IDF banishes right-wing leader from Gaza
Southern Command head orders Itamar Ben-Gvir’s expulsion after he and 30 other right-wing activists hold unauthorized demonstration near IDF base in Gush Katif in support of insubordinate soldier
The IDF has banished right-wing leader Itamar Ben-Gvir from Gaza.
Ben-Gvir, a leader of the anti-pullout group that has barricaded itself inside the Maoz Hayam hotel in Gush Katif, was banished from Gaza under the IDF Southern