The Shift: Pro-Israel groups condemn Ben-Gvir comments while embracing his vision

In a recent interview, Israel’s racist, far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, declared that the country should be killing dozens of Palestinians every day.

“It’s no secret, I disagree with the prime minister,” said Ben-Gvir, referencing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent reduction of air strikes. “I think targeted assassinations should be carried out in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night.”

“Not just those who pose an immediate threat,” he added. “There are people there who are not worthy of life. They shouldn’t live. They’re not even people.”

These comments have justifiably been condemned, but some of that criticism is emanating from curious places.

Take the American Jewish Committee (AJC). Ben-Gvir’s statements do not reflect the policy of the State of Israel and should be condemned by all who care about Israel’s future,” tweeted the group.

But of course, they quote obviously do reflect the state’s policy.

You can start with the fact that Israel has killed over 73,000 Palestinians since October 7, or the fact that every major human rights organization has declared their actions in Gaza as a genocide.

Beyond that, it’s clear Ben-Gvir isn’t voicing some rogue stance when he calls for more death and destruction. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says that Israel would be justified in starving 2 million Gazans. Knesset member Nissim Vaturi says Gaza must burn. Netanyahu has compared Palestinians to the Amalek, the Biblical enemies of the Israelites in the Bible that God asked King Saul to exterminate.

These lawmakers are in step with the vast majority of Israeli society. A 2025 University of Pennsylvania poll found that that 82% of Israelis want to expel Gazans, and 47% support killing all Palestinians in Gaza.

That’s why a group like the AJC, which has repeatedly denied that Israel is committing a genocide, would want to frame Ben-Gvir’s comments as some sort of outlier. His saying the quiet part out loud makes the work of pro-Israel groups slightly more difficult.

The same can be said of the Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), a lobbying organization that spends its money targeting Democrats who want the United States to stop supplying Israel with weapons.

“Ben-Gvir’s call to kill 30–40 people in Gaza nightly and his claim that they are ‘not even people’ is heinous and indefensible,” said the group, in a tweet that can only be understood as kayfabe. “As he says, this is not Israeli government policy. Prime Minister Netanyahu should reiterate that point and expel him from the government.”

This fantasy was also conjured up by the pro-Israel Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV).

“These comments are horrific and completely indefensible. Anyone advocating for acts of violence against innocent civilians should not be in an official government position,” she wrote. “I believe Ben Gvir must resign, and I urge Prime Minister Netanyahu to denounce these remarks and reaffirm to the world that this is not the government’s position.”

She will do nothing when he doesn’t.

Omar Baddar summed the situation up succinctly.

“What’s ‘extremist’ about Ben Gvir is that he says out loud what Israel’s mainstream political establishment prefers to do quietly under the false pretense of ‘fighting terrorism,” he wrote. “At the height of the genocide, Israel was murdering a far greater daily number of children alone.”

Woke 1

“Woke 1” has entered the discourse.

It began after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) appeared on ABC’s This Week. She was asked about old tweets that Francesca Hong, who was running for Wisconsin Governor at the time, had made about canceling Thanksgiving.

“I have a local city councilman who has this saying,” said AOC, referencing tweets from NYC Council member Chi Ossé. “Woke 1 was crazy.”

Since that statement, a narrative has developed: progressive Democrats are going back on the policy positions they espoused during the height of the COVID pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests.

The supporting evidence for this varies from situation to situation. Darializa Avila Chevalier deleting some old tweets doesn’t feel like the same thing as a lawmaker going back on previous support for defunding the police.

In the case of AOC, it seems clear that she has higher political aspirations, and pivots are made in that context. “She’s carrying baggage from the 2020 era of cultural progressivism that some Democrats say is an obstacle to a future presidential run,” declares a recent Axios piece on the subject.

This trend is understandably alarming to activists, especially those who have fought for abolition. It signals a turn away from the social justice commitments of BLM and a possible blueprint for abandoning the Palestine movement.

“Watching some progressives on here talk about ‘Woke 1,’ as though what they’re dismissing and rolling their eyes at wasn’t a movement born out of the lynching of Black Americans by police,” says Sana Saeed. “The way they laugh away the supposed semantic ‘surpluses’ of 2020 onward is exactly how they will whittle away anti-genocide sentiments and positions for the sake of the Democratic Party.”

Some backlash to “Woke 1” seems less about rejecting previous policy and more about rejecting the weaponization of identity politics, which was used against the left by some. There was also the cynical tokenism of Corporate America, which many justifiably mocked.

However, as Zito Madu points out in an excellent piece at The Nation, “wokeness” is as often unfairly framed as a caricature before it is openly dismissed. Detractors focus on “white privilege” discourse, racial awareness training, and land acknowledgments.

“Not to say that some of these things aren’t annoying. But the irony is that they are examples of the urgent material demands of the movement being siphoned away by elites, not evidence of what organizers actually wanted. Land acknowledgements are easier than reparations,” writes Madu. “Asking for more representation in elite colleges is necessary, but it is not as important as addressing overpolicing and racial profiling. The Democrats kneeling in supposed solidarity while wearing kente cloths were making a symbolic gesture meant to distract from actual police reform—the physical equivalent of pushing for more body cameras, despite endless evidence that they are ineffective. But no, it was all crazy.”

“You’d think that millions of people in 2020 just woke up and demanded that everyone needed to make land acknowledgements and call people by their correct pronouns or otherwise face a firing line,” he continues. “You could also be forgiven for feeling insane yourself for remembering that the protests of 2020 started because the world saw a long video of George Floyd being slowly killed by a police officer while another stood guard—and that the killing was another one in a long history of police killing Black people, then justifying their actions through the often-used excuses that allowed them to escape accountability.”

Odds & Ends

The Mecca Pact is the latest sign of the U.S.’s declining influence in the Middle East

Progressive Israel-critic Angie Nixon scores upset victory in Florida Senate primary

Voters are breaking with the Israel lobby faster than Washington can catch up

Electronic Intifada: US judge tosses Harvard case branding Gaza solidarity as anti-Jewish terror

The Intercept: Israel Justified Its Wars by Calling Enemies “Crazy.” Now, the Warning Signs All Apply to Israel.

The Hill: Moskowitz wards off DSA-backed challenger in Florida primary for toss-up House seat 

Responsible Statecraft: Israel creates fake think tank in likely attempt to dupe AI chatbots

Jewish Currents: The Limits of Diasporism

New York Times: AIPAC Targets Progressive Democrat in Race to Replace Swalwell

Drop Site: Judge Throws Out “Political Prosecution” of Pro-Palestinian University of Michigan Student

Haaretz: The American Jewish Establishment Is Defending an Israel That No Longer Exists

Zeteo: Trump’s Iran War Has Burned Through Well Over 90% of Key Long-Range Missiles

Common Dreams: ‘Deranged Behavior’: Marco Rubio Slammed for US Sanctions on ICC President

Al Jazeera: ‘We will not allow Gaza to be rebuilt’ until Hamas disarms, Kushner says