Here is the WSJ article on Trump campaigner Ben-Gvir which might be appealing to some here. With what I consider pertinent parts for my own reference highlighted, and a couple relevant quotes “up-front.” "Palestinians held for terrorism” must be recognized for what that means in Israeli terms. Palestinians are presumptively terrorists, in Israeli eyes. With the “slightest utterance,” even in private, of dissatisfaction at being treated so harshly as “presumptive terrorists” with “preemptive collective punishment" in their Israeli captivity, considered a “hostile act,” as “terrorism.” Under the logic of martial law, equivalent to “fascist law,” of the same sort imposed in and by Germany 1932-1945, on their captive peoples! (See Ernst Fraenkel’s The Dual State.)
BLUF: "Ben-Gvir warned that he would oppose any deal with Hamas that would free thousands of Palestinians held for terrorism or end the war before Hamas was fully defeated.
. . . .
"An increasing portion of Israelis, especially on the right, instead view the Oct. 7 attack as a chance to chart a new course for Israel by resettling the battle-scarred enclave. Ben-Gvir laid out his own plan for Gaza, which would repopulate the devastated coastal strip with Israeli settlements while Palestinians would be offered financial incentives to leave.
"Ben-Gvir also said he thought the Biden administration was hampering Israel’s war effort and said he believed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would give Israel a freer hand to quash Hamas.
. . . .
"Dor Harlap, a member of Likud’s central committee, said while it sometimes looks like Netanyahu is reacting to Ben-Gvir’s pronouncements, in reality he is reacting to the shifting sentiment among right-wing voters—just not as quickly as Ben-Gvir.”
That is, after Ben-Gvir and Israel’s Tikvah Fund Conservatives like Yoram Hazony incite such sentiment amongst right-wing voters (like Julius Streicher once did in Germany). To include Americans, in Israel and in the U.S. So Ben-Gvir must correctly be seen as a “Trump campaigner.” Just as so many Americans are tacitly who avert their eyes from what Trump has in store for Palestinians, and Americans, in the Authoritarian/Zionist State he has promised us, while focusing exclusively on Biden’s more subdued incitement of and support for genocide (see Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump, DeSantis for comparison).
BNEI BRAK, Israel—As Israel and the U.S. wrestle over a deal to free the remaining hostages in Gaza and bring an end to the war, the biggest obstacle could be a media-savvy lawmaker who has become a lighting rod for Israel’s far right.
More recently, he fronted a campaign to hand out assault rifles to Israeli Jews and settlers in the occupied West Bank to arm themselves against a repeat of the Hamas-led attacks on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and another 240 abducted. Over half are still held in Gaza, where Israeli forces continue their campaign to dismantle the U.S.-designated terrorist group and the numbers of Palestinian dead, many of them women and children, climb past 27,000, according to Palestinian health authorities, whose figures don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Now, crucially, Ben-Gvir has enough support in the ruling coalition to undermine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule, and he says he is willing to use it. In his first interview with a foreign news organization since joining the government, Ben-Gvir warned that he would oppose any deal with Hamas that would free thousands of Palestinians held for terrorism or end the war before Hamas was fully defeated.
Netanyahu “is at a crossroads,” Ben-Gvir said in Bnei Brak, a predominantly ultraorthodox city outside Tel Aviv. “And he has to choose in what direction he’ll go.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir headed a campaign to hand out assault rifles to Israeli Jews and settlers in the Israel-occupied West Bank.Photo: Hannibal Hanschke/Shutterstock
The U.S. and its regional allies back talks to swiftly end the war through a deal in which Hamas and other militant groups would release the remaining hostages and restart decades-old negotiations to establish a Palestinian state.
An increasing portion of Israelis, especially on the right, instead view the Oct. 7 attack as a chance to chart a new course for Israel by resettling the battle-scarred enclave. Ben-Gvir laid out his own plan for Gaza, which would repopulate the devastated coastal strip with Israeli settlements while Palestinians would be offered financial incentives to leave.
Ben-Gvir also said he thought the Biden administration was hampering Israel’s war effort and said he believed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would give Israel a freer hand to quash Hamas.
The differing paths present a stark choice for Netanyahu, who now risks heightening Israel’s international isolation if he continues the war, or potentially losing power if Ben-Gvir withdraws his Jewish Power party’s six lawmakers from the governing coalition.
“Ben-Gvir has huge leverage over Netanyahu,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Jerusalem-based think tank the Israel Democracy Institute. “The last thing Netanyahu needs is an early election and Ben-Gvir knows that.”
Shortly after this article was published on Sunday, centrist Israeli politicians attacked Ben-Gvir for what he said during the interview and urged Netanyahu to discipline the far-right leader. War-cabinet minister Benny Gantz, who controls the second-largest party in Netanyahu’s emergency government, wrote on X that Ben-Gvir’s attacks on Biden “harm the strategic relations of the State of Israel, the security of the state and the current war effort.” Opposition leader Yair Lapid called Ben-Gvir’s comments “a direct attack on Israel’s international standing.”
Netanyahu later told his cabinet not to interfere with Israel’s relationships with its allies. “I don’t need help knowing how to navigate our relations with the United States and the international community,” he said ahead of the cabinet meeting.
Ben-Gvir, who is 47, has a knack for making headlines.
This week he donned a fake beard and put a black beanie over his Kippah and went to a local police station pretending to be a random civilian. He said he wanted to learn what kind of service an ordinary person would get. After a year in office, Ben-Gvir still wears an ill-fitting suit and the laces on his scuffed leather shoes are coming undone. Many of his supporters say they appreciate how he likes to mingle in the crowd.
