According to the Axios article, a source said, “The other people who were in the room saw how Bibi [Netanyahu] was screwed” in reaction to Menendez’s comments.
The arguable far-right Israeli politician is Itamar Ben-Gvir. His party is making progress in the polls and may finish third or fourth in the next election.
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In an interview with Fox News Digital, Ben-Gvir, leader of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Force) party, said, “I am deeply involved in reports that Senator Menendez has made incorrect and misguided complaints to millions of Israelis who will soon vote for a center-right government and I personally. “
He continued, “Everyone knows that the senator is a true friend of Israel and a defender of U. S. -Israel relations and, more importantly, he is a guy of integrity. Therefore, I have the impression that he would not have made the reported statements. if I had been well informed of the positions I hold, as well as those I do not hold. “
Ben-Gvir has been criticized for tearing the Cadillac emblem off the car of Yitzhak Rabin, then Israeli minister, in 1995 and saying, “We have reached Rabin’s car, we will get to Rabin too. “Israeli extremist Yigal Amir, then 25, was killed in Rabin the same year.
Critics have described Ben-Gvir as a right-wing extremist because of his connections and far-right elements in Israel, adding Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose ultranationalist party was barred from running in the next election for inciting anti-Arab racism. Kahane was killed by a terrorist in Manhattan in 1990.
In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Shuki Friedman, an expert on the Israeli far right, described Ben-Gvir as “a populist demagogue . . . he interviews well, he’s smart on camera and he has a lot of screen time that gave him legitimacy,” said Friedman of the Jewish People Policy Institute.
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Ben-Gvir told Fox News Digital: “The enemies of a strong Israel slander me, calling me and my party racist. But the fact is that we are anti-racist; We fight the anti-Semitism opposed to the racist one that is emerging within the confines of our homeland. We that Israel will have to uproot terrorist organizations like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, just as the United States defeated al-Qaeda. Like millions of Americans, we call for peace and that Israel’s policy will have to be based on the societal realization of our right to sovereignty and self-defense. “
Reacting to Menendez’s warnings, Netanyahu told a news conference last week in Tel Aviv: “I would have expected to be warned that we opposed a government over the Muslim Brotherhood that supports terrorism and Ahmad Tibi and Ayman Odeh. Odeh said that [Hassan] Nasrallah (Hezbollah) is a hero, after that, isn’t it any wonder that Lapid ran to sell fuel to the citizens of Israel?”
Netanyahu referring to Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who is running on a questionable fuel deal with Lebanon. Ahmed Tibi and Ayman Odeh are Israeli Arab politicians.
A spokesman for Menendez declined to comment in response to a press request from Fox News Digital. The U. S. Department of State The U. S. Department of Justice responded to a question from the media.
However, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. , who is pro-Israel, tweeted: “As Israel heads toward another election in November, I urge Israeli political leaders of all political persuasions to ostracize extremists like Ben-Gvir. The prospects run counter to Israel’s basic principles of a democratic and Jewish state. “
While Ben-Gvir’s supporters say he has reformed his ways, his appeal has spread to the middle of Israeli politics, according to Professor Tamar Hermann, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. “He [Ben-Gvir] remains an outcast in the middle [and] on the left. “Hermann also said he had been legitimized through Netanyahu and other right-wing politicians.
Herguyn said that Netanyahu helped integrate Ben-Gvir in the last election by pushing the concept that “this guy can be a Knesset member,” and this legitimization through the former prime minister was “critical in the eyes of everyone who they vote. ” “Ben-Gvir is not at the bottom of Israeli politics because of the radicalization that occurred” after May 2021, Herguyn said.
In May 2021, Hamas terrorists smuggled rockets into the Jewish state as Arabs rebelled in Israeli cities, adding arson attacks on synagogues. According to Hermann, the events of May 2021 provoked radicalization among Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews.
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Ben-Gvir enjoys significantly among ultra-Orthodox voters, most commonly Sephardim, who are “very enthusiastic” about his message that “appeals to the chauvinistic perspectives of Jews in the State of Israel,” Hermann said. strong leader. “
In August defeated, polls across Israel’s 3 major TV channels revealed that Ben-Gvir’s party could win between 8 and 9 seats in Israel’s parliament if elections were held immediately. vote, according to Israeli public experts like Hermann.
Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the devout Zionist Party, which formed an electoral bloc with Ben-Gvir, told Israeli media that Ben-Gvir had positioned himself to be a chief minister in the next government.
“I hope we will be the third largest in the State of Israel,” Smotrich said.
When asked about the reported dispute, Yishai Fleisher, Ben-Gvir’s spokesperson for English-language media, told Fox News Digital: “I think a strong, Jewish, proud, national, patriotic Israel is smart for the U. S. -Israel relationship. Everyone understands the demanding situations of jihadism and the erosion of national identity. This is what Ben-Gvir represents, and the other people of Israel think that way. “
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Fleisher said Menendez’s considerations are unjustified: “Moreover, it doesn’t seem entirely fair that there’s that air of interference. What will help is mutual support, mutual acceptance as true and mutual respect for each other’s democratic processes. Just as Israel needs to see a strong America, I’m sure other Americans need to see a strong Israel. “
Fleisher, who is also a spokesman for the Jewish network in Hebron, a city close to where Ben Gvir resides, also said his candidate later apologized for Rabin’s incident, adding that Ben-Gvir had matured.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Benjamin Weinthal reports on Israel, Iran, Syria, Turkey and Europe for Fox News Digital. Benjamin has written articles for the Wall Street Journal, The Jerusalem Post, Foreign Policy, Haaretz, Forbes, and the New York Post. You can Benjamin on Twitter @BenWeinthal.