The Price Of Ben Gvir

On the farcical damage control of a government that made Ben Gvir and cannot bring itself to unmake him.

Ben Gvir is a disgrace to the Jewish people and does not represent the values of Israel. But stopping there would be disingenuous.

On May 20, Ben Gvir posted a video of himself at Ashdod Port taunting detained flotilla activists, dozens of whom were forced to kneel on the ground, hands bound behind their backs, as he waved an Israeli flag and declared: “Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords.” The international reaction was swift and damning: Italy, France, Spain, Canada and the Netherlands summoned Israeli envoys. The European Council president called it “completely unacceptable.” Even Netanyahu publicly rebuked him, a rare rebuke that, as we shall see, came with no consequences whatsoever.

In Israel, the hardest condemnations came from the opposition. Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, called it a “terrorist attack on Israel’s international standing,” blaming “the Prime Minister, who brought a convicted criminal into the government.” Gadi Eisenkot, the former IDF Chief of Staff-turned-politician, similarly berated Netanyahu, underscoring that “a prime minister who truly prioritizes Israel's interests should have fired him long ago.”

He is a repeat offender: inflammatory, depraved videos, statements and policies are his MO. It is how he galvanizes his electorate of fanatics who want the whole land conquered and the Palestinian multitude expelled, or subdued.

But Ben Gvir did not self-appoint to the government. He did not self-sustain his presence. It is reassuring that the rest of the Israeli government, starting with Netanyahu, recognized that this latest outburst was beyond the pale, but the ensuing statements are hypocritical beyond belief.

Traditionally, when a head of government determines that one of his ministers “does not represent the values” of the country, that minister is dismissed. After all, why would someone who does not represent the values of the country remain in charge of its national security?

There are no signs of Ben Gvir being fired. Not now, nor at any point during his tenure — not after he publicly called to starve Gazans, not after he boasted of torturing prisoners, not after he delivered a speech at a Kahane-founded yeshiva with a banner glorifying Kahane and Baruch Goldstein — who killed 29 Palestinian worshippers in the 1994 Hebron massacre — as “martyrs,” not after he repeatedly defied the status quo on the Temple Mount, not after he claimed that spitting on Christians is an “old Jewish tradition.”

Netanyahu appointed him with full knowledge of his record: the infamous 1995 interview in which he held up an ornament ripped from Rabin’s car and said “We’ll get to Rabin too,” weeks before Rabin was assassinated; the 1995 Goldstein Purim costume; his ban from IDF service because he was deemed too extreme; his 2007 conviction for racial incitement; the 2021 incident in which he drew a handgun on two unarmed Arab garage attendants in Tel Aviv, shouting “Arab dogs.”

This is only a snapshot. Ben Gvir is a pyromaniac who has no place in public office, let alone government, and he never did. This latest outburst did not reveal that; it only confirmed it.

If Netanyahu and his allies were serious about reining in Ben Gvir and advancing “the true values of Israel,” they would uproot the rot he and his party bring. The absurdity is glaring: they say Ben Gvir does not represent Israel’s values, yet they keep him in government. That contradiction resolves itself only one way: they are not claiming to represent those values either. Which would, at least, be an honest position.

The real reason is straightforward: coalition survival, as always. But there is a darker logic underneath it. Ben Gvir is not merely tolerated; he is useful. He functions as a pressure release valve and a negotiating tool, allowing Netanyahu to govern to the hard right while maintaining deniability. Every time Ben Gvir does something unconscionable, Netanyahu gets to play the moderate, as seen in the flotilla incident. The outrage is not a side effect of the arrangement, it is integral to it. Put bluntly, Ben Gvir is Netanyahu’s designated arsonist.

There is, however, one scenario worth watching. Once the Knesset session ends, Netanyahu may fire Ben Gvir; not out of principle, but to campaign on it. He would claim he finally stood up to the insanity, a claim as absurd as it is cynical, made safely after the Knesset has dissolved and before anyone can hold him to account. He would then quietly negotiate Ben Gvir’s return should the next election allow it.

TLDR: the government’s sudden damage control is as farcical as it is performative; a front erected to placate Israel’s allies and maintain the fiction that Ben Gvir has gone rogue. But Netanyahu has full powers to remove a minister at any time, for any reason. Former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who was fired in November 2024 for the cardinal sin of disagreeing with Netanyahu, can testify to that. And yet Ben Gvir remains, with no dismissal in sight. Ben Gvir is not rogue: the government is, and always has been. His continued presence is the proof. He is a feature, not a bug, of this government, one that Netanyahu assembled, sustains and will reassemble the moment the votes allow it.