Last week the official told Channel 12 that his right to freedom of movement is more important than that of the Palestinians: “My right, the right of my wife and my children to circulate on the roads of the West Bank (occupied territory) is more important than the right to freedom of movement of the Arabs; this is the reality, this is the truth. My right to life precedes their right to freedom of movement,” Ben-Gvir said.

There are many who work to maintain this reality, not only Ben-Gvir, estimated Tibi, who also assured that everyone in the right-wing government chaired by Benjamin Netanyahu supports this vision. The official also criticized the wave of criminal violence that plagues the Arab-Israeli community, made up of 1.9 million members, almost 21 percent of the total population of the country.

“Ben-Gvir grew up memorizing the saying ‘death to the Arabs’ for many years; now the Arabs are dying in front of him. I don’t think he sees it as a failure,” Tibi said. “The State can do more but does not want to. There is no doubt that Ben-Gvir is an agent of chaos,” he stressed.

The Minister has been charged over 50 times and convicted eight times for riots, vandalism and incitement to racism, and has a long list of provocative actions against Palestinians. Before taking up his current position, he set up an office several times in the past year in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, sparking clashes after protests by residents.

In June, the Palestinian government said his calls to launch a large-scale military operation in the West Bank to “kill thousands of terrorists” as aberrational and genocidal.

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