Itamar Ben-Gvir | |
---|---|
אִיתָמָר בֶּן גְּבִיר | |
Minister of National Security | |
Assumed office 29 December 2022 | |
Faction represented in the Knesset | |
2021–2022 | Religious Zionist Party |
2022– | Otzma Yehudit |
Personal details | |
Born | Mevaseret Zion, Israel | 6 May 1976
Political party | Otzma Yehudit |
Spouse | Ayala Nimrodi |
Children | 6[1] |
Education | Ono Academic College |
Signature | |
Itamar Ben-Gvir (Hebrew: אִיתָמָר בֶּן גְּבִיר, [itaˈmaʁ benˈgviʁ]; born 6 May 1976) is an Israeli far-right politician and lawyer who has served as the Minister of National Security since 2022.[2][3] He is the leader of Otzma Yehudit, a Kahanist and anti-Arab party that won six seats in the 2022 Israeli legislative election, and is part of what is widely regarded as the most right-wing government in Israel's history.[4][5][6][7]
Ben-Gvir is a settler in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, whose "political background lies in Kahanism - a violently racist movement that supports the expulsion of Palestinians from their lands".[8] He has a long history of anti-Arab activism leading to dozens of indictments and at least eight convictions of crimes including incitement to racism, possession of propaganda for a terrorist organization (the now illegal political party Kach) and support for a terrorist organisation (also Kach).[9] As a lawyer, he is known for defending Jews accused of Jewish extremist terrorism on trial in Israel.[10]
Ben-Gvir is known for being a provocateur and has grabbed headlines for a variety of reasons; threatening Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on live television in 1995 (Rabin was assassinated shortly after that), having had a portrait in his living room of Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish extremist terrorist and mass murderer, calling for the expulsion of Arab citizens of Israel who are not loyal to Israel in 2019,[7] inciting violent clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in 2021, and for visiting the Temple Mount where the al-Aqsa Mosque is located, spurring an international wave of criticism in January 2023.[11]
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