Ben Gvir on opposition demand he stays out of police command center: ‘I’ll sit there whenever I want’

At Ben Gurion Airport’s Terminal 3, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir tells Zman Yisrael, the Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, that protesters are “trying to blackmail us with threats, protests, and blocked roads that will only be opened if there is no reform. It won’t matter. The reform will pass by the end of the month.”

Turning to attempts by opposition leaders to have him barred from sitting in the police command center, Ben Gvir says, “I will sit there whenever I want, exactly like [his predecessor] Omer Barlev sat there.”

Last Wednesday, Ben Gvir visited Tel Aviv police headquarters, ahead of the next day’s planned “day of disruption” organized by anti-overhaul activist groups. Critics alleged his presence influenced policing decisions.

“I’ve been protesting all my life, I know what protests are,” says Ben Gvir, who holds multiple convictions from his time as a far-right provocateur activist prior to his entrance to political life.

“I can teach them what protests are. But there are people that have to reach the airport and you can’t prevent them,” Ben Gvir.