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Nobody better represents Israeli politics today than Itamar Ben-Gvir

the most brazen of the nation’s leaders, but his ideological spirit is found throughout its government, and beyond

Ben Reiff

The Guardian: 22 May 2026

Far from being a marginal figure in Israeli politics, Ben-Gvir is one of the most senior ministers in the government. The national security ministry, which was created specifically for Ben-Gvir, grants him supreme authority over Israel’s regular and militarised police forces both within and beyond the state’s internationally recognised borders.

It is in this capacity that he has waged a mass crackdown on the freedom of expression of Palestinian citizens of Israel; distributed 10,000 assault rifles to Jewish-Israeli civilians, including West Bank settlers; and worked diligently to upend the decades-old, highly sensitive religious status quo on the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa compound.

He is also in charge of Israel’s prison system, which, in the words of B’Tselem, Israel’s leading human rights organisation, has become a network of torture camps. Palestinian captives in those jails report being raped and sexually abused and almost 100 are known to have died in custody since 7 October 2023. And perhaps most infamously, he has used his position to pioneer the newly passed legislation imposing a death penalty on Palestinians only.

But Ben-Gvir’s influence on Israeli politics extends far beyond the limits of his ministry. Over the past five years, he has forced into plain sight the racist undercurrents of Israeli politics that have been present since the state’s foundation, but which have largely been reined in for the sake of international audiences.

A longtime supporter of the virulently racist rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach party was deemed so extreme that it was banned in Israel in the 1980s, Ben-Gvir has breathed new life into his hero’s agenda of expelling Palestinians en masse – whether in Gaza, the West Bank, or inside Israel. And he has been able to do so precisely because of the helping hand he received from none other than Benjamin Netanyahu.

Moreover, it was members of Likud who, after the Hamas attacks of 7 October, called to “eras[e] the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth”, “eliminate everything”, and carry out “a Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of [19]48”.

It was the whole government, along with the vast majority of the opposition, that gave their full backing as the Israeli army did almost exactly what these politicians thirsted for. And it was Netanyahu himself who spent much of the past year and a half seeking out potential locations for the mass transfer of Gazan refugees.

49 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Moreover, it was members of Likud who, after the Hamas attacks of 7 October, called to “eras[e] the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth”

It's a tough but fair reaction!

The only reason they don't get nuked is that it's too close.

Pure evil.

Ben Gvir is an extremely nasty piece of work. He leads an equally unpleasant faction.

But I don't think he or his faction represent the majority of Israelis, nothing like that.

He has managed to get the responsibilities he wanted, and which enable his ghastly policies, and a vitually free reign from Nethanayu because he props up the coalition government - whose survival is probably the only thing shielding Nethanayu from trial for corruption. Trial which could end up with him going to prison.

Their is an election coming, and the opposition parties need to look to Israel's long term future, and get their act together! They can unseat Nethanayu and send thr likes of Ben Gvir scuttling back under their dank rocks.

Edited May 25May 25 by JAG

17 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Over the past five years, he has forced into plain sight the racist undercurrents of Israeli politics that have been present since the state’s foundation, but which have largely been reined in for the sake of international audiences.

Whilst undoubtedly their is a racist element in Israeli political extremes, (not exactly unknown in Palestinian and Arab countries either), the State was formed and created on determinedly democratic socialist principles; with a strong underlying note to nationalism. Those principles allowed the creation of a modern productive commercial and agricultural state, in a place where basically people's had scratched a subsistence living. The desert blooming was a real phenomenon!

As Golda Meir said, "if God loved the Jews so much why did he lead them through the desert for 40 years before leaving them in the only part of the Middle East with no oil?"

The challenge for Israel is to get back to those principles!

Edited May 25May 25 by JAG