JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s far-right national security minister has a long history as a provocateur. This week, Itamar Ben-Gvir sparked global outrage after promoting a video of himself taunting activists from a flotilla to Gaza who were detained by his police force.
Denied entry into the military as a teenager because of his extreme views, the 50-year-old Ben-Gvir nevertheless rose to become one of the most powerful people in the country after operating for decades within its far-right fringes.
His tactics drew a backlash this week, as foreign leaders — and even coalition partner Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — condemned his on-camera treatment of some 430 detainees from the Global Sumud Flotilla.
In one clip, Ben-Gvir is seen waving a large Israeli flag over hunched-over detainees whose hands appear to be bound. In another, he taunts a kneeling detainee whose wrists are zip-tied, yelling “Am Yisrael Chai” at him — Hebrew for “The nation of Israel lives.” In another, the detainees can be seen — foreheads to the floor of an outdoor pen — as the Israeli national anthem plays and armed guards encircle them.
Here is a closer look at Ben-Gvir:
An outlaw youth
Ben-Gvir has been convicted eight times for offenses that include racism and supporting a terrorist organization.
The army banned him from compulsory military service when he was a teen, deeming his views too extreme.
Ben-Gvir gained notoriety in his youth as a follower of the late radical rabbi Meir Kahane. He first became a national figure when he broke a hood ornament off then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s car in 1995.
“We got to his car, and we’ll get to him too,” he said, just weeks before Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist opposed to his peace efforts with the Palestinians.
Two years later, Ben-Gvir took responsibility for orchestrating a campaign of protests, including death threats, that forced Irish singer Sinead O’Connor to cancel a concert for peace in Jerusalem.
Moving to the mainstream
The political rise of Ben-Gvir was the culmination of years of efforts by the media-savvy lawmaker to gain legitimacy. But it also reflected a rightward shift in the Israeli electorate that brought his religious, ultranationalist ideology into the mainstream and diminished hopes for Palestinian independence.
Ben-Gvir is trained as a lawyer and gained recognition as a successful defense attorney for extremist Jews accused of violence against Palestinians.
With a quick wit and cheerful demeanor, Ben-Gvir also became a popular fixture in the media, paving his way to enter politics. He was first elected to parliament in 2021.
Ben-Gvir has called for deporting his political opponents. In an episode in 2022, he brandished a pistol and encouraged police to open fire on Palestinian stone-throwers in a tense Jerusalem neighborhood.
In his Cabinet post, Ben-Gvir oversaw the country’s police force. He used his influence to encourage Netanyahu to press ahead with the war in Gaza and recently boasted that he had blocked past efforts to reach a ceasefire.
As national security minister, he has encouraged police to take a tough line against anti-government protesters.
Controversial minister
Ben-Gvir, who lives in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba in the West Bank, secured his Cabinet post after 2022 elections that put Netanyahu and his far-right partners, including Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power party, into power.
“Over the last year I’ve been on a mission to save Israel,” Ben-Gvir told reporters before that election. “Millions of citizens are waiting for a real right-wing government. The time has come to give them one.”
Ben-Gvir has been a magnet of controversy throughout his tenure — encouraging the mass distribution of handguns to Jewish citizens, backing Netanyahu’s contentious attempt to overhaul the country’s legal system and frequently lashing out at U.S. leaders for perceived slights against Israel.
He oversees the nation's police force, prison service and border police units that operate in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
During the war in Gaza, which began after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack, Ben-Gvir repeatedly advocated against the entry of humanitarian aid into the territory, even as experts warned of brewing famine.
In July 2025, he was one of two Israeli ministers sanctioned by Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway for allegedly “inciting extremist violence” against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. T he Netherlands has banned Ben-Gvir from entering the country.
He recently celebrated in Israel's parliament after the body approved the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of murdering Israelis, a bill he spearheaded.
Resignation and return to Netanyahu's cabinet
Ben-Gvir temporarily resigned from Netanyahu's Cabinet last year to express his disapproval of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
That ceasefire ran from Jan. 19 to March 1. Ben-Gvir's resignation did not stop the ceasefire, but it did weaken Netanyahu’s governing coalition.
Ben-Gvir rejoined the Cabinet when Israel ended the ceasefire and returned to active combat in Gaza in March 2025. He remained in Netanyahu's Cabinet through the current Gaza ceasefire.
