Anyone who dismisses Ben Gvir as an opportunist who rode a populist wave to power with no plan of action is mistaken
“Itamar, do something,” Neve Yaakov residents pleaded tearfully with National Security Minister Ben Gvir on Motzaei Shabbos a week ago. “This is what we elected you for.”
All he could give them was a warm hug.
It was Itamar Ben Gvir’s first significant test since he was appointed national security minister, and now the shoe was on the other foot. As a private citizen, Ben Gvir used to come to the scenes of terror attacks to rail at the weakness of the security establishment. His protests occasionally led to fisticuffs in the streets, in front of the cameras, with whatever security officials were present.
Ben Gvir gives every indication of taking his new role very seriously. He leaves his Chevron home every day at an early morning hour to show up at his office in East Jerusalem — established in the heart of an Arab neighborhood by the Israeli government after the Six Day War to stake its sovereignty over the area. On Ben Gvir’s watch, asserting that sovereignty is first and foremost a personal challenge. The man who has spent much of his life as an agitator giving sharp advice now needs to be the one to provide solutions.
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