Ben Gvir to release children’s book glorifying his racist ‘achievements’ in power
Israel’s far-right Jewish Power party is preparing to release a children’s book celebrating the “activities and achievements” of its leader, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
The party is planning to distribute the book to students outside educational institutions in order to target a key and expanding part of Ben Gvir’s electoral base: young Israelis.
Israeli media said the party printed the book “in accessible language adapted for children”.
Titled The Minister Who Didn’t Stop, the book will be launched at the party’s conference in Netanya on 1 September, coinciding with the start of the Israeli school year.
Ben Gvir’s office said: “We are proud to launch the children's book … and through it tell the children of Israel and the entire Israeli people the story of Minister Ben Gvir's tremendous achievements throughout his four years as minister of national security.”
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Support for Ben Gvir and Israel’s far right has grown sharply among young Jewish Israelis in recent years.
His younger supporters have greeted him at rallies with the anti-Palestinian chant “Your village should burn”, a chant that celebrates the destruction of Palestinian villages and seeks to drive Palestinians from their homes.
Research published by the Israel Democracy Institute found that 73 percent of Jewish Israelis aged 18 to 24 identified as right-wing, providing fertile ground for politicians such as Ben Gvir.
Some of Ben Gvir’s “tremendous achievements”, however, include becoming an international pariah.
At least 10 countries have barred him from entering over his record as a minister, while a Schengen listing has effectively shut him out of much of Europe.
His international isolation has also come to symbolise Israel’s broader pariah status, which it has earned through its genocide in Gaza and apartheid policies in the occupied West Bank.
A follower of Meir Kahane, an American-born Jewish supremacist, Ben Gvir has been convicted by Israeli courts of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation.
Earlier this month, Ben Gvir called on Israeli forces to kill “30 or 40” people in Gaza every night. He said some people there were “not worthy of life” and “not even people”.
When previously asked whether chanting “Death to Arabs” was morally wrong, Ben Gvir answered: “No. I don’t think so.”
His other “achievements” include introducing policies in Israeli prisons that human rights groups say amount to the starvation and torture of Palestinians.
Ben Gvir has personally ordered food reductions to worsen prison conditions. He has openly declared: “One of my top goals … is worsening the prisoners’ conditions.”
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