Israel’s Most Controversial Politician, with Itamar Ben-Gvir

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🗓️ 24 April 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

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Summary

There’s no more divisive Israeli public figure than Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir. Starting out his career as a Kahanist firebrand known for his controversial stances—like decorating his living room with a photograph of Baruch Goldstein, or working to free Yigal Amir, Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin—Ben-Gvir evolved from a political sideshow to kingmaker, winning several Knesset seats and joining Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. For some Israelis, he’s the strong-willed, strong-armed course correction after too many years of being too soft on terror. To many others, he’s an abomination, subverting the nation’s democratic values. Visiting New York this week, Ben-Gvir attended a live event moderated by Liel to talk about his past, his actions in office, and his vision for the future of the war against Hamas.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there and welcome back to Routless. I'm Leah Liebowitz. As you could hear, this is not an ordinary episode of this podcast. The noise you're hearing behind you is of a live event with a person who might be the most controversial person in the Jewish world, Israel's Minister of National Security, Itamar Benfiel.
0:38.0	The Shabtai Society out of Yale University hosted
0:41.3	Minister Benfier in the New York City,
0:43.2	tasking me to ask the minister a few questions.
0:45.3	Other journalists were present in the room as well.
0:47.3	You will hear some of their questions later.
0:49.5	Time was short outside where many protesters
0:53.4	shouting and trying to keep the ministers from having an
0:55.5	interview. But it seemed to us that people who agree with Minister Benfair, and more importantly,
1:01.0	people like me who don't always agree with Minister Benfair, ought to at least sit down and give
1:06.5	him a chance to talk, which is what we do in a vibrant democracy and what we do as Jews. Here then is
1:14.2	my conversation with Israel's Minister of National Security, Itamal Ben-Veyut. I'll ask my questions
1:19.7	in English. He answers in Hebrew and our friend Yishai Fleischer will translate for us. I hope you
1:26.1	enjoy this conversation. Good afternoon. My name is Navajo. I am a dermatologist in Wittown and Nalcina and Dartmouth.
1:37.3	I have been a member of Shabtai since I was at Yale Hospital many years ago. My husband was at Yale Law School, and it's really nice to be here today.
1:45.7	It's nice to see old faces.
1:47.8	It's nice to see new faces and really nice that you all came.
1:52.1	I was asked to introduce our speaker.
1:54.5	Itamar Benfier is a well-known and controversial figure.
1:57.8	He's a lawyer who graduated from Ono Academy College.
2:05.6	He represents his Outsma in a deed partyand, D, party as a member of Pinesas since 2022, and Syrac as the Minister of National Security since 2025.
2:09.6	He is a major figure in current Israel policy and in the current war, and that is why he is here today.
	...

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