Sunday, January 19, 2025

Three far-right ministers quit Israel's cabinet over ceasefire deal

The party of Israel’s hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir says its Cabinet ministers submitted their resignations from the government on Sunday in opposition to the Gaza ceasefire deal.
The departure of the Jewish Power party from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government does not bring down the coalition or affect the ceasefire. But Ben-Gvir’s departure destabilizes the coalition.

Three far-right ministers quit Israel's cabinet over ceasefire deal

Euronews.com

5 hours ago

Three far-right ministers quit Israel's cabinet over ceasefire deal | Euronews

By Daniel Bellamy with AP

Published on 19/01/2025 - 9:42 GMT+1

Israeli Official Resigns As Gaza Ceasefire Starts - Newsweek

Ben-Gvir has been convicted eight times for offences that include racism and supporting a terrorist organisation.

As a teen, his views were so extreme that the army banned him from compulsory military service.

Ben-Gvir gained notoriety in his youth as a follower of the late racist rabbi Meir Kahane. He first became a national figure when he broke a hood ornament off then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s car in 1995.
“We got to his car, and we’ll get to him too,” he said, just weeks before Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist opposed to his peace efforts with the Palestinians.
Two years later, Ben-Gvir took responsibility for orchestrating a campaign of protests, including death threats, that forced Irish singer Sinead O’Connor to cancel a concert for peace in Jerusalem.

The political rise of Ben-Gvir was the culmination of years of efforts by the media-savvy lawmaker to gain legitimacy. But it also reflected a rightward shift in the Israeli electorate that brought his religious, ultra-nationalist ideology into the mainstream and diminished hopes for Palestinian independence.
Ben-Gvir is trained as a lawyer and gained recognition as a successful defence lawyer for extremist Jews accused of violence against Palestinians.
With a quick wit and cheerful demeanor, the outspoken Ben-Gvir also became a popular fixture in the media, paving his way to enter politics.

He was first elected to parliament in 2021.
Ben-Gvir has called for deporting his political opponents, and in the past has encouraged police to open fire on Palestinian stone-throwers in a tense Jerusalem neighbourhood, while brandishing a pistol.
As national security minister, he has encouraged police to take a tough line against anti-government protesters.
Ben-Gvir secured his Cabinet post after 2022 elections that put Netanyahu and his far-right partners, including Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party, into power.

“Over the last year I’ve been on a mission to save Israel,” Ben-Gvir told reporters before that election. “Millions of citizens are waiting for a real right-wing government. The time has come to give them one.”
Ben-Gvir has been a magnet of controversy throughout his tenure — encouraging the mass distribution of handguns to Jewish citizens, backing Netanyahu's contentious attempt to overhaul the country's legal system and frequently lashing out at U.S. leaders for perceived slights against Israel.