Itamar Ben Gvir: How the man keeping Netanyahu in office rose to power
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Nadav Rapaport
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Fri, 06/19/2026 - 18:09
Notorious for provocative rhetoric and overseeing brutal treatment of Palenstinian prisoners, he has been able to galvanise supporters on the far right
Itamar Ben Gvir, pictured here on 6 October 2022, is pivotal to the chances of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government staying in power after this year's general election (AFP)
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Itamar Ben Gvir was once regarded as too extreme for the Israeli political mainstream.
But the former youth activist has surged in popularity during the past decade to become the country’s national security minister and one of the best known figures in the country.
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza in 2023, his reputation has spread worldwide, driven by incendiary actions and rhetoric against Palestinians and their supporters.
In May, he was filmed abusing and humiliating the Global Sumud Flotilla activists, who Israeli forces seized in international waters, sparking a backlash in Israel and beyond.
Global leaders denounced Ben Gvir's treatment of their citizens, while Israeli politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamyn Netanyahu, bemoaned how he had hurt Israel’s image.
At time of writing, he has been banned from the UK, Canada, France, Ireland Norway, New Zealand, Australia, and Spain among others.
But Ben Gvir is essential to Netanyahu remaining in office. How did he rise to such prominence and power?
The politicisation of Ben Gvir
Ben Gvir was born in 1976 in Jerusalem to a working-class Mizrahi Kurdish family, and grew up in Mevaseret Zion, a town near Jerusalem.
In 2022, he told Channel 12 News that while his parents were right-wing, he became politically aware during the First Intifada (1987-1993), when Palestinians rose up against Israeli occupation.
According to Israel's official data, an estimated 1,300 Palestinians were killed by Israeli armed forces, while some 160 Israelis were killed by Palestinians.
Aged 14, Ben Gvir attended his first demonstration, organised to counter a left-wing protest in Jerusalem. It was there, he said, that he began to move in right-wing political circles.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir taunts shackled activists from the Gaza-bound aid flotilla on 20 May 2026 (X/Ben Gvir X account)
Shortly afterwards he joined the youth wing of the far-right Moledet party (it means “homeland” in Hebrew). Founded by Rehavam Ze'evi, a former army general, it advocated the transfer of Palestinians from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
But by 16, Ben Gvir had left for the youth wing of the far-right Kach party, founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was assassinated by an American-Egyptian in New York in 1990.
Pursuing an anti-Palestinian racist line, Kach championed the expulsion of Palestinians, the annexation of the occupied territories and for Jewish religious law to become state law.
"At the time, I was drawn to the idea that all Arabs should be expelled and that a fully Jewish state should be established here," Ben Gvir told Channel 12 News.
Kach had been represented in the Knesset by Kahane before his death, but was shunned by other parliamentary parties due to its extreme views.
In 1994, it was outlawed after Baruch Goldstein, a party activist, massacred 29 Muslim Palestinian worshippers in the Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Cave of the Patriarchs, in Hebron.
He also continued to be a member of the Kach movement, which many see as a predecessor to his own later party Otzma Yehudit (which means “Jewish Power” in Hebrew).
In 2018, Ben Gvir told Arutz Sheva that the ban on Kach left a political vacuum which he and others felt compelled to fill.
"I was only 17 years old. We organized activities, demonstrations, and protests so that people would understand that the Kach movement was alive and well.”
When Ben Gvir married in 2004, shirts and flags of the Kach movement were reportedly seen at the venue, attended by far-right figures including Baruch Marzel and Rabbi Yehuda Kroizer.
Years later, in 2011, Ben Gvir referred to Goldstein as "a righteous man”. It was also widely known that a picture of Goldstein hung in the Ben Gvir family home in the illegal West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron.
In 2020, Ben Gvir, as part of an unsuccessful bid to soften his image and join Naftali Bennett's right-wing party, said he had removed the portrait.
But his connections to the Kach movement and Goldstein remained, including, in 2023, dedicating a speech to Goldstein and Kahane.
In 2016, Ben Gvir said in an interview that the difference between him and Kahane was not their views. “The style is somewhat different,” Ben Gvir said.
Ben Gvir comes to national attention
During the mid-1990s, tensions increased in Israeli society amid talks between the Israeli government, led by left-wing Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Palestinians.
Fiery right-wing demonstrators, led by Benjamyn Netanyahu, called Rabin a traitor and a Nazi. They included Ben Gvir, who was arrested for what was to be the first of dozens, after he protested against Rabin.
