A DC victory march for Trump alt-reich and Ben Gvir Zio-fascism

Israeli police minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, has wangled an invitation to meet with high-level US security officials during an official visit to Washington, which begins tomorrow.

Originally, he was slated only to meet with his far-right US supporters in Miami and New York. Then he announced a “coup”: he’d landed a meeting with US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. 

Ben Gvir is one of Israeli politics's most extreme and notorious figures. He’s been accused by whistleblowers of grooming young people to commit acts of terror against West Bank Palestinians. He’s been indicted 53 times for incitement to terrorism, though never convicted or imprisoned for such offences. 

Joining him on his DC “victory lap”, the Israeli minister invited Akiva Hacohen, who was convicted of spying on Israeli troops in the West Bank. During such operations, he tracked their movements in a cat-and-mouse game designed to sabotage the dismantling of illegal settlements. He and his followers even broke into an army camp and destroyed military equipment. As a result, he was convicted and served a prison sentence.

When Noem got wind that Ben Gvir intended to include Hacohen in his entourage, she cancelled the meeting. Nevertheless, his schedule indicates that he plans further unspecified “diplomatic meetings” during his visit.

It’s supremely ironic that a notorious leader who spearheaded the most violent attacks on West Bank Palestinians and who was convicted repeatedly of security offences now directs the Israeli police, who were responsible for monitoring his terror activity and arresting him.

Under the Biden administration, Ben Gvir’s close ally, Bezalel Smotrich, travelled to the US. Though he did not meet with any administration officials, there were widespread protests by pro-Palestinian and Jewish groups against permitting his entry to the US.

During the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, Smotrich was arrested by the Shin Bet, who found bomb-making materials in his vehicle. He was a conspirator in a plot by Israeli settlers to set off an explosive device on the main Tel Aviv roadway, the Ayalon Highway. Smotrich was detained and interrogated for three weeks but never charged with an offence. 

The Israeli security apparatus monitors Jewish terrorists, but rarely arrests and almost never convicts or imprisons such individuals. This permits a culture of impunity and encourages the mass violence rampant in the West Bank. Much of it has been led by Smotrich and Ben Gvir. It has led to the expulsion of 20 Palestinian villages and 1,500 residents. 

The Oscar-winning film, No Other Land, documents the collusion between violent settlers and the Israeli army, which has led to killings, assaults, and wanton destruction of crops and animal herds, which are essential for the livelihoods of the Palestinians in the community of Maaser Yatta.

Rise of US fascism encourages Ben Gvir 'Judeosupremacy'

If Ben Gvir does meet with administration officials, it will be a crowning achievement for this accused former Jewish terrorist. It legitimises him and awards him a coveted role in Israeli politics.

He has risen from a young punk who stole the car hood ornament of the prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and boasted: “We got this car and we’ll get him too.” Shortly thereafter, Rabin was assassinated by a far-right extremist, after settler rabbis performed a ritual approving his murder. Ben Gvir later praised the rabbis.

He also advocates the destruction of Al Aqsa, the third-holiest shrine in Islam, and replacing it with a Third Temple, akin to the successful Hindutva campaign to destroy the 16th-century Babri Masjid mosque. 

This campaign would incite massive anger and violence among the world’s Muslims. It would destabilise the entire Middle East. Given how somnolent the global response to the Gaza genocide has been, there is little guarantee the world will do anything to stop such an egregious act of religious hatred.

In an indication of his explosive bursts of anger and homicidal violence, he once brandished a gun and threatened to shoot Palestinians.

Unlike the Smotrich visit, there have been no protests against Ben Gvir. Of course, the political climate has changed with the new Trump administration.

As white supremacy has been normalised by the policies pursued by the president, it’s not surprising that Israeli Judeo-supremacy would be embraced as well.

In fact, the rise of fascism in the US has inspired Israel’s Gaza genocide and campaign of ethnic cleansing in Palestine. During previous administrations, Israel felt constrained by potential resistance to its most radical policies. Not only has restraint evaporated, but it is encouraged by Trump’s radicalism.  

Also, the administration’s efforts to criminalise such protests have undoubtedly intimidated the groups that might otherwise lead such a campaign.  Palestinians and Arab-Americans, whether citizens or legal residents, could easily be swept up by ICE during such protests and disappear to Louisiana prison-concentration camps.

Similarly, the support by large elements of the Israel Lobby for the Trump campaign to stamp out alleged campus antisemitism, has deterred protests by Jewish groups.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court, was recently feted with a state visit, during which Trump repeated his discredited plan to expel Gaza’s 2.5 million residents.

He proposed dumping them in the Egyptian Sinai and/or the Saudi desert. He also falsely suggested that there were good Germans who “showed love” to Jewish prisoners by offering them food.

This disinformation and historical falsification induce moral confusion among Americans and dilute opposition to Israeli war crimes, as does Ben Gvir’s upcoming visit. Trump’s continued support for Israeli genocide serves as further context for welcoming him.  As does his weaponisation of antisemitism to criminalise campus protest against Israel’s crimes. It goes hand-in-hand with the president’s embrace of Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Richard Silverstein writes the Tikun Olam blog and is a freelance journalist specialising in exposing secrets of the Israeli national security state. He campaigns against opacity and the negative impact of Israeli military censorship.

Follow him on Twitter: @richards1052

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.