[Salon] Sanctioning Ben-Gvir and Smotrich - ArabDigest.org Guest Post

Sanctioning Ben-Gvir and Smotrich Summary: two powerful ministers in the Netanyahu government have used war to further their dream to drive all Palestinians out of Palestine and achieve their messianic vision of a theocratic Jewish state ‘from the river to the sea.’ Writing in Haaretz last week Rabbi Eric H Yoffie, a leader of more than 1.5 million Reform Jews in North America, called for the United States to sanction two senior ministers in the government of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. The two in question are the National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. The rabbi had this to say about Ben-Gvir and Smotrich: Let us be clear: Itamar Ben-Gvir has been indicted countless times and convicted of supporting a terrorist organization. He is a dangerous criminal and an inciter with fascist inclinations, given to infantile outbursts of racist bile. Bezalel Smotrich is also a racist and a hater of Arabs, and author of a 2017 article entitled "Decisive Victory," which proclaims that there is no Palestinian people and that Arabs in the territories are to be encouraged to emigrate and denied the vote if they remain. While the agony of the Gazans continues (as movingly captured in last week’s podcast with Hasan Ramadan) and the aerial bombardments and on Monday the IDF ground incursion into Lebanon together with Hezbollah’s and now Iran's rocket and missile responses are driving the Levant towards all-out war the ethnic cleansing of the Occupied West Bank continues unabated. Indeed since the beginning of the 7 October war Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have seized the opportunity to arm and encourage vigilante settlers to harass, attack and drive Palestinians from their homes and land. As of the end of August 11 Palestinians had been murdered by the vigilantes. Two weeks after Hamas struck and killed 1200 Ben-Gvir was handing out assault rifles to the settlers. 10,000 were distributed along with body army. At the time the minister boasted that “we will turn the world upside down.” He has been true to his word encouraging the settler violence, in one instance applauding the killing of a young Palestinian on private Palestinian land. The killer he said “should get a medal of honor.” Smotrich has used his ministry to block taxes collected by the Israelis on behalf of the PA with the aim of creating as much chaos and misery as he can in a bid to render the already highly dysfunctional West Bank government totally inoperative. He has refused to issue work permits to Palestinians to work in Israel and is using his de facto position as West Bank administrator to deny building permits to Palestinians while opening up the floodgates to illegal settlements. As Rabbi Yoffie writes: Smotrich and Ben-Gvir are not simply peddlers of racist theories. They are doers. After the prime minister and defence minister, they are the most powerful officials in Israel's government, using their influence to achieve two goals: rapid expansion of settlements in the territories and undermining and collapsing the Palestinian Authority. Two powerful ministers in the Netanyahu government have used war to further their dream to drive all Palestinians out of Palestine and achieve their messianic vision of a theocratic Jewish state ‘from the river to the sea’ [photo credit: Times of Israel] Greatly assisting their efforts the IDF has mounted significant new attacks in the West Bank using ground troops and air strikes to hit refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm. Al Jazeera which has been reporting on the ground from the West Bank had its bureau in Ramalllah raided and shuttered by the IDF on 22 September. On 25 September the New York Times carried a detailed account, illustrated with videos, about the way in which the military was using bulldozers to destroy homes and businesses in the two towns and to block emergency vehicles and ambulances from coming to the aid of the wounded. The NYT website quoted a local senior government official saying: “We watched their bulldozers tear up streets, demolish businesses, pharmacies, schools. They even bulldozed the town soccer field, and a tree in the middle of a road. What was the point of all of this?” The videos show streets and water and sewage mains being destroyed, a garden roundabout ploughed under and homes and businesses including a jewellery shop being bulldozed. The IDF claims it was carrying out necessary anti-terrorism actions. In response to a list of questions from the NYT it said it followed international law and “undertakes all feasible precautions to avoid damaging essential infrastructure,” a claim the videos in the article clearly challenge. Rabbi Yoffie calls Smotrich and Ben-Gvir “the fanatic, messianic duo leading Israel to disaster.” The pair believe their racist vision of a theocratic Jewish state from ‘the river to the sea’, one that is ethnically cleansed of Palestinians, is within reach. (The theocratic underpinnings go beyond what Netanyahu’s Likud Party in its 1977 founding platform decreed but not that far beyond. The original party platform states “between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty.”) Prior to the Second World War neither America nor Britain sanctioned Nazi ministers but perhaps they should have. And while it is most unlikely that Joe Biden or Kamala Harris should she win in November will heed the rabbi’s call and sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich what about the UK? Thus far the Foreign Secretary David Lammy has played a timid hand. When asked about settler violence he insisted "we are very worried about escalatory behaviour, very worried about inflamed tensions" adding "I'm absolutely clear: if we have to act, we will act.” Given the Balfour Declaration and its historic role in the Arab-Israeli conflict perhaps Lammy should step out from under the shadow of his American counterpart Antony Blinken and take a bold step. After all it was his predecessor as Foreign Secretary David Cameron who took the first step by sanctioning four violent settler thugs. Why not take the next one and sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, the ministers spewing racist hate whilst enabling and empowering the thugs? Why not send a signal that Netanyahu's messianic duo endanger not just the Middle East but the world? Members can leave comments about this newsletter on the Arab Digest website