Itamar Ben Gvir, the ultra-nationalist accused of stirring up violence in Jerusalem
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JVL Introduction
Israel’s police chief Kobi Shabtai, appointed in January this year, is no softie having formerly been head of the Border Police.
But he has no desire to be set up as a scapegoat for the violence in Jerusalem and was already urging politicians a week ago not to inflame the situation.
They did precisely the opposite.
Now he has vented his fury on the ideological heir of fascist Meir Kahane and leader of a coalition of religious Zionist parties: “The person who is responsible for this Intifada is Itamar Ben Gvir.”
This article was originally published by France 24 on Sat 15 May 2021. Read the original here.
Itamar Ben Gvir, the ultra-nationalist accused of stirring up violence in Jerusalem
Israel’s police chief has accused MP Itamar Ben Gvir of adding fuel to the fire in Jerusalem and of being partly responsible for the violent demonstrations that have reignited the fuse of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. FRANCE 24 takes a look at the rise of this ultranationalist whose election to the Knesset in March seems to have boosted the confidence of the Israeli far right.
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It is tempting to blame Itamar Ben Gvir, as Israel’s police chief Kobi Shabtai has done, but it would be wrong. The real question is how he has managed to be elected to the Knesset with the support of the Prime Minister and as a welcome partner to the governing coalition.
For Shabtai to offload the blame on Gvir is nonsense. It wasn’t Gvir who closed the steps of the Damascus Gate or who have given full support to the settlers at Sheikh Jarrar or who invaded Al Aqsa mosque. That was the decision of the Police chief.
What is called the integration of Israeli Palestinians is nothing more than getting them to accept their marginal status with good grace, especially in the light of the Jewish Nation Status Law. What the present war on Gaza has shown is how superficial this ‘integration’ has been. No amount of sweet talk can disguise the reality of Israeli apartheid today.
Whereas in previous years Israel’s Jewish electorate put the Zionist left into office today there is no need for such a pretence. The economy has been privatised and liberalised and the ideology of the free market has coincided with a Zionism that is no longer concerned to hide its racism behind pious words.
What Itamar Ben Gvir’s mentor Meir Kahane said remains as true as when he said it. Israel can be a democratic state or a Jewish state. It is those who pretend otherwise who are responsible for the illusions in the rogue state we are seeing today that warns the UN that it intends to bomb 2 UN schools containing thousands of Palestinian refugees.
We literally have a regime of war criminals in Israel.
One wonders what sort of defence Ben-Gvir put up for the two teenagers regarding the 2006 murder in the West Bank: ‘they didn’t do it’? ‘they were there but were exercising restraint’? (on the Arabs, who of course must be ‘restrained’ at all times)? or on fellow extremists, who indeed were influencing the young pair? ‘they were provoked by Arabs’ presence in Judea/Samaria’? ‘they were acting from the best of motives’ ?’what they did was right and the homicide was justifiable’? ‘more than that, they deserve a medal’?
As for theocratic ideology, the highly regarded anthropologist/philosopher/poet Franz Baermann Steiner (1909-1952) – you may have heard of, or read, or indeed studied (it’s worth it) his Taboo (Penguin books, many impressions) – advocated a theocratic constitution and political system for the then only nascent Israel; this was bound up with his view that Jews were/are essentially Oriental/Asiatic, not ‘Western’ (ie they/we couldn’t be colonialists…). His earliest research was on Roma/Sinti (Gypsy) communities in the Transcarpathian part of his native Czechoslovakia…
(References: Taboo (London, Cohen and West 1956); Taboo, Truth and Religion, New York/Oxford, Berghahn 1999; Orientpolitik, Value, and Civilisation, New York/Oxford 1999).