Opposition Leader Yair Lapid launched a scathing attack on National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, labeling him a “dangerous Jewish fascist” and a “disgrace to Judaism” following the arrest of a protester who heckled the far-right politician.
Lapid and Ben-Gvir represent opposite poles of Israeli politics.
Lapid, a centrist former prime minister and leader of the Yesh Atid party, frames himself as a defender of liberal democracy and Israel’s international standing.
Lapid detailed the protester’s treatment by police, stating that Yefremov was “handcuffed, subjected to a strip search, and taken in for questioning.” He questioned the justification for the arrest, asserting that the statements made about Ben Gvir were factual
Ben-Gvir, by contrast, rose from the far-right activist fringe to one of the most powerful positions in government as national security minister. His supporters see him as a hard-line champion of Jewish security. Critics view him as the embodiment of a radical nationalist shift in Israeli politics.
The opposition leader listed several allegations to support his claims, pointing to Ben Gvir’s history of participating in memorials for the late extremist rabbi Meir Kahane and noting that for years, a photo of Baruch Goldstein—the American-born settler who murdered 29 Muslim worshipers in the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre—hung in Ben Gvir’s living room .
Lapid’s criticism extended beyond Ben Gvir’s past, directly linking him to national tragedies. He accused the National Security Minister of being “a central part of the negligence that led to the disaster of October 7,” referring to the Hamas attack that sparked the ongoing genocide in Gaza. “People truly did die because of him,” Lapid declared .
“Ben Gvir is a national disaster, an international disaster, a disgrace to Judaism, a stain on Zionism, a dangerous Jewish fascist. There is one thing Itamar Ben Gvir is not: he is not immune to criticism.”
He also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for empowering Ben Gvir, whom he described as a “nationalist criminal convicted of supporting terrorism” and who was “fully complicit in the incitement that led to the assassination of [Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin.”
The incident highlights the deep political fissures in Israel and the intense scrutiny surrounding Ben Gvir, a key figure in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s far-right governing coalition.
Source: The Times of Israel
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