National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived Monday night in the Bedouin town of Tuba-Zangariyya in the Galilee for a “governance” tour and ended up in an embarrassing confrontation on camera.
A resident approached him and said: “I have one question for you. Can you tell me where you served in the army?” Ben-Gvir, who is known to have not served in the IDF because the military refused to enlist him, replied: “I am the only person in the State of Israel who went on a hunger strike.” The resident asked again: “Where were you in the army? Answer me.” Ben-Gvir replied: “If you don’t want to listen, then there’s no need.” The resident shouted at him: “You’re a coward.”
Crime in Tuba-Zangariyya is characterized by violent struggles between criminal organizations. In recent years, many cases of protection rackets and extortion have been reported involving various parties across the Galilee and northern Israel. At the same time, criminal disputes between offenders have led to a series of murders and widespread weapons trafficking. On the other hand, many residents of the town have enlisted over the years for meaningful service in the IDF.
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Itamar visits Bedouin town of Tuba-Zangariyya under cover of night
(Photo Hassan Shaalan)
Residents who noticed Ben-Gvir shouted at him: “Why do you come at night? Are you a coward? Get out of here and leave. We’re not afraid of people like you.”
Local council head attorney Mu’id al-Heib also confronted the minister. “You are an unwanted figure, you are a rabbit, you are a failed minister,” al-Heib told Ben-Gvir. He added: “Go put on your show in Hebron, go do it with your hilltop youth. You are a graduate of the Kahanist school. You have no place in the government, you have no place in the Knesset.”
The council head continued shouting at the minister: “You failure, go deal with crime and don’t put on shows for us at night. You are an unwanted figure, a failure. In the next election, God willing, we will throw you out and send you home. We will have a successful public security minister. You are a convicted criminal, you had 52 indictments. You failed. Go put on your shows for the hilltop youth, you failure.” Ben-Gvir, for his part, replied: “Eat your heart out.”
Ben-Gvir later entered a shawarma restaurant in the area, where residents also gathered and shouted at him. One of them told the minister: “You worked hard and came to eat? You only know how to make TikTok videos, you are the TikTok minister. In the next election, when you’re sitting at home, open a TikTok channel and make a lot of money from it. Coming here to pose in front of normal people in a village like this makes no sense.”