Netanyahu needs to fire Ben Gvir after his flotilla provocation, but of course he won’t |
Back in ancient Israeli political history, in the run-up to elections in March 2021, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked in a TV interview whether the far-right Otzma Yehudit party leader Itamar Ben Gvir would be given a ministerial role in the coalition he was hoping to form after the vote.
Netanyahu, who had brokered a deal under which Ben Gvir and fellow far-right party leader Bezalel Smotrich would run on a joint slate to ensure both of their parties cleared the electoral threshold and made it into the Knesset, replied that he certainly wanted Ben Gvir in his coalition but would not be appointing him as a minister.
Pressed on why, he told his Channel 12 interviewer that Ben Gvir — who has multiple convictions for incitement to racism and support for the outlawed Kach terrorist organization — was “not fit” to sit in his cabinet. Asked if he considered Ben Gvir a racist, Netanyahu allowed, “His positions are not mine.”
Netanyahu lost those elections, so the matter was temporarily moot. But he won the next race in November 2022 after again brokering a temporary deal to ensure both Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s parties safely cleared the electoral threshold. The incoming prime minister gave each of the far-right lawmakers key ministerial posts.
Dependent on their support for his majority, he appointed the theocratic, anti-Arab racist Smotrich to the central position of finance minister, and also gave him a powerful ministerial role in the Defense Ministry with sweeping authorities over West Bank policy. And he named Ben Gvir as the minister of national security.
This was not the metaphorical equivalent of placing a pyromaniac in charge of the Fire Department. It was, rather, the literal appointment of a pyromaniac to head the Fire Department. And of the Border Police combat force. And the Prison Service. And the Israel Police.
The harm Ben Gvir has done in this powerhouse position to Israel — its security, its reputation and its internal well-being — is incalculable. He has politicized the police force, corroded its values, promoted sycophantic officers and blocked the promotions of more qualified personnel. He has encouraged aggressive........