Reports point to Ben-Gvir's leverage with Netanyahu
NPR did not name the minister in its report, but other accounts indicate Itamar Ben-Gvir’s office, coalition ties and voter appeal explain his influence.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
NPR reported that Benjamin Netanyahu had promised a senior role after the election to an unnamed minister it described as Israel’s most far-right cabinet member. The available NPR summary does not identify that minister, but reporting elsewhere in the research points to National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The question of Itamar Ben-Gvir Netanyahu influence is therefore best understood through his government role, his place in the right-wing bloc and his appeal to security-focused voters.
NPR said the unnamed minister had helped shape hardline policies toward Palestinians in recent years. Its page said audio would be available later, and the available material contains no transcript or further detail about the pledge.
Why does Itamar Ben-Gvir have influence with Netanyahu?
One factor is Ben-Gvir’s ministerial position. J Street, in an advocacy-group dossier, says Netanyahu created an enhanced National Security Minister role for Ben-Gvir. According to the dossier, that office oversees Israel’s police, including border police.
That account describes the office’s formal remit, rather than establishing the full extent of Ben-Gvir’s personal authority over policing or government policy. Still, it places him in a ministry tied to domestic security, a central issue in Israeli politics.
Coalition politics are another part of the explanation. TRT World reported in August that Netanyahu’s Likud party had increasingly aligned with Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power and Bezalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism. The report said both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich advocate annexation of occupied Palestinian territories.
Nimrod Goren of the Mitvim Institute told TRT World that political circumstances and Netanyahu’s legal troubles had made him dependent on extremist parties. That is Goren’s assessment, not a finding established by the report. Political scientist Dahlia Scheindlin similarly told TRT World that distinctions between Netanyahu’s own views and those of his most hardline partners had become less consequential because Likud had backed their policies.
Ben-Gvir may also bring electoral value to the broader right-wing camp. A short DRM News video report said supporters cited expanded firearm permits and his hardline security approach as reasons for backing him after the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attacks. It also cited an Agam Labs poll at Hebrew University that found roughly one-third of his supporters were first-time voters and that they tended to be younger.
Those voter findings are reported claims from a brief video segment, not independently documented evidence in the available material. Even so, they help explain why a security-focused politician associated with Jewish Power could matter to Netanyahu’s electoral calculations.
Netanyahu’s reported promise of a senior role can be read as underscoring Ben-Gvir’s political importance within the right-wing bloc. It does not, on the available evidence, prove a private relationship or show that Netanyahu shares all of Ben-Gvir’s ideology.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.