Haaretz: March of the flags… Review the danger behind of Ben-Gvir’s Jewish bullying

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is determined to escalate security tensions in the Middle East and is using every tool in his arsenal to foment war on additional fronts, as if the existing fronts and the existing military and diplomatic challenges Israel faces were inadequate.

Ben-Gvir insists on holding the annual flag parade in Jerusalem along its usual combustible route, through the Damascus Gate in the old City, and is expected to participate in it himself with his activists to ensure the desired provocations occur.

This is exactly what Israel needs now, a festival of ugly Jewish thuggery, in which hundreds of angry young Jews, mostly from the religious Zionist movement, seek to create provocations by chanting racist songs and slogans in the heart of the Old City, such as “Shuafat burns,” “Death to Arabs” and “Let their village burn”.

“The desire of our arsonist-obsessed minister to provoke provocations cannot be explained,” according to the newspaper, which quoted him as saying in an interview with the Israeli Army Radio, “We’ll walk through Damascus Gate and go up to the Temple Mount against their will… We’ve to hurt them in the place that matters most to them, and we have to come and say that the Temple Mount is ours and Jerusalem is ours”.

The real problem, however, isn’t Ben-Gvir, but the person who legitimized Kahanism and handed over the most sensitive cabinet ministry to such a dangerous and incompetent person, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who decided to leave Ben-Gvir in this sensitive position, giving him responsibility and authority over Israel’s internal security.

Nothing can atone for Netanyahu’s series of disasters through his flawed policies and poisoned leadership, and he could have ordered a change in the course of the march, but as usual, he chose evil over good.

Haaretz reported that Ben-Gvir is a dangerous man who wasn’t supposed to be given any ministerial powers, let alone control of the police, and that hope remains for Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai, who has spoken publicly about the irresponsibility of his minister, to order the police not to allow Jewish thugs and maniacs to start fires by provoking riots and harming the city’s residents.