Ben-Gvir comes to Washington

I read last week that four members of Congress met Israel’s national security minister Ben-Gvir in his recent visit to the United States.

I wonder what verb I should choose. ‘Met’ is safe. Dare I write ‘welcomed’ or ‘greeted?’ The four congressmembers posted no encomia to Ben-Gvir on their house.gov web sites, but photos of their encounters are online. A Forward article shows Ohio congressman Jim Jordan offering a manly handshake, shirt sleeve rolled up to expose sinewy forearm, fitting for a former NCAA wrestling champion. Another shows Brian Mast accepting a menorah.

Have a look. Note the congressmens’ expressions. Those look like ‘welcomes,’ don’t they?

I mentioned Ben-Gvir in my United States of Israel post. His U.S. visit was controversial. Last November, eighty-eight members of Congress asked Biden to sanction Ben-Gvir and fellow far-right Israel minister Bezalel Smotrich under Executive Order 14115, which would have barred him from entering the U.S. Angry protest groups met his appearances in New Haven, Brooklyn and at the Capitol. Videos of Ben-Gvir’s clashes with Capitol protesters are online.

Transitophile is not a political blog — in fact, barely qualifies these days as any kind of blog, given the infrequency of my updates. Still, I think I can provide some perspective on Ben-Gvir’s congressional reception that I haven’t yet read elsewhere.

Until 2020, Ben-Gvir decorated his living room with a photo of Brooklyn-born zionist extremist Baruch Goldstein, who slaughtered twenty-nine Palestinians praying at a Hebron mosque. I feel safe in categorizing the murders as race-based; Wikipedia lists Goldstein in that unenviable category.

The United States has also produced racist mass murderers. In 2019, Patrick Crusius drove six hundred miles to murder twenty-three Latinos at an El Paso Walmart. In 2022, Payton Gendron killed ten African-American shoppers at a Buffalo supermarket. I scratch the recent surface.

The closest U.S. equivalent of Ben-Gvir’s Ministry of National Security in Israel likely would be the Department of Homeland Security, now led by Kristi Noem. I am not an admirer of Ms. Noem, but am confident that she hasn’t decorated her living room with photos of a racist American rampage killer. It wouldn’t shock me, however, if an elected official of a small town in the U.S. hinterlands were to do so.

A few questions:

(♦) How would you feel about a EU leader who would be photographed accepting a gift from or shaking the hand of a visiting U.S. politician who had adorned his home with a photo of Patrick Crusius or Payton Gendron? Would you feel pleased by such a photo? Offended? Deeply offended? Would you regard that EU leader as just, wise, mature, a good candidate to help steer the Ship of State? Or would you think that the attainment of leadership by such a person augured nothing good for the European Union?

(♦) How would your opinion of the United States change if the U.S. had stooped low enough to appoint a Department of Homeland Security secretary who would decorate her or his private residence with a photo of a mass murderer?

(♦) What do you think Ben-Gvir’s status as Minister of National Security says about Israel’s current leadership?