His detractors see him as a dangerous provocateur willing to provoke a wider conflict with the Palestinians to grow his own personal support base. Farther afield, some Israeli officials say his pronouncements calling on Israel to occupy Gaza makes it harder for them to make their case in foreign capitals.
Ben-Gvir, in blue-striped tie, attended a conference last month in Jerusalem that called for the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza.Photo: Abir Sultan/Shutterstock
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu risks losing power if Ben-Gvir withdraws his party’s six lawmakers from the governing coalition.Photo: Abir Sultan/Shutterstock
“When Ben-Gvir opens his mouth, he creates a backlash that makes it harder for us to fight the war and bring hostages home,” said an opposition official, who pointed to how the U.K. and the U.S. are now considering unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state despite Israeli opposition to the idea.
A coalition official called Ben-Gvir a “headache” for Netanyahu but said his influence was limited.
In an example of Ben-Gvir bucking conventional political norms, he expressed rare direct criticism of President Biden as a sitting cabinet member. Israel is heavily reliant on American defense aid.
“Instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel [to Gaza], which goes to Hamas,” said Ben-Gvir, giving voice to popular sentiment among many right-wing Israelis. “If Trump was in power, the U.S. conduct would be completely different.”
Israeli officials initially signaled they would completely cut off food, water, electricity and fuel from the strip to force Hamas to surrender. But under pressure from the U.S. and with the humanitarian situation in the strip worsening, Israel has relented and now says it is trying to get as much aid into Gaza as it can, though, the United Nations says aid flowing into the enclave still isn’t sufficient.
Ben-Gvir’s approach is gaining popularity. Once a fringe idea before Oct. 7, a small majority of Jewish Israelis now fully or somewhat support the establishment of Jewish settlements inside Gaza, according to a poll conducted by Tel Aviv University last month. Israel once had settlements in the enclave but uprooted them in 2005 to bolster separation from the Palestinians.
Ben-Gvir, visiting Jerusalem last year, wants to offer Palestinians cash incentives to leave Gaza, but there is little evidence they would accept such a plan. Photo: Minhelet Har-Habait, Temple Mount/Reuters
Ben-Gvir says his plan is to “encourage Gazans to voluntarily emigrate to places around the world” by offering them cash incentives. He called it “the real humanitarian” thing to do. He said he knew Palestinians would be open to this idea through discussions with Palestinians in the West Bank and intelligence material he received as a minister. He declined to share what those materials say.
A global conference, he said, could help find countries willing to take in Palestinian refugees.
Polls and widespread public discussions among Palestinians suggest that such a plan would be overwhelmingly opposed by Gaza residents, many of whom fear Israel’s war is really aimed at permanently displacing them and replacing them with Jewish settlers.
It would also be vociferously opposed by the U.S. and Arab governments, which are demanding Israel relinquish control of Gaza and allow its residents to return to their homes.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, has said that Israel doesn’t seek to occupy Gaza, but would retain full security control over Gaza until it was satisfied the territory would no longer constitute a threat to Israel. The prime minister has recently said his policies contradict the idea of a Palestinian state, though in his long career he has at times been ambiguous or openly supported the idea.
There are signs that Ben-Gvir has a growing influence in the debate, however, and Netanyahu increasingly needs him.
The Future of Gaza: What Happens When the Israel-Hamas War Ends?
The Future of Gaza: What Happens When the Israel-Hamas War Ends?
Several proposals have been made to resolve the Israel-Hamas conflict, but disagreements over Gaza’s governance are blocking progress. Here is where the key players stand, and why they are struggling to find common ground. Photo illustration: Ryan Trefes
In 2021, Netanyahu—isolated politically and fighting corruption charges—brokered a union between Ben-Gvir’s party and the Religious Zionist party of fellow right-winger Bezalel Smotrich to consolidate support. At the time, Netanyahu said Ben-Gvir was fit to be a lawmaker but not for an influential government job. He didn’t explain why, but until that point Ben-Gvir had been widely seen as an extremist.
Netanyahu lost the 2021 election. But Israelis voted again in 2022 and the far-right bloc had more than doubled its mandate.
Now, in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power is the only right-wing party in Netanyahu’s coalition that isn’t bleeding support. Polls show the party would win eight or nine seats in Israel’s 120-seat parliament if elections were held now, up from six at present.
It wouldn’t displace Netanyahu’s Likud party, which holds 32 seats, but Likud’s support has dropped to between 19 and 27 seats in recent weeks. Analysts say he and Ben-Gvir are now jostling for right-wing support ahead of any early election.
On Tuesday, after reports emerged of a hostage deal that could involve the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, Ben-Gvir wrote on social media that he would topple the government if it passed. Hours later, Netanyahu appeared in a religious West Bank settlement to announce that he likewise would oppose any such deal, despite the fact that he has been largely quiet until now about hostage negotiations.
Dor Harlap, a member of Likud’s central committee, said while it sometimes looks like Netanyahu is reacting to Ben-Gvir’s pronouncements, in reality he is reacting to the shifting sentiment among right-wing voters—just not as quickly as Ben-Gvir.
Ben-Gvir said he is in no rush to pull the rug out from Netanyahu. He said the likely result would be that a center-left government would take over—and that his own career was just getting started.
“God willing, I’ll go far,” said Ben-Gvir, a grin spreading across his face.
Carrie Keller-Lynn contributed to this article.
Ben-Gvir, once considered a fringe politician, is more widely accepted in Israel after Oct. 7.Photo: Tanya Habjouqa/NOOR Images for The Wall Street Journal