"I really did not like the experience of being arrested, but I told myself: ‘If this is their weapon to silence me, then I will keep speaking out, and it will not break me'," he told Arutz Sheva.
By the mid-1990s, Ben Gvir was exempted from military service due to his views. Until then he attended a religious school in Jerusalem founded by Kahane. At the yeshivat known as Haraayon Hayehudi (“the Jewish Idea”), students learned how to operate weapons, endure a Shin Bet investigation, establish settlements and organise demonstrations.
Itamar Ben Gvir holds a poster that says “Netanyahu Is good for murderers" as he protests against the release of Palestinian women from Tel Mond prison on 11 February 1997 (AFP)
In 1995, he came to public attention on national TV when he was filmed with what he said was the emblem of Rabin's car, saying that "just as we got to this symbol, we can get to Rabin” and that "when a prime minister does such grave things, I think it is entirely possible to take grave actions against him”.
Weeks later, Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Israeli extremist, Yigal Amir.
After Amir was sentenced to life in prison, Ben Gvir campaigned for his release. It was only years later, when he became a parliamentary aide in the Knesset, that he said he opposed Amir's actions.
Yet still Ben Gvir showed sympathy towards Amir, stating that he disapproved of his treatment in prison and saying it was not as good as that afforded to Palestinians like jailed politician Marwan Barghouti.
In August 2025, Ben Gvir, by now in charge of Israel’s Police and Prison Service, would be filmed confronting and taunting Barghouti in jail, just as he would with flotilla activists in 2026.
Ben Gvir and the law
In 2004, Ben Gvir was convicted of supporting the Kach terrorist movement after he handed out flyers calling for Muslims to be removed from Al-Aqsa and Jewish prayers to be allowed.
He had been indicted on dozens of occasions, according to his own testimony, while Haaretz has reported on at least 13 convictions, including supporting terrorism and racist incitement.
In 2007, the court again found Ben Gvir guilty in support of the Kach movement, after he held up a sign which read "to expel the Arab enemy."
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In 2008, Ben Gvir finished his law studies at the Ono Academic College, and in 2010 Israel’s Bar Association approved his internship at a law firm in Jerusalem, pending resolution of his legal cases.
After settling his outstanding criminal charges, Ben Gvir received his licence in 2012 with the approval of the Bar Association.
"There is an entire public that feels discriminated against,” he said that year, “and I hope to serve that public, represent it with dignity and loyalty, and demonstrate that the court also accepts petitions and claims brought by the right wing and the settler community".
In the coming years, Ben Gvir would represent many figures on the far right accused of acts of violence, including the Hilltop Youth, the extreme group of Jewish settlers in the West Bank which built illegal settlements and targeted Palestinians through violence.
Defending such cases, both his own and on behalf of other far-right figures, was a major part of his growing profile.
Ben Gvir boasted in 2013 about how he made an Israeli court drop the charges against a settler who was accused of attacking a Palestinian man.
And he represented Amiram Ben-Uliel, who was convicted for murdering Sa'ed and Riham Dawabsheh and their 18-month-old baby Ali in Duma, in the occupied West Bank, in 2015.
In 2023, Ben Gvir improved Ben-Uliel's incarceration conditions, said Ben Gvir’s wife Ayala. The couple live with their six children in Kiryat Arba, a West Bank settlement near Hebron.
Ben Gvir ascends to power
Increasingly, Ben Gvir forged links within the Knesset, and in 2009 was chosen by Michael Ben Ari, a newly elected member of the National Union alliance and longtime Kahane follower, as his parliamentary aide.
Back then, Ben Gvir described his dream government as one dominated by far-right figures, with Baruch Marzel, a close ally of Kahane, as prime minister, and real-life prime minister Netanyahu relegated to spokesman.
"He has talent as a spokesman, not as a leader," Ben Gvir said, adding that "it will be interesting to see how he communicates Marzel’s policies."
Itamar Ben Gvir left argues with the Israeli Arab candidate Ata Abu Medeghem of Raam-Balad after a hearing at the Israeli Supreme Court in Jerusalem, on 14 March 2019 (AFP)
The fiery relationship between Ben Gvir and Netanyahu would only resolve itself more than a decade later, when the Israeli prime minister struggled to form a government.
