Ben-Gvir and the acceleration of the collapse of Israel

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir vowed, on Aug. 26, to build a synagogue inside the Muslim holy site Al-Haram Al-Sharif.

Ben-Gvir, as a representation of Israel’s powerful religious Zionist class in the government and society at large, has been candid regarding his designs in East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Territories.

He has advocated a religious war, calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the starvation or killing of prisoners and the annexation of the West Bank.

In his capacity as a minister in the equally extremist government of Benjamin Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir has worked hard to translate his language into action. He has raided the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Mosque compound repeatedly and implemented his starvation policies against Palestinian detainees, going as far as defending rape inside Israeli military detention camps and calling the accused soldiers “our best heroes.”

His supporters have carried out hundreds of assaults and dozens of pogroms targeting Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, at least 670 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. A large number among those killed or injured were victims of illegal Jewish settlers.

Not all Israelis in the political and security establishments agree with Ben-Gvir's behavior or tactics

Dr. Ramzy Baroud

But not all Israelis in the political and security establishments agree with Ben-Gvir's behavior or tactics. For example, on Aug. 22, Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar warned against the “indescribable damage” done to Israel by Ben-Gvir’s actions in East Jerusalem. “The damage to the state of Israel, especially now ... is indescribable: global delegitimization, even among our greatest allies,” Bar wrote in a letter sent to several ministers.

Bar’s letter may seem odd. The Shin Bet has been instrumental in the killing of numerous Palestinians in the name of Israeli security. Bar himself is a strong supporter of the settlements and is as hawkish as is required of the person who leads such a notorious organization.

Bar’s conflict with Ben-Gvir, however, is not one of substance, but style. This conflict is only an expression of a much greater ideological and political war among Israel’s top institutions. This war, however, began before the Oct. 7 attack and the ongoing Israeli war and genocide in Gaza.

Seven months before the start of the war, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a televised speech that “those who think that a real civil war ... is a border we won’t cross, have no idea.” The context of his comments was the “real, deep hate” among Israelis resulting from the attempts by Netanyahu and his extremist government coalition partners to undermine the power of the judiciary.

That fight over the Supreme Court was, however, merely the tip of the iceberg. The fact that it took Israel five elections in the space of four years to settle on a stable government was indicative of the country’s unprecedented political conflict.

The government formed in December 2022 may be “stable” in terms of parliamentary balances, but it has destabilized the country on all fronts, leading to mass protests involving the powerful but increasingly marginalized military class.

The anti-Netanyahu political class believes that the crisis mainly lies in the government itself

Dr. Ramzy Baroud

The Oct. 7 attack took place at a time of social and political vulnerability that was arguably unprecedented since the founding of Israel atop the ruins of historic Palestine in May 1948.

The subsequent war — particularly the failure to achieve any of its objectives — deepened that existing conflict. This led to warnings from politicians and military men that the country was collapsing.

The clearest of these warnings came from Yitzhak Brik, a former top Israeli military commander. He wrote in Haaretz on Aug. 22 that Israel “is galloping toward the edge of an abyss” and that it “will collapse within no more than a year.” Though Brik was, among various other factors, blaming Netanyahu’s losing war in Gaza, the anti-Netanyahu political class believes that the crisis mainly lies in the government itself.

The solution, according to recent comments made by Herzog, is that “Kahanism needs to be removed from the government.” Kahanism here is a reference to the Kach Party of Rabbi Meir Kahane. Though now banned, Kach has resurfaced in numerous forms, including in Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party. As a disciple of Kahane, Ben-Gvir is set to achieve the vision of the extremist rabbi: the complete ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

Ben-Gvir and his ilk are fully aware of the historic opportunity that is now available to them as they hope to ignite their much-coveted religious war. They also know that, if the war in Gaza ends without advancing their main plan of colonizing the rest of the Occupied Territories, such an opportunity may not present itself ever again.

Ben-Gvir’s rush to achieve the religious Zionist agenda contradicts the traditional form of Israeli colonialism, which is predicated on the incremental genocide of Palestinians and the slow ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities from East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Though the Israeli military believes that illegal settlements are essential, they perceive these colonies to be — in strategic language — a security buffer for Israel.

The winners and losers of Israel’s ideological and political war are most likely to emerge following the end of the Gaza war, the outcomes of which will determine other factors, including the very future of the state of Israel, as per the estimation of Brik himself.

• Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and author. He is editor of The Palestine Chronicle and nonresident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappe, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.” X: @RamzyBaroud