With famine officially declared in Gaza, Foreign Editor David Pratt profiles Itamar Ben-Gvir a man who would happily see Palestinians starve to death in the name of a “Greater Israel”
David Pratt
Sat 23 August 2025
HERALD SCOTLAND
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Blue Room of the White House
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The video posted on social media was only 13 seconds long. It showed an encounter between two men, implacable foes. One was Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
The other man was Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian prisoner in Israeli custody who has been held for 23 years mostly in solitary confinement and who is often considered the leading candidate to succeed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
In the video that appeared last week, Ben-Gvir can be seen taunting and threatening Barghouti who, now thin and frail, was unrecognisable from the man I interviewed near the West Bank town of Ramallah back in June 2001 at the height of second Palestinian intifada or uprising.
Back then Barghouti was on the run from the Israeli authorities, but last week confined to his cell, there was no way of avoiding the “raid” by Ben-Gvir the intention of which was to intimidate and humiliate.
The encounter between the two men unfolded within a wider theatre of intimidation in great part orchestrated by Ben-Gvir that last week in Gaza the United Nations described as a “failure of humanity”.
More than half a million Palestinians across the territory the international body confirmed, now face “catastrophic” conditions characterised by “starvation, destitution and death.”
Or to put this another way, famine now “officially” exits in Gaza City and surrounding areas, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) a globally recognised system for grading the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition.
Just as Barghouti had no way of avoiding Ben-Gvir’s threats, likewise millions of Palestinians have no sanctuary against the hunger and onslaught of Israel’s new military offensive dubbed “Operation Gideon’s Chariots II” aimed at occupying Gaza City.
For his part Ben-Gvir appears to relish the physical and psychological trauma being inflicted on Gaza’s population. Likewise in an escalating pattern of Israeli abuse of the more than 10,000 Palestinians in its custody, Ben-Gvir enjoys reminding detainees of Gaza’s annihilation.
Last week alongside the video of Ben-Gvir taunting Barghouti, another video appeared showing the security minister standing before a large billboard sized photograph depicting Gaza’s rubble and flattened buildings.
The same photograph and others like them, have been placed in Israel’s prisons holding Palestinians who are reportedly forced to walk by them when they go for their daily yard time exercise. Ben-Gvir even claims that one of the prisoners recognised his home among the destruction.
'Don't mess with us'
According to reports in the online news portal Middle East Eye, the video was released with a caption that said the photos were being displayed so the Palestinian prisoners “understand that you don’t mess with the people of Israel.”
UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called the video “disturbing” and stressed that all prisoners need to be treated “in a way that abides by international law and that respects their inherent dignity.”
According to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Israel has imprisoned over 10,800 Palestinians as of early August. This includes 49 women, 450 children, and 2,378 people labelled as “unlawful combatants.” The figure excludes detainees held in Israeli military camps, as well as prisoners from Lebanon and Syria
For years now throughout his political career Ben-Gvir has become infamous for his provocative statement and actions. In that time too along with fellow ultra nationalist and Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, both men have held the balance of power in the coalition government of Prime Minister, Benyamin Netanyahu.
This ‘king maker’ position has enabled them to consolidate decades of settler activity and other policies outside of parliamentary legitimacy into influencing government policy.
Just last week in the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, an article suggested that Netanyahu is more scared of Ben-Gvir and Smotrich than he is of the growing ire among his own citizens.
“As usual, he's manoeuvring between the demands of his coalition partners (continuation of the war, full occupation of the Gaza Strip, resumption of settlements) and mounting public dissent, evident in the weekly demonstrations. But at the moment it's no contest: Smotrich and Ben-Gvir scare him more,” observed Haaretz correspondent Amos Harel.
Earlier this month to mark the Jewish holiday of Tisha B’Av, a day of mourning and repentance when Jews reflect on the destruction of the First and Second Temples, key events in Jewish history, Ben Gvir visited Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site.
Known to Jews as Temple Mount the holiest site in Judaism and Muslims as al- Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) the third-holiest site in Islam, it has often been a flashpoint in the region.
Such was the case back in 2000 when Israeli politician Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit sparking protests that were a precursor to the second Palestinian intifada.
Ben-Gvir’s recent visit was viewed in much the same way at precisely the moment Israel is facing international condemnation over its war in Gaza.
Israels National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks to the press as he joins Jewish nationalists, including far-right activists, rallying at Jerusalems Damascus Gate on June 5, 2024 during the so-called Jerusalem Day flag march
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks to the press as he joins Jewish nationalists, including far-right activists, rallying at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate
Terror organisation
Born in 1976 in Jerusalem to Iraqi Jewish immigrants, Ben-Gvir joined Kach, an ultra-nationalist movement described by America as a terrorist organisation, at the age of 16.