In 2009, while serving as Ben Ari's aide, Ben Gvir participated in a march of flags in the Palestinian city of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel. The marchers waved the Israeli flag in provocation, unrest broke out and 30 people were injured, including police officers.
Ben Gvir made several attempts to be elected to the Knesset from 2012 onwards. He had plenty of opportunities: political instability saw Israel endure seven national votes from January 2013 until December 2022.
At first Ben Gvir stood for election in place of close allies Baruch Marzel and Michael Ben Ari, who were each banned from running due to their racist positions.
Ben Gvir did so under the banner of his own Otzma Yehudit party, which originated from Marzel's own Jewish National Front.
In 2019, Otzma Yehudit received about 83,000 votes - too low to meet the minimum needed to qualify the party for seats under Israel’s proportional representation system.
A year later, Ben Gvir tried but failed to form an alliance with Naftali Bennett's right-wing party. In the ensuing elections, Otzma Yehudit received about 19,000 votes, again failing to win a seat in the Knesset.
It was in 2021, when it joined forces with Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionist party, that Otzma Yehudit passed the threshold and was able to enter parliament, winning six seats and finally securing Ben Gvir a seat.
However, the 2021 elections ended Netanyahu's 12-years reign as prime minister, and instead he now led the opposition, which now included Ben Gvir.
In May 2021, shortly after the elections and before the new government took power, Ben Gvir was central to the most serious violence between Israeli Jews and Palestinian citizens of Israel since the early 2000s.
It came after Ben Gvir established a parliamentary office in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem, amid clashes between police and Palestinians, over Israeli plans to evict Palestinians families from their homes.
Then-police commissioner, Kobi Shabtai, accused Ben Gvir of provocation, saying that "the person responsible for this intifada is Itamar Ben Gvir".
Israel's subsequent military operations in the West Bank and Gaza were the deadliest for Palestinians since the Israeli war on Gaza in 2014, resulting in the deaths of 313 Palestinians and eight Israelis.
The new government, led by Bennett and Yair Lapid, took office in June 2021 but lasted only 18 months. In the subsequent 2022 elections, Ben Gvir again ran alongside Smotrich, with Netanyahu saying in the buildup that Ben Gvir "will not be a minister in my government" and only would "be part of the coalition".
Although Netanyahu was cautioned about Ben Gvir's role in his possible government, he pressured both Ben Gvir and Smotrich to form an alliance and run on one list in the 2022 elections, despite the rivalry and sometimes dislike between the two. After the 2022 elections they broke the alliance and each led his own party.
Ben Gvir and Smotrich won an astonishing 14 seats in 2022, allowing Netanyahu to regain power. Otzma Yehudit took six seats in the newly elected Knesset, sealing Ben Gvir's political ascension.
"It's time for us to become the masters of our own country again," Ben Gvir told his supporters after the initial results, while the crowd called "death to Arabs".
"We have dreams," Ben Gvir added, "that our boys and girls will be able to walk safely in the street, and that IDF soldiers and Israel Police officers will receive backing."
By then, it was clear where Ben Gvir’s future lay. During the election campaign, he demanded that he lead the Ministry of Internal Security, which Ben Gvir later named National Security Ministry. Netanyahu agreed.
Ben Gvir, police and power
Many observers had warned before the 2022 election of what might happen should Ben Gvir secure power.
In September 2022, Shaul Magid, an American scholar who wrote about Meir Kahane, warned in Haaretz that "Ben Gvir is a bigger threat to Israeli society than Kahane ever was”.
Magid added: "More than 30 years after the apparent failure of Kahane’s revolution, the seeds planted in Israeli society are beginning to bear fruit that goes beyond the 'Kahane was Right' graffiti."
"Ben Gvir", Maid continued, “is part of a larger push among the nationalist right to spread these views in a form that sounds less revolutionary and less apocalyptic."
Itamar Ben Gvir, right, congratulates Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the Israeli government is sworn in on 29 December 2022 (AFP)
On taking power Ben Gvir renamed the National Security Ministry and took control of the police. Meanwhile Netanyahu and his Likud party have remained allied with the far-right minister in government.
Critics say that since 2022, Ben Gvir has asserted complete control over the police force, with its officers preventing journalists from reporting and severely restricting Israeli protesters.
"The police in Israel has always been political," one critic said last year, but "the real danger lies in its transformation into a racist Kahanist police force.”
According to Shomrim, an independent news group, Ben Gvir has appointed officers who are personally loyal to him to top posts, furthering the politicalisation of the force.
