Who is Itamar Ben-Gvir, the man who trampled Global Sumud volunteers?

A video posted by Israel’s Internal Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir showing the assault on participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla, intercepted by Israel, has sparked worldwide outrage. Who exactly is the Israeli hard-right figure?

Ben-Gvir’s name has recently risen in prominence as he repeatedly breaches into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, both as a politician and as a minister. He is intent on demolishing Muslim sites there and replacing them with Jewish buildings.

Since his 2022 appointment as a minister, the 50-year-old has become more active. The provocations are cited as one reason the Palestinian resistance groups launched attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Nevertheless, Ben-Gvir’s extremism runs much deeper. He has been convicted eight times for offences including racism and supporting terrorist organisations. The army barred him from military service when he was a teenager, deeming his views too extreme.

Ben-Gvir rose to fame in his youth as a follower of the late radical rabbi Meir Kahane. He first became a national figure when he vandalised the car of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

“We went to his car, and we will meet him as well,” 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 organising protest campaigns, including death threats, which forced Irish singer Sinead O’Connor to cancel a peace concert in Jerusalem.

Ben-Gvir’s political ascent represents the culmination of years of media-savvy MPs seeking legitimacy. It also reflects a shift among Israeli voters to the right, bringing his religious and ultranationalist ideology into the mainstream and eroding hopes for Palestinian independence.

Ben-Gvir trained as a lawyer and earned recognition as a defence lawyer who has represented Jewish extremists accused of violence against Palestinians.