Journalist Akiva Novick explains what prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to include Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in the government and “normalize” him.
"One of the most significant political moves in the last year, is the acceptance of Ben Gvir by Netanyahu," Novick wrote after the heated confrontation in the cabinet between Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Ben-Gvir.
Novick described Ben-Gvir's last years in politics: "Ben-Gvir was an unwelcome figure even in the Jewish Home party. The Mafdal people shunned him. Bennett fought not to add him to the list. Now he is a senior partner and the prime minister responds to his damage with quiet mumbling."
He explained that "the reason for this move is to a large extent the political boycott against Netanyahu. Justified or not, the refusal to join his government caused those who have always squinted to the left to do all they could to form a government even at the cost of partnering with Ben-Gvir."
At the Cabinet meeting, Ben-Gvir said to the Chief of Staff, commenting on the incident in which IDF soldiers were suspended after saying “Shema Yisrael” in the mosque in Jenin: "I want to know that the soldiers who said “Shema Yisrael” in the mosque will be returned to activity. If you had punished them without releasing it to the media, it would have been an internal military matter, as soon as it goes to the media it is a public matter, it hurts the spirit of the soldiers and the other side sees it too."
Transportation Minister Miri Regev added: "I was told by phone that they are returning. I want to know that this is really happening, because today something else was published in the news. You told me one thing and suddenly I heard something else? Did you really dismiss them from service?"
The Chief of Staff replied: "We are the ones who make decisions about the soldiers and we are talking about IDF soldiers. We make decisions about them, it is not a matter for the cabinet."
Ben-Gvir later complained that Halevi made a mountain out of a molehill in the mosque story. “You made headlines for no reason, and it hurts the soldiers."
Halevi replied: "Don't threaten me and don't say such things to me. We will act however we deem fit with the soldiers. I am the commander of the army and I will set the moral and professional code of the soldiers."
Ben-Gvir replied: "I, as a member of the cabinet, condemn this action. You have harmed the reservists, in a democratic country, the army is subject to the political echelon and not the other way around. When the IDF issues a statement about reservists who, during a war, are fired just because they said “Shema Yisrael” in a mosque, which we all understand was used as a nest for terrorism, this is no longer just an internal military matter."