Israeli Security Chief Ben Gvir’s Murder Spree against Palestinian Civilians- “30 to 40 Every Night”
H. Scott Prosterman Informed Comment
In a recent podcast interview with former Israeli hostage Ron Braslavski, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir (Jewish Power Party) objected to the winding down of the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, and advocated targeted assassinations of Palestinian civilians. He said, “It’s no secret, I disagree with the prime minister. I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night. Not just those who pose an immediate threat — there are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people.” That may be the ultimate expression of human depravity, and consistent with the ideology of the late far right wing militant supremacist Meir Kahane, Ben-Gvir’s political idol and mentor.
In the interview, Ben-Gvir told Braslavski, “All of Gaza is ours,” confirming his mission to evict all Palestinians from Gaza by making life untenable. Ben-Gvir also expressed a desire to personally execute anyone convicted in a military court, consistent with his lifelong involvement with Kahane’s Kach Party since he was a teenager.
He has revived Kach Party ideals, which had been banished in Israeli politics until Netanyahu gave them new legitimacy, by incorporating them into the current government. Ben-Gvir’s hairsplitting disagreement with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu stems from the latter’s desire to accept a peace plan, conditioned upon Hamas disarming; whereas Ben-Gvir would entertain no such thing. He just wants to kill more innocent people, and raze Gaza for a Trump luxury resort.
I had the surreal experience of conducting a walking-talking interview with Kahane in 1979, when I was a student journalist for The Michigan Daily. By asking some leading questions after his talk, he took me to be a “friendly,” and candidly conveyed his deeply judgmental loathing for anyone who was not a Shamir Shabbat Orthodox Jew. In Kahane’s world: 1.) Israel WAS the ultimate expression of Judaism and Jewish loyalty, 2.) Jews had a right to settle all areas of Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel), by 3.) Violent means if necessary, and 4.) Any non-Jew or non-Zionist encroaching on sacred lands was fair game for murder. That summarizes the mindset of the far-far right wing settlers, who’ve been given free rein to terrorize native Palestinian communities in the West Bank, guided by Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich
Just as there are nine layers of hell in Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, there are multiple layers of depravity in human behavior. In the epic poem, Dante descends through the depths of hell, with the Roman poet Virgil as his protector and guide. Virgil is consigned to Limbo, the first of nine layers, not because of sin but because he died 19 years before Jesus was born, and was never baptized. According to Christian myth, a person can’t go to Paradise unbaptized, including babies and noble people who died before Jesus’ time, such as Aristotle and Homer. The punishment of Limbo is an eternal state of hopelessness, sadness and longing for God. The deepest layers of hell are reserved for: 9.) Traitors, 8.) Fraudsters, 7.) Violent actors and leaders, and 6.) Heretics. The lesser sins are lust, gluttony, greed and wrath.
A nightly murder quota in Gaza would place Israeli government officials in the deepest layers. An analogous interpretation might argue that the Likud government is staffed by violent actors and leaders who have betrayed Jewish ideals to the point of heresy — with campaigns of deceit and fraud. They would be consigned to levels six through nine.
Netanyahu made a Faustian bargain to bring Israeli “Proud Boys” Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism Party) into his government, so that he could form one. Now the extremists are calling the shots, since Netanyahu allowed them to consolidate their power and set the genocidal agenda. Depravity is the most apt description. Ben-Gvir’s disagreement with Netanyahu arises from the latter’s stated intention to draw down Israeli forces in Gaza. The prime minister wants to disarm Hamas; Ben-Gvir wants to destroy innocent lives, displace all Palestinians from Gaza, and place new Israeli settlements there.
The so-called “cease-fire” proposed by convicted felon Donald Trump’s feckless Board of Peace is now an obstacle to Ben-Gvir’s ambitions. To him, “any reduction in violence is an unacceptable concession.” He wants assassination squads hunting down innocent civilians at night to clear the way for new settlements. But Netanyahu is no dove, and has been using escalating, ongoing war as a tool to remain in office and out of prison. He has created a famine in Gaza as a tool of war, and his lip service to any peace plan is no more than that.
Israel has prosecuted an endless revenge campaign since October 7, 2023 under Netanyahu’s leadership, whose own security failures left Israel vulnerable to the October 7 attacks. Now Ben-Gvir proposes to escalate that campaign with random mass murder of innocent civilians. This illustrates how Zionism, as it has devolved under successive Likud governments, has perverted itself from its original ideals, and become a political force antithetical to Judaism. With Ben-Gvir as the tail now wagging the dog of Likud, Israel has descended into the nadir of humanity. Gaza has become a tragic allegory, representing the ultimate decline of Israel as a nation, just as the Inferno was for Dante’s Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia).
Sandro Botticelli (1445–1510), “Chart of Hell,” after Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy.
The only elected officials to issue statements condemning Ben-Gvir have been Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen, and Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, both of whom are Jewish. Slotkin said Ben-Gvir’s comments are “dehumanizing” and “abhorrent,” while calling for his resignation. Rosen also called for Ben-Gvir’s resignation, saying, “Anyone advocating for acts of violence against innocent civilians should not be in an official government position. I believe Ben-Gvir must resign, and I urge Prime Minister Netanyahu to denounce these remarks and reaffirm to the world that this is not the government’s position.”
Netanyahu’s Faustian bargain with Smotrich and Ben-Gvir has earned all of them global condemnation, and a place in the four deepest layers of the Inferno. Of course, that is all mythological, but one hopes for a reckoning in this world, and a restoration of rights and dignity for people in Gaza and the West Bank in this life.
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