Ben Gvir: Israel's far-right firebrand and security minister

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was long considered a far-right provocateur, yet he has become an unavoidable figure in Israeli politics, sparking endless controversy seemingly without concern.

From toasting with a bottle of champagne the adoption of a death penalty law tailored to apply to Palestinians, to celebrating his birthday with a noose-adorned cake, Ben Gvir is no stranger to provocative political stunts.

The lawyer turned politician regularly grabs headlines with visits to Israeli prisons holding Palestinian detainees, or to the highly sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City.

The latest outrage stemmed from a video he published on Wednesday showing himself with dozens of detained activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla kneeling with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground.

The video drew swift international condemnation, with Italy and Spain calling on the European Union to sanction Ben Gvir.

He was also criticised by Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But Ben Gvir appeared as defiant as ever, calling the images "a great source of pride".

In November, he said he fully supported Israeli troops who shot dead two Palestinians at point-blank range after they had surrendered to Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank's Jenin.

"Terrorists must die!" Ben Gvir wrote on X.

- Lighting the fuse -

The 50-year-old head of the "Jewish Power" party became a member of parliament in 2021, after years of far-right activism.

He became a minister in 2022, after an alliance with the far-right Religious Zionist party of Bezalel Smotrich came third in legislative elections.

Together, Ben Gvir and finance minister Smotrich form a cornerstone of Netanyahu's right-wing coalition government.

Ben Gvir, a father of six, lives in a radical settlement in the occupied West Bank and advocates for Israel's annexation of the territory that is home to some three million Palestinians.

He also supports the forcible transfer of some of Israel's Arab population to neighbouring countries.

"I've changed," he told AFP in 2022. "When I said 20 years ago that I wanted to expel all the Arabs, I don't think that anymore. But I will not apologise."

Ben Gvir's critics accuse him of having taken control of the police since he took over as national security minister and of stirring up trouble by visiting places where tensions are high.

As a minister, he has stepped up his visits to east Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount, shouting: "The people of Israel live!"

The compound, the most sacred site in Judaism and the third-holiest site in Islam, is the epicentre of tensions in Jerusalem's Old City.

Ben Gvir's provocations have spiralled following Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.

After the attack, he began arming civilians and calling for the emigration of Gaza's population, as well as the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the territory.

"If we don't want another October 7, we need to... control the territory," Ben Gvir said at a rally in 2024.

He added that Israel should "encourage voluntary emigration" of Palestinians from Gaza.

- 'Shaper of right-wing ideology' -

With the Israeli parliament voting in favour of a "death penalty for terrorists law" at the end of March, Ravit Hecht of the left-wing newspaper Haaretz said Ben Gvir had "managed to transform himself from a marginal thug into a shaper of right-wing ideology".

Born in the Jerusalem suburbs to Sephardic parents, his anti-Arab rhetoric was inspired by the extremist rabbi Meir Kahane whose Kach movement Ben Gvir campaigned for.

Kach was banned in Israel after Baruch Goldstein, a Kahane sympathiser, killed 29 Palestinian worshippers at a mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron in 1994.

Ben Gvir used to hang a portrait of Goldstein in his living room, but took it down as he entered politics.

With his white kippa placed crookedly atop his greying hair, Ben Gvir presents an affable figure when not shouting.

In his youth, he was charged more than 50 times for incitement to violence or hate speech. He boasts that he got off 46 times and studied law on the recommendation of judges, to learn how to defend himself.