In March 2026, Israel’s attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara recommended that the Supreme Court order Ben Gvir be fired, as his politicisation of the police was harming the foundations of Israel’s democracy.
But in April, the Supreme Court denied Baharav-Miara's request, instead instructing Ben Gvir and the attorney general to reach an understanding on his responsibilities as a minister.
Ben Gvir was also handed the control over the authority responsible for the regulation of buildings.
The authority has been used to discriminate against the presence of Palestinian communities and, in echoes of Ben Gvir’s earlier priorities, has led to violent crackdowns.
In 2024, one report said that there had been a 115 percent rise in demolitions against Palestinian communities in the Negev, with Ben Gvir saying it was part of his policy “to restore sovereignty” over the area.
Immediately after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October and Israel’s subsequent genocide in Gaza, Ben Gvir allowed Israelis easier access to firearms, including relaxing gun ownership and arming Israeli settlements.
Ben Gvir has also led an overhaul of the status quo of Al-Aqsa complex, and has been central to the repeated incursions by right-wing Israeli politicians. In May 2026, he was among those who performed religious rituals and prayers and raised Israeli flags at Al-Aqsa, saying: "The Temple Mount is in our hands."
And in March, Ben Gvir's party led the introduction of a racist death law in Israel, which is only applicable to Palestinians who are convicted of acts of terror acts against Israeli Jews. Jews who murder Palestinians will not face a similar sanction.
However, Ben Gvir flagship policy was to turn Israel's incarceration system into what Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has described as "network of torture camps for Palestinians".
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, surrounded by security, at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate on 5 June 2024, known by Israelis as Jerusalem Day (AFP)
From October 2023 until June 2026, at least 104 Palestinian inmates died in Israeli custody, according to Haaretz, while Physicians for Human Rights Israel said the number was at least 94 Palestinians.
B’Tselem has reported that Palestinians have been subjected to sexual violence, abuse, humiliation, inhumane living conditions and denial of medical care under Israeli custody.
The Israeli rights group said: "Ben Gvir and [Israeli Prison Service] officers put the abuse of prisoners on display, with the media playing the role of mouthpiece to the minister's racist and violent ideology, with little to no criticism of the crimes and grave human rights violations involved."
In May, for the first time in its history, the UN put Israel on a blacklist of countries accused of committing sexual violence in warzones. Mention was made of the role of the Israeli Prison Service in the assaults.
"Rape and gang rape, in some cases repeated, were perpetrated against nine victims, the majority from Gaza. Perpetrators included Israeli armed and security forces, namely the Israel Defence Forces, Israel Prison Service, including the Keter special forces, and the Police Counter-Terrorism Unit," the report said.
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At time of writing, Otzma Yehudit is frequently polling around eight seats in the Knesset seats ahead of the elections scheduled to take place by late October.
Polls consistently suggest that Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition would win around 50 seats in the 120-seat Knesset seats, underlining how the Israeli prime minister's political future is dependent on Ben Gvir.
Critics say that the differences between Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit, the successor to Kahane's Kach party and once shunned by all Israeli parties, and Likud, once regarded as a liberal right-wing party, has eroded in recent years.
"There is no significant difference between Likud and Otzma Yehudit," says Shmuel Rosner, an Israeli researcher, adding that while their institutions and political platforms differ, their voters hold similar positions across many issues.
One area where Rosner highlights a lack of difference is the annexation of the West Bank, approved by 88 percent of Likud voters and 91 percent of Otzma Yehudit supporters.
It seems that Netanyahu's political future is entwined with Ben Gvir, as the connections between the two keep expanding.
Recently Ofer Golan, Neatyahu’s longtime advisor, joined Ben Gvir’s team. In April, May Golan, Likud’s social equality minister, said Ben Gvir is her “brother,” supporting his policies and opposing his dismissal.
The Times of Israel reported in early June that Netanyahu is debating how to organise an alliance between Ben Gvir and Smotrich in the upcoming elections, with Ben Gvir recently indicating he is open to the idea.
Netanyahu, it’s been reported, is considering putting candidates from both Ben Gvir and Smotrich’s parties on the Likud party list, allowing the two to form an alliance despite their differences.
Even though Smotrich is polling very badly, it’s unclear whether they will run together.
But it’s safe to assume that if they do, then Ben Gvir will demand that he gets to lead the alliance.
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