as a hate movement.” Golan first came to prominence for her xenophobic activism against African asylum seekers, to whom she refers as “infiltrators.” Golan has characterized south Tel Aviv as “occupied” by asylum seekers, introduced a bill last year to allow Israel to expel them, and stated that she is “proud to be racist.” She first ran for Knesset in 2013 with the defunct far-right Power for Israel Party, a forerunner to the Jewish Power Party. Like its leader, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, she has spoken at the annual memorial ceremony for Meir Kahane. She is now a member of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud Party, and has emerged as one of the Knesset’s strongest supporters of the radical judicial overhaul spearheaded by Justice Minister Yariv Levin. Golan was one of the seven Cabinet ministers, and the only one from the Likud Party, to participate in the march to Evyatar to demand the re-establishment and “legalization” of the evacuated outpost. Following the resignation of Asaf Zamir, Netanyahu has offered Golan the position of Israeli Consul General in New York. In a letter, former Israeli ambassadors and high-level diplomats said they were “shocked” by the offer, writing, “Golan’s appointment is outrageous as she is a racist and divisive figure, which is the exact opposite from what Israel needs in such a critical place.” Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk stated the appointment “will be seen by the American Jewish community as a sign of utmost disrespect.” Regarding May Golan’s history of racist comments, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said, “…We would condemn such kind of rhetoric and believe that such kind of language is also particularly damaging when it’s amplified in leadership positions.”

• Orit Strock is National Missions Minister, which gives her authority over the settlement division, pre-military preparatory schools, national service, and Jewish culture. A member of the Religion Zionism Party, Strock is a leading figure in the Jewish settlement of Hebron and the founding chair of a controversial settlement group known as the Human Rights Organization of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank). A leader in Knesset’s Land of Israel lobby, she has stated that “legalizing” illegal settlement outposts is “a moral and Zionist duty of the first order.” Strock has pointed to Israel’s Supreme Court as an “obstacle” in accomplishing that mission, noting, “so long as we do not get it back down to its natural size, we will not be able to get anything done.” Her son was convicted of kidnapping and abusing a Palestinian boy. She has suggested that doctors can refuse to see LGBT patients on religious grounds.

• Zvi Sukkot is a Member of Knesset, former director general of the Jewish Power Party, and a founder of the illegal settlement outpost of Evyatar. He has been arrested several times for orchestrating and taking part in violent attacks against Palestinians and Israeli security forces. In 2010, he was arrested on suspicion of setting a mosque ablaze but released due to lack of evidence. In 2012, Sukkot was one of 12 far-right activists temporarily expelled from the West Bank by Israeli authorities. He moved to an outpost outside Yitzhar, a West Bank settlement whose residents are notorious for violent attacks against Palestinians in surrounding areas, in order to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

https://jstreet.org/netanyahus-ultra-right-wing-coalition-government-a-dossier/

Notice the source. Funny how Kapos with an agenda are acceptable to the folks who seek the destruction of Israel and support the forces of evil over the Judeo Christian west. Otherwise, they consider Jews to be liars.

Carry on.

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