A far-rightist lined up for a senior post in the next Israeli government has sought to reassure minorities he will safeguard them, but he made no mention of Palestinians who feel especially threatened by his rise.
Having won an election last week, conservative former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most powerful likely coalition ally is Religious Zionism, a party led by ultranationalist Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank.
One of them, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has received intense scrutiny in Israel and abroad due to to past actions including membership in the outlawed militant group Kach, a criminal conviction for anti-Arab incitement, and the heckling of Gay Pride parades.
“I’ve grown up, I’ve moderated and I’ve come to understand that life is more complicated,” Ben-Gvir, 46, said in a front-page article in the biggest-circulation Israel Hayom newspaper.
The overture came a day after the Religious Zionism co-head drew centre-left ire by suggesting the state had a hand in the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish zealot bent on stopping territorial handovers to Palestinians.
Rightists were correct to protest Rabin’s policies, Bezalel Smotrich said at a memorial ceremony in parliament. He said security services had “used irresponsible manipulation, which to this day has not been fully exposed, to encourage the murderer”.
Read the article by Dan Williams in The West Australian.