... Ben Gvir was known to have a portrait in his living room of
Baruch Goldstein, a
Jewish extremist and
Israeli-American mass murderer who massacred 29 Palestinian Muslim worshipers and wounded 125 others ... In 2007, Ben Gvir was found guilty in an Israeli court of inciting support to a racist terrorist organization.
[13]
Ben Gvir had ... set up an office in the
Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood which witnessed
several evictions of Palestinians.
[14] On 3 January 2023, he visited the Temple Mount where the
al-Aqsa Mosque is located, spurring an international wave of criticism that labelled his visit purposely provocative.
[14] As a lawyer, he is known for defending
Jews accused of terrorism on trial in Israel.
[15] ...
...
In the 1990s, he was active in protests against the
Oslo Accords. In 1995, Ben-Gvir came to public attention for the first time, when
he appeared on television brandishing a Cadillac hood ornament that had been stolen from Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's car, and declared: "We got to his car, and we'll get to him too." Several weeks later, Rabin was assassinated by right-wing extremist Yigal Amir.[15][25]
...
Ben-Gvir has represented a series of
far-right Jewish activists suspected of terrorism and hate crimes. Notable clients include
Benzi Gopstein and two teenagers charged in the
Duma arson attack.
Haaretz described Ben-Gvir as the "go-to man" for Jewish extremists facing legal trouble, and reported that his client list "reads like a 'Who's Who' of suspects in Jewish terror cases and hate crimes in Israel".
[15] Ben-Gvir is also the lawyer for
Lehava, a
far-right Israeli anti-assimilation organization which is active in opposing Jewish intermarriage with non-Jews,
[28][29] and has sued the
waqf.
[30][31][32]
...
Ben Gvir had been long accused of being a provocateur, having previously led several visits to the Temple Mount as activist and member of Knesset, contentious marches through Jerusalem's Old City Muslim Quarter, and set up an office in the
Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood which witnessed Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
[14] On 8 January, he ordered Israeli police to remove Palestinian flags being flown in public, stating the flags symbolized terrorism.[57]
In August 2023 he stated "My right, and my wife's and my children's right, to get around on the roads in Judea and Samaria is more important than the right to movement for Arabs".
[58] ...
In early October 2023, following the arrest of 5
ultra-Orthodox Heredi Jews for spitting at Christians and outside churches, Ben-Gvir said it was "not a criminal case" following arrests.
[60] Prior to entering politics, he defended Jews spitting at Christians as "an ancient Jewish custom".
[61] After the
Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, Ben Gvir said that "Israel is experiencing one of the most difficult events in its history.
This is not the time for questions, tests and investigations."
[62]
In November 2023 he declared that "when they say that Hamas needs to be eliminated, it also means
those who sing, those who support and those who distribute candy, all of these are terrorists."
[63][64] On 1 January 2024, Ben-Gvir said that the war with Hamas presented an "opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza."[65] He has stated that "We cannot withdraw from any territory we are in in the Gaza Strip. Not only do I not rule out Jewish settlement there, I believe it is also an important thing".
[66]
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