Zvika Fogel

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at the Israel Police Independence Day ceremony in Jerusalem April 20, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

May 8, 2023, 3:26 am

To end coalition rift, Ben Gvir said demanding West Bank op, unfreezing of overhaul

Report says minister also insisting on being part of security deliberations from which Netanyahu has so far sidelined him

By ToI Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of Otzma Yehudit in the Knesset in Jerusalem on March 6, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

May 6, 2023, 10:57 am

Otzma Yehudit makes fresh threats to quit government as row with Netanyahu escalates

Report says PM looking for ways to mollify his far-right partners, could advance a stalled bill that would implement death penalty for Palestinian terrorists

By ToI Staff

Otzma Yehudit MK Zvika Fogel leads the Knesset's National Security Committee meeting, in Jerusalem, February 27, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

March 14, 2023, 2:10 pm

Far-right MK probed by police for terror incitement after calling for ‘burnt Huwara’

Police say Otzma Yehudit’s Zvika Fogel to be questioned for saying ‘a closed, burnt Huwara — that’s what I want to see’ after extremist settlers rioted through West Bank town

By ToI Staff

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara speaks during a conference in Haifa on January 12, 2023. (Shir Torem/Flash90)

March 12, 2023, 11:31 am

Security forces’ immunity bill paused after AG warns of potential prosecution abroad

Police minister Ben Gvir accuses Baharav-Miara of ‘automatically’ opposing soldier-focused legislation, prompting Likud to delay its advancement by a week

By Carrie Keller-Lynn

Palestinians confront Israeli soldiers while waving Palestinian flags in the center of the town of Huwara, in the West Bank, March 2, 2023. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

March 8, 2023, 5:30 pm

Ministers to weigh legal immunity for troops; critics warn they risk Hague charges

Far-right Otzma Yehudit lawmaker’s bill would protect security forces from prosecution for any actions during operational activities

By ToI Staff

Chairman of the Religious Zionism party MK Bezalel Smotrich and party members visit Netiv Haavot neighborhood in Gush Etzion, West Bank, on October 26, 2022. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

March 2, 2023, 3:16 am

US prods PM to condemn Smotrich’s ‘repugnant, disgusting’ call to wipe out Huwara

State Department says ‘abhorrent’ remarks will incite violence, opening fresh rift weeks before finance minister is slated to fly to Washington for Israel Bonds meeting

By Jacob Magid

Finance Minister and Minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a conference hosted by The Marker on March 1, 2023. (Screenshot: Twitter; Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

March 1, 2023, 3:21 pm

Israel should ‘wipe out’ Palestinian town of Huwara, says senior minister Smotrich

‘Huwara needs to be wiped out. State of Israel should do it,’ top Netanyahu ally says, days after settlers rampaged through West Bank town following deadly terror attack

By Michael Bachner

March 1, 2023, 1:29 pm

Police to probe far-right MK for remarks backing violent West Bank settler rampage

Investigation comes after Otzma Yehudit’s Zvika Fogel said ‘a closed, burnt Huwara – that’s what I want to see’ after deadly riot by extremists

By Michael Horovitz

Settlers pray as cars and homes burn in the West Bank town of Huwara on February 26, 2023. (Screenshot/Twitter; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

February 27, 2023, 11:40 am

‘We need burning villages’: Coalition lawmaker backs unprecedented settler rampage

With a Palestinian man killed, cars, homes torched in revenge for fatal terror attack, National Security Committee head says: ‘A closed, burnt Huwara – that’s what I want to see’

By Michael Bachner

MK Itamar Ben Gvir, left, and Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai at a special Knesset debate, on December 14, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

February 17, 2023, 10:54 pm

Police chief vows not to resign after MK in Ben Gvir’s party warns of dismissal

Shabtai says national security minister sets policy but enforcement at discretion of officers in the field, as far-right lawmaker urges him to fall in line with government policy

By ToI Staff

(L) Former Attorney General Avicahi Mandelblit speaks to Channel 12's 'Uvda' in a program aired February 9, 2023. (R) MK Simcha Rothman, head of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, leads a committee meeting at the Knesset on February 8, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90; Screen capture/Channel 12)

February 10, 2023, 2:12 pm

MK Rothman calls to jail former AG Mandelblit for ‘incitement’ over interview

Rothman, an architect of the controversial judicial overhaul, slams ex-AG’s warning that bitter friction over the move will end in bloodshed; calls Mandelblit ‘a disgrace’

By ToI Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces his plans to combat cost of living, at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on January 11, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

January 12, 2023, 12:27 am

Defending judicial remake, Netanyahu hints at limits on protests against government

PM insists legal overhaul will be advanced responsibly, equates far-right coalition MK’s call to arrest opposition chiefs with signs by protesters likening government to Nazis

By ToI Staff

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir arrives for a weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, on January 8, 2023. (RONEN ZVULUN / POOL / AFP)

January 11, 2023, 8:37 pm

Ben Gvir: Israel a democracy, but I understand calls to lock up opposition chiefs

Otzma Yehudit lawmakers defend fellow party member who called for placing Lapid and Gantz in cuffs, saying it was only meant metaphorically, and that other side’s remarks are worse

By ToI Staff

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at an Otzma Yehudit faction meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 9, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

January 11, 2023, 5:58 am

Ben Gvir rejects party member’s call to arrest ‘treasonous’ opposition heads

Minister tells MKs police won’t go after political opponents; Netanyahu: Democracies don’t arrest opposition chiefs, but civil disobedience calls, Nazi comparisons unacceptable

By ToI Staff

File: President Isaac Herzog at the Federation of Local Authorities conference in Tel Aviv, December 6, 2022. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

January 11, 2023, 12:08 am

Herzog urges lawmakers to simmer down as rhetoric around judicial reforms boils over

President reportedly asks justice minister to ‘soften’ judicial overhaul plan, vows to protect values laid out in Declaration of Independence, which he says should guide nation

By ToI Staff