No. 8: Itamar Ben-Gvir: Shaping Israel's national security for better and worse

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has successfully imposed his will on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over and over again since taking office in late December 2022. He used the six MKs of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party to threaten government and coalition stability in order to gain concessions, such as the “Police Law,” which gave him the power to set “general policy” for the Israel Police; a committee to examine the formation of a new National Guard; control over the National Unit for Enforcing Planning and Construction Laws; and a sharp increase in his ministry’s annual budget.

Indeed, Ben-Gvir described the NIS 9 billion budget increase as a major achievement, which he said led to an increase in police officers’ salaries, curbed a wave of resignations, and increased police recruiting. Other achievements he listed included the formation of 933 new civilian first-response security teams; approving distribution of over 175,000 personal firearms; and forming a team to combat incitement on social media, which, he claims, led to the “quietest Ramadan ever.” Ben-Gvir also prides himself on worsening the conditions of Palestinian security prisoners and increasing enforcement against building violations, especially by Bedouin citizens in the Negev.

Failing to tackle crime

However, data show that his performance in combating crime, especially organized crime in the Arab sector, is abysmal. In 2022, under the previous government, the number of homicides in the Arab sector dropped for the first time in seven years, from 126 to 116. In 2023, under Ben-Gvir, the number skyrocketed to 244, and in 2024, it has already reached 171, true to September 14. Arab MKs and mayors, along with members of the opposition, have claimed that Ben-Gvir does not have an effective plan to combat crime; in her retirement speech on September 18, the head of the police’s operations branch said that the government was addressing the issue “ignorantly” and through “narrow political interests” and that criminal gangs had already taken control of some local authorities.

Ramadan this year was indeed quiet, but that could be despite Ben-Gvir, not because of him. His insistence on changing visitation rights for Jews to the Temple Mount during Ramadan, which security agencies warned could lead to a severe security situation, was curbed at the last minute. Furthermore, his insistence last month that the status quo on the Temple Mount had changed created an uproar in the Muslim world and forced the prime minister’s office to put out numerous clarifications that this was not the case to defuse the situation.

Ben-Gvir is certainly one of the most influential figures in Israel. But the question of whether national security improved under his tenure as national security minister is another matter.