Ben-Gvir mocks Israeli attack on Iran, sparks official, public outrage

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen
19 Apr 2024 21:18
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The Israeli Police Minister calls the aggression on Iran a "farce".

Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir giving an address to Israeli military personnel in occupied Palestine, in May 2023 (AFP)

Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir sparked a social media outrage after mocking the Israeli attack on Iran, which reportedly took place during the early hours of Friday and targeted Tabriz and Isfahan.

Iranian officials confirmed that the attack was carried out with several small drones, launched from inside Iran, all of which were shot down by the air defenses.

In a post on X, the Minister posted a single word: "Farce!," in reference to the aggression.

Top Israeli officials, media personnel, and settlers, in addition to supporters of the entity worldwide, attacked his posts in the comments, with some saying that this word describes "his tenure as a Knesset member."

"Congratulations, you were able to describe in one word your entire tenure as Minister of National Failure and member of the Cabinet," said Mickey Levy, Knesset member and its former speaker.

"Itamar, you are a toddler and a brat and it is hopeless ... You represent the toddlers and brats, they deserve representation too," a chief editor of an Israeli news site responded.

"Shallow and silly keyboard hero," an Israeli journalist said in a comment under the minister's post.

Childish, ridiculous

Israeli news Channel 13 indicated that everyone in "Israel" is observing complete silence regarding what happened in Isfahan, "except for one minister and member of the cabinet, Ben-Gvir."

The outlet emphasized that officials in the Israeli political establishment are "angry with the minister," describing his comment as "reckless". It also quickly pointed out that it "does not constitute recognition of the attack," as the occupation entity did not publicly claim responsibility for the aggression.

In the same context, the channel's correspondent Lior Veroslavski pointed out that "Israel" did not officially adopt the attack, but its silence "did not prevent a swift response to Ben-Gvir."

Veroslavski added that senior ministers responded to the cabinet member, and some statements described him as "ridiculous, childish, and irresponsible," accusing him of "harming Israel and compromising its security for [social media] likes."

Sources in Ben-Gvir's circle "responded" to his critics, indicating that the officials themselves who attacked the minister "previously claimed decisively that Hamas was weakened, and they led us to where we are now."

Former Knesset member Abir Kara echoed Ben-Gvir's sentiment on the attack, saying that it showed that "Israel's deterrence is eroding, and it is losing many of its [power] cards."

Kara believed that "Israel should have responded directly on the night of the Iranian attack, by launching 40 missiles for every missile from Iran."

A political commentator on the Israeli Kan news channel, Gili Cohen, said that "Israel maintains complete silence to see how Iran will respond."

Cohen confirmed that "Israel has erred at least twice in assessing how Iran would respond to the assassination in Damascus and the response thereafter," adding that "Israel did not believe that Iran intended to respond from its territory."

Meanwhile, a military commentator on Channel 11, Itay Blumental, considered that the "most important" thing is the absolute silence in "Israel", with no comments from the security and military leadership and no special military instructions for the internal front.