JERUSALEM (AP) — A controversial video showing Israel’s national security minister mocking detained Gaza flotilla activists has put a spotlight on Itamar Ben-Gvir’s lengthy record of provocative behavior and extreme political positions.
The far-right politician, who was rejected from mandatory military service as a young man due to his radical beliefs, has spent decades working his way from the political margins to become one of Israel’s most influential leaders.
Ben-Gvir faced widespread criticism this week after footage emerged showing his treatment of approximately 430 people detained from the Global Sumud Flotilla. Even coalition partner Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned his actions.
The video clips show Ben-Gvir displaying a large Israeli flag above hunched detainees with bound hands. In another scene, he shouts “Am Israel Chai” — meaning “The nation of Israel lives” in Hebrew — at a kneeling person whose wrists are restrained with zip ties. Additional footage shows detainees with their faces pressed to the ground in an outdoor enclosure while the Israeli national anthem plays and armed officers surround them.
The 50-year-old heads an ultranationalist movement promoting West Bank settlements and has successfully reinvented himself from a political outsider to a major power broker in Israeli politics over several decades.
Ben-Gvir’s criminal record includes eight convictions for charges such as racism and backing a terrorist organization.
Military officials refused to allow him to serve when he reached conscription age, determining his political views were too radical.
As a young man, Ben-Gvir became known as a supporter of deceased extremist rabbi Meir Kahane. He first gained national attention in 1995 when he damaged the hood ornament on then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s vehicle.
“We got to his car, and we’ll get to him too,” he declared at the time, making the statement just weeks before a Jewish extremist assassinated Rabin over his Palestinian peace initiatives.
In 1997, Ben-Gvir admitted to organizing protest campaigns, including death threats, that forced Irish performer Sinead O’Connor to cancel a Jerusalem peace concert.
Ben-Gvir’s ascent to political prominence represents years of calculated efforts by the media-savvy politician to achieve mainstream acceptance. His success also mirrors a broader conservative shift among Israeli voters that has elevated his religious, ultranationalist beliefs while reducing prospects for Palestinian statehood.
Professionally trained in law, Ben-Gvir built his reputation defending extremist Jews charged with attacking Palestinians.
His sharp humor and upbeat personality made him a regular media presence, helping launch his political career. He first won a parliamentary seat in 2021.
Ben-Gvir has advocated for exiling his political rivals. In 2022, he displayed a handgun and urged police to shoot Palestinian stone-throwers in a volatile Jerusalem area.
Through his Cabinet position, Ben-Gvir controls the nation’s police forces. He has used this authority to push Netanyahu to continue the Gaza conflict and recently claimed credit for preventing previous ceasefire agreements.
In his role as national security minister, he has directed police to take aggressive action against government critics.
Ben-Gvir, a resident of the West Bank settlement Kiryat Arba, obtained his Cabinet position following 2022 elections that brought Netanyahu and his far-right allies, including Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party, to power.
“Over the last year I’ve been on a mission to save Israel,” Ben-Gvir stated to journalists before that election. “Millions of citizens are waiting for a real right-wing government. The time has come to give them one.”
Throughout his time in office, Ben-Gvir has generated constant controversy — promoting widespread gun distribution to Jewish civilians, supporting Netanyahu’s disputed judicial reform plans, and regularly criticizing U.S. officials for perceived anti-Israel positions.
His responsibilities include overseeing the police force, prison system, and border security units operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza war, Ben-Gvir consistently opposed allowing humanitarian supplies into the territory, despite expert warnings about potential famine conditions.
In July 2025, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway imposed sanctions on Ben-Gvir and one other Israeli minister for allegedly “inciting extremist violence” against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Netherlands has prohibited Ben-Gvir from entering the country.
He recently expressed satisfaction in Israel’s parliament after lawmakers passed legislation he championed authorizing capital punishment for Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.
Ben-Gvir stepped down from Netanyahu’s Cabinet temporarily last year to protest the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
The ceasefire lasted from January 19 to March 1. While Ben-Gvir’s departure didn’t prevent the ceasefire, it did undermine Netanyahu’s governing alliance.
Ben-Gvir returned to the Cabinet when Israel terminated the ceasefire and resumed military operations in Gaza in March 2025. He has maintained his Cabinet position throughout the current Gaza ceasefire.
