US officials: The Biden administration rules out working with Ben-Gvir

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 Nov 2022 21:38

The refusal to work with Ben Gvir may represent a "decisive development in relations between Israel and the US" and will inevitably result in immense"negative consequences" on relations between Washington and "Tel Aviv".

US officials: The Biden administration rules out working with Ben Gvir

Israeli Walla! news agency reported on Wednesday that the Biden administration does not expect to work with the head of the Otzma Yehudit party, MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, if he is elected as a minister in Benjamin Netanyahu's new government.

The report states that the US administration's refusal to work with Ben-Gvir may represent a "decisive development in relations between Israel and the US" and will inevitably result in immense "negative consequences" on relations between Washington and "Tel Aviv".

Ben-Gvir had announced that he was interested in assuming the position of Minister of Internal Security, a position whose holder is charged with overlooking the Israeli police and policies around Al Quds' holy sites, including Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

The position of the Minister of Internal Security is a key position in the government as its holder participates extensively in a series of joint cooperation with the US in various political and civil matters, which include the status of occupied Al-Quds, the issuing of visas to the US, and other matters related to security.

The Israeli Elections Committee announced that the final voter turnout in the Knesset elections was 71.3%, the highest since 2015.

The results of the preliminary samples of the Israeli Knesset elections indicated that "right-wing" parties, led by the leader of the Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, won 62 seats.

Ben-Gvir often provoked the Palestinians by storming Al-Aqsa Mosque and wandering in its courtyards while guarded by Israeli occupation forces.

On October 23, international fashion company Zara received heavy backlash after franchise holder in "Israel", Joey Schwebel, met with members and head of the extremist Jewish Forces party Itamar Ben-Gvir, to support him in the upcoming Israeli elections.

On October 30, Israeli news media outlet Ynet reported that Ben-Gvir vowed to push for legislation to end the corruption trial against former Israeli occupation PM Netanyahu if he gets elected into the new government.