How Ben-Gvir blows apart the ‘security’ story of Israel’s occupation

December 11, 2022
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What Israeli generals are really worried about is how little will change when two ultra-nationalist, religious settlers are put in charge of the occupation

Israeli soldiers stand by as Israeli settlers throw stones at Palestinians (unseen) during clashes in the town of Huwwara in the occupied West Bank on 13 October 2022

Jonathan Cook writes in Middle East Eye 6 December 2022

There is a good reason why Gadi Eisenkot, a former head of the Israeli military, expressed alarm last week as Benjamin Netanyahu awarded unprecedented powers over the occupation to a far-right settler party in his new government.

Eisenkot claimed that the army was in danger of “falling apart” if Netanyahu so openly politicised its role. But that is not the real reason he and the other generals are so worried. They understand that Netanyahu is about to blow apart the security rationale that for so long obscured their racist oppression of the Palestinians under their control.

Now the settlers’ brutality will be conducted within a system of openly Jewish supremacist rule

The prime minister-designate put Itamar Ben-Gvir, of the fascist Jewish Power party, in charge of the police service inside Israel and extended his remit to include the Border Police, a separate paramilitary force that chiefly operates in the occupied territories.

Ben-Gvir is a high-profile supporter of Kahanism, the virulently anti-Arab ideology of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane. His political faction is now the third largest in the Israeli parliament and the linchpin of Netanyahu’s new coalition.

Ben-Gvir’s political ally, Bezalel Smotrich, meanwhile, is expected to preside over Israel’s Civil Administration, an unelected, unaccountable military bureaucracy that enjoys far greater powers over the lives of Palestinians in the West Bank than the nominal Palestinian Authority, led by Mahmoud Abbas.

Now a settler leader, one who calls for annexation of the West Bank, will be directly in charge of approving the building of more settlements.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the Israeli far-right Jewish Power party, arrives for parliamentary consultations with parties elected in the 25th Knesset, at the presidential residence in Jerusalem, 10 November 2022 (AFP)
Itamar Ben-Gvir, leader of the Israeli far-right Jewish Power party, arrives for parliamentary consultations with parties elected in the 25th Knesset, at the presidential residence in Jerusalem, 10 November 2022 (AFP)

Jewish supremacism

Most Palestinians under occupation may find it hard to imagine their situation growing more wretched or Israel’s “rule of law” more of a charade. They already face armed, religious extremist Jewish settlers – confident their violence will go unpunished by the Israeli authorities – invoking title deeds from the Bible to justify stealing ever more Palestinian land. Israel and its settler population already have complete control over more than 60 percent of the West Bank and effective control over the rest.

Israel: Netanyahu asked the world to forget the occupation. Ben-Gvir wants it front and centre

But now the settlers’ brutality will be conducted within a system of openly Jewish supremacist rule in which the job description of the police and Israeli officials will be not only to turn a blind eye to such criminality but to actively encourage it.

Eisenkot, however, is not worried about whether Palestinian suffering increases. This, after all, is the general who first articulated the notorious Dahiya doctrine to rationalise Israel’s sustained devastation of Lebanon in the summer of 2006. The doctrine calls for the use of “disproportionate” and indiscriminate firepower on civilian areas – in flagrant violation of international law.

Fellow general Benny Gantz, the outgoing defence minister, used precisely the same strategy in bombing Gaza in 2014, returning the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave, in his words, to “the Stone Age”.

After Netanyahu promoted Ben-Gvir to national security minister last week, Eisenkot warned that the army was at risk of collapsing. He urged “a million” Israelis to take to the streets in protest. “We must not create a situation where soldiers do not want to serve in battle,” he said.

Gantz similarly sounded the alarm. He said Ben-Gvir’s appointment would end “security cooperation” with the Palestinian Authority and lead to the Israeli army’s transformation into Ben-Gvir’s own private militia. Neither general’s concerns should be taken at face value, however.

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