Ben-Gvir Is Israel's Minister of Sadism
But TikTok is associated with the young. It's an app that isn't serious, but full of funny videos, games, imitations and songs. So what is the connection between a minister who boasts of how many homes of the country's Arab citizens he has demolished and youthful values? What is the connection between a minister who personally distributes notices to raze homes, which are like a death blow to struggling Arab families, especially in the Negev, and the joyfulness of TikTok?
There is another funny nickname we could attach to this nice minister: "Minister of pitas" would better serve the purpose of turning him into the object of derision and laughter. Pitas, of course, evoke feelings of home and of warmth. The aroma of freshly baked pitas whets the appetite for a juicy schwarma with amba or skewers of lamb meat with salad and tahini. And, of course, do not forget the excellent falafel.
What is the connection between Palestinian prisoners who, according to reports from Palestinian organizations, are being purposely starved by Ben-Gvir, and pita bread that stimulates appetite and provides warmth and satiety?
Politicians, media figures and opinion leaders in Israel are treating this sadist as if it is something light-hearted and joking. How cute is this baby-faced man who starves the Palestinian prisoners? Please laugh as he shackles them for long hours until their limbs atrophy, and threatens them with the death penalty that imminently awaits them. This guy is truly hilarious.
And here, inside the State of Israel, in addition to the demolition of houses, which is his flagship program, he also boasts that he is lowering the sound of the muezzin. Applause. He humiliates Arab leaders. Arab activists are the target of police interrogations (some have told of torture) who, after a few nightmarish weeks go free, for no purpose other than to turn them into the objects of the sadism of the minister and the organization he heads.
And, it is not just Arabs. Ben-Gvir also arrests his Jewish opponents, whose only crime is to call out this government's behavior. Others are left for long days in prison in harsh conditions, because they dared to demonstrate in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home.
So, Ben-Gvir is not the minister of pitas, he is Israel's minister of hunger, the minister of sadism. The opposition does nothing about it, and at times some are enthusiastic supporters of his horrific projects. Ben-Gvir enjoys abusing those under his protection, and lacks any moral restraint. "Humanity" for him is a dirty word and not part of his personality.
In the good old days here, when we spoke of harsh torture practiced by Arab regimes, there were those who said that in Israel, too, people are subject to torture. I agreed with them, but felt that the torture was not on the same level as that of blood-thirsty Arab regimes.
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Today, the State of Israel has lowered itself to the same level as Arab regimes, but there's one difference: There, there is no democracy and the people oppose the regime. There, the hearts of the people oppose the brutality of the regime, but they are afraid to speak out lest they find themselves in the hell of prisons. Here, most of the public appears to favor torture. That's why no one speaks out against it, and if she or he does, it is in the form of humor that ignores the horror that the prisoners' eyes radiate, at prisoners so thin that they are nearly unrecognizable.
Is the emaciated man, who now weighs the same as a child, standing next to the monster stuffed with pita bread filled with all sorts of goodies, really Marwan Barghouti?