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Itamar Ben-Gvir

Itamar Ben-Gvir

-100

Net harmfulFormula-derived score

The through-line is police command and holy-site escalation: a 3 January 2023 Temple Mount visit in week one, ceasefire-leverage resignation and return, and 10 June 2025 UK-and-allies personal sanctions. A living minister is scored on those instruments, not as a unique later casualty integer. The largest negative contribution to the formula-derived score is “UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich” (2025).

Top harm

UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich

−190 pts

Otzma Yehudit Kahanist national-security ministryTemple Mount status-quo pressurepolice politicisation treated as compatible with a coalition arithmetic veto

Impact

Biggest harms and offsets: signed contributions to the formula-derived score, ranked by size.

Biggest harms

Lowers the score
Editorial assessment (context, not the score)

The heaviest documented costs sit on police command plus holy-site escalation, not on a personality adjective.

First, appointment. On 29 December 2022 he was sworn minister of national security (Knesset (opens in a new tab)). Prior convictions for incitement to racism and support for a terrorist organisation are identity of how he entered.

Second, Temple Mount. On 3 January 2023 he visited for about fifteen minutes in his first week (NYT (opens in a new tab); Reuters (opens in a new tab)). Jordan and others condemned. Netanyahu said the status quo was unchanged. The visit passed without incident that morning.

Third, partner sanctions. On 10 June 2025 the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway listed him and Smotrich for alleged repeated incitement of settler violence (Washington Post (opens in a new tab)). The United States did not join. Quote 10 June.

Benjamin Netanyahu is the live counterpart. Confidence is high on appointment dates, the 3 January visit, and the 10 June listings, and medium where later High Court removal petitions sit. This paragraph is an assessment of those paths, not a substitute number.

Indicators affected

Sorted by the size of this person’s signed contribution. The observed state is the indicator’s own reading, not this person’s doing.

Accountability & contradictions

Claims against the record, the type of responsibility, and what is disputed.

Responsibility

What could change this assessment

  • Lifetime coverage has not been assessed: the record reflects stored facts only (2022–2025).

Causal path

Person → Fact → Driver → Indicator. Select a path to inspect its factors; the full network opens on demand.

  1. PersonItamar Ben-Gvir
  2. FactUK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich
  3. DriverBen-Gvir national security ministry and holy-site escalation
  4. IndicatorPolitical Stability and Absence of Violence Gap from the Highest Governance Score
−190 pts

Contribution size 1 · Responsibility 0.5 · Fact impact 1 · Driver weight 1 · Driver → indicator −0.59 · Indicator importance 0.8 · Deviation factor −3 · Confidence 1

  1. PersonItamar Ben-Gvir
  2. FactNational security minister Ben-Gvir visits Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif in his first week
  3. DriverBen-Gvir national security ministry and holy-site escalation
  4. IndicatorPolitical Stability and Absence of Violence Gap from the Highest Governance Score
−50 pts

Contribution size 1 · Responsibility 0.5 · Fact impact 1 · Driver weight 1 · Driver → indicator −0.59 · Indicator importance 0.8 · Deviation factor −3 · Confidence 1

Timeline

The most relevant dated facts, newest first.

  1. 10 June 2025 · Ben-Gvir national security ministry and holy-site escalation

    UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway sanction Ben-Gvir and Smotrich
    −190 pts

  2. 3 January 2023 · Civic Space

    National security minister Ben-Gvir visits Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif in his first week
    −50 pts

  3. 29 December 2022 · Ben-Gvir national security ministry and holy-site escalation

    Itamar Ben-Gvir is sworn minister of national security in the Thirty-Seventh Government

Evidence & methodology

How the record is sourced and how the score is derived.

3 of 3 linked facts verified, drawing on 3 distinct sources (2022–2025).

Sources include Government of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister's Office of Israel, Knesset.

Sources

  1. 1.UK government neighbourhood — 10 June 2025 partner sanctions on Ben-Gvir and SmotrichGovernment of the United Kingdom
  2. 2.Prime Minister’s Office — statements after 7 October 2023Prime Minister's Office of Israel
  3. 3.Knesset — Thirty-Seventh Government, Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich from 29 December 2022Knesset

The score is formula-derived (Factrail formula v1, version 1.0.0), not an editorial verdict. Read the methodology.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed · Sources: 3

Expert analysis

An excerpt; the full analysis opens on request.

Identity and office

Itamar Ben-Gvir has been Israel’s minister of national security since 29 December 2022, except January–March 2025. As of September 2026 he is a living minister. Benjamin Netanyahu is the live prime minister. This run does not mint a cleaner twin.

He is not a worship-freedom saint. He was convicted in earlier Israeli courts of incitement to racism and of supporting a terrorist organisation — completed criminal instruments that sat as the reason petitions tried to block the 2022 appointment. The High Court did not block it.

On 3 January 2023, in his first week, he visited the Temple Mount / Haram al-Sharif for about fifteen minutes under heavy guard (NYT (opens in a new tab)). An Israeli official told Reuters the walk complied with non-Muslim visit-but-not-pray rules. Jordan said the visit violated international law. The Palestinian Authority called it an unprecedented provocation. Netanyahu said ministers including Gilad Erdan had gone up and that the status quo was unchanged. Store both. The visit passed without incident that morning.

On 19 January 2025 he resigned over a Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal. On 19 March 2025 he returned when fighting resumed, despite the attorney general’s position that he could not be re-appointed. This page does not invent 7 October death totals.

On 10 June 2025 the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway imposed travel bans and asset freezes on him and Bezalel Smotrich for alleged repeated incitement of settler violence (Washington Post (opens in a new tab)). Later France and others added neighbourhood listings. The United States did not sanction the sitting ministers. Quote 10 June.

A 2026 expanded High Court panel on remaining in office is a neighbouring petition, not a completed removal on this page.

Documented benefits

The offsets that a commissioned-positive portrait would lead with are real only where dated. A competitive 2022 Knesset entry is identity.

Contributions and limits of responsibility

Netanyahu appointed and re-appointed. Police escorted the 3 January visit. Partner governments listed. He took the ministry, made the visit, resigned and returned. Sharing 7 October as parent is not a reason to hang a unique death total on this node. Sharing Smotrich’s dual hat is not a reason to mint him.

Causal chain through facts

29 December 2022 initiates ben-gvir-national-security as a completed police-command appointment. 3 January 2023 strengthens that file as a dated holy-site escalation. 10 June 2025 strengthens it as completed partner sanctions. None hang on territorial-revisionism, ukraine-war, or Soviet-scope rows.

What the score does not say

This page does not promise an exact number. Direction is negative: week-one holy-site visit, police politicisation neighbourhood, 10 June 2025 listings. Bezalel Smotrich remains a name on this file, not an invented biography.

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