Kach was led by the racist rabbi Meir Kahane, a violent anti-Arab nationalist who called for Arab Israelis to be stripped of their citizenship.
At one time on the political fringe, for years Ben Gvir was shunned by right-wingers as an extremist. But he was to make a name for himself in 1995, after being exempted from conscription to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) because of his extreme views, by threatening Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister, on television, saying he would “get to him”. Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli ultra-nationalist three weeks later.
In 2013 Ben-Gvir joined the Knesset slate for Jewish Power, an ideological successor to Kach, and became its leader in 2019. Shortly afterwards he called for “disloyal” Arabs to be expelled from Israel and has been filmed waving a gun in the faces of Palestinians protesting in East Jerusalem. He has been indicted more than 50 times (and convicted once) for inciting violence and hate speech.
In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 broadcaster in 2023, he declared that his rights trump those of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
“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,” he said, effectively advocating for a regime of apartheid.
Since then Ben-Gvir has consistently pressured Netanyahu to maintain the war in Gaza and escalate illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Recently in a move seen as an effort to deepen Israel’s de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank Ben-Gvir was instrumental in the creation of a new police unit composed of illegal armed settlers, dubbed the “First Response Unit.”
At an inauguration ceremony at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Ben Gvir, said 105 settlers have been recruited to the new force, which now has squads in the illegal settlements of Efrat, Gush Etzion, Kiryat Arba, and Hebron.
“These squads represent a departure from the ‘defensive mindset’ and towards a combative, militant and offensive mindset,” said Ben Gvir, himself a resident of the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement.
Ben Gvir went on to describe the unit’s settlers as an “inseparable part of society,” praising them for providing “quick responses in the field.” He called the move an embodiment of “real sovereignty and practical Zionism,” suggesting it contributes to Israel’s long-sought goal of annexing the West Bank.
The Israeli police confirmed that members of the new unit received combat training, special police powers, and advanced equipment. The formation of the “First Response Unit,” came just a week after 14 Israeli ministers and Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana signed a letter demanding Netanyahu immediately annex the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025.
(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana).
Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
120,000 firearms
From as far back as October 2023, Ben-Gvir has been leading an effort to arm settlers in the occupied West Bank settlements and by October last year ensured that over 120,000 firearms had been distributed among settlers framing the effort as protection from “terrorism”.
The evidence compiled by multiple human rights organisation however tells a very different story, with a dramatic spike in the killing of unarmed Palestinians by settlers, including children.
Israeli advocacy organisation, Peace Now, described Ben Gvir’s new First Response Unit as “an armed militia of his friends in the settlements,” and alleged that the police were “giving extremists power and support to undermine security.”
The organisation also pointed out that following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, the IDF had established “regional defence battalions” in the West Bank composed overwhelmingly of residents of settlements.
Since October 7, the West Bank has experienced an average of four documented incidents of settler violence per day according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In great part this has occurred because of Ben-Gvir’s strategy of enabling settler expansion and prioritising settler interests. What was once portrayed as fringe extremism has now been fully absorbed into Israeli state policy say observers.
Today as a result say human rights activists, the line between security forces and settlers has dissolved almost entirely. The violence has reached new heights over the past two years, leading many West Bank Palestinians to flee their villages en-masse.
Ben-Gvir’s actions along with that of his fellow far-right ultranationalist ally Smotrich, resulted in the UK government’s decision in June this year to impose sanctions on both men with UK foreign secretary David Lammy saying the pair had “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights.”
With characteristic defiance, both men dismissed the sanctions with Ben-Gvir saying: “We survived Pharaoh, we will also survive Keir Starmer,” and Smotrich noting that: “Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we will not allow it to do so again.”
But the West Bank aside, it is in Gaza where Ben-Gvir and Smotrich’s messianic belief in the Jewish people’s right to what they call “Greater Israel” is being enacted most comprehensively and unsparingly using Israel’s military bludgeoning.
Ben Gvir has claimed there is “no real hunger in Gaza,” his assessment flying in the face of overwhelming evidence and the announcement of the existence of famine in Gaza City last week under the IPC system.
Many observers are firmly of the belief that Ben Gvir and Smotrich will not rest until they see all Palestinians removed from Gaza and the West Bank and will continue to use all the political leverage they can to ensure that Netanyahu complies with their ‘Greater Israel’ aspirations.
Palestinians carry sacks of flour unloaded from a humanitarian aid convoy on the outskirts of Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
120,000 firearms
From as far back as October 2023, Ben-Gvir has been leading an effort to arm settlers in the occupied West Bank settlements and by October last year ensured that over 120,000 firearms had been distributed among settlers framing the effort as protection from “terrorism”.
The evidence compiled by multiple human rights organisation however tells a very different story, with a dramatic spike in the killing of unarmed Palestinians by settlers, including children.
Israeli advocacy organisation, Peace Now, described Ben Gvir’s new First Response Unit as “an armed militia of his friends in the settlements,” and alleged that the police were “giving extremists power and support to undermine security.”
The organisation also pointed out that following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, the IDF had established “regional defence battalions” in the West Bank composed overwhelmingly of residents of settlements.
Since October 7, the West Bank has experienced an average of four documented incidents of settler violence per day according to data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In great part this has occurred because of Ben-Gvir’s strategy of enabling settler expansion and prioritising settler interests. What was once portrayed as fringe extremism has now been fully absorbed into Israeli state policy say observers.
Today as a result say human rights activists, the line between security forces and settlers has dissolved almost entirely. The violence has reached new heights over the past two years, leading many West Bank Palestinians to flee their villages en-masse.
Ben-Gvir’s actions along with that of his fellow far-right ultranationalist ally Smotrich, resulted in the UK government’s decision in June this year to impose sanctions on both men with UK foreign secretary David Lammy saying the pair had “incited extremist violence and serious abuses of Palestinian human rights.”
With characteristic defiance, both men dismissed the sanctions with Ben-Gvir saying: “We survived Pharaoh, we will also survive Keir Starmer,” and Smotrich noting that: “Britain has already tried once to prevent us from settling the cradle of our homeland, and we will not allow it to do so again.”
But the West Bank aside, it is in Gaza where Ben-Gvir and Smotrich’s messianic belief in the Jewish people’s right to what they call “Greater Israel” is being enacted most comprehensively and unsparingly using Israel’s military bludgeoning.
Ben Gvir has claimed there is “no real hunger in Gaza,” his assessment flying in the face of overwhelming evidence and the announcement of the existence of famine in Gaza City last week under the IPC system.
Many observers are firmly of the belief that Ben Gvir and Smotrich will not rest until they see all Palestinians removed from Gaza and the West Bank and will continue to use all the political leverage they can to ensure that Netanyahu complies with their ‘Greater Israel’ aspirations.
5-year-old polio patient Yamen Zayed, who was displaced with his family due to Israeli attacks and the blockade on Gaza
Hostages in danger
Last week, Israel's Coordinator for Hostages and Missing Persons, Gal Hirsch, appealed to Ben-Gvir, urging him to soften his rhetoric against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, warning that such remarks could endanger the hostages still held in Gaza.
Released hostages have testified that Ben-Gvir's past statements about tightening prison conditions for Palestinians led to harsher treatment of them while in captivity by Hamas. But few hold out much hope the Ben-Gvir will take heed.
Writing in the daily Haaretz, the columnist Gideon Levy, reflected on the encounter last week between Ben-Gvir and Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti who Levy knew before his arrest more than two decades ago
“Of the two, he (Barghouti) is the man of peace and justice - despite having been convicted of five counts of murder. Both men have been convicted on terror charges, but Barghouti represents a nation without an army, a state or any national rights,” observed Levy.
“He therefore turned to the path of terror after tirelessly trying the path of diplomacy. Ben-Gvir is a cabinet minister of a state that has an unrestrained army, and he represents a nation that is the supreme nation in this land - in Ben-Gvir's eyes, the only nation,” Levy concluded, summing up the latest unedifying episode in Israel’s unrelenting Gaza onslaught.
Hostages in danger
Last week, Israel's Coordinator for Hostages and Missing Persons, Gal Hirsch, appealed to Ben-Gvir, urging him to soften his rhetoric against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, warning that such remarks could endanger the hostages still held in Gaza.
Released hostages have testified that Ben-Gvir's past statements about tightening prison conditions for Palestinians led to harsher treatment of them while in captivity by Hamas. But few hold out much hope the Ben-Gvir will take heed.
Writing in the daily Haaretz, the columnist Gideon Levy, reflected on the encounter last week between Ben-Gvir and Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti who Levy knew before his arrest more than two decades ago
“Of the two, he (Barghouti) is the man of peace and justice - despite having been convicted of five counts of murder. Both men have been convicted on terror charges, but Barghouti represents a nation without an army, a state or any national rights,” observed Levy.
“He therefore turned to the path of terror after tirelessly trying the path of diplomacy. Ben-Gvir is a cabinet minister of a state that has an unrestrained army, and he represents a nation that is the supreme nation in this land - in Ben-Gvir's eyes, the only nation,” Levy concluded, summing up the latest unedifying episode in Israel’s unrelenting Gaza onslaught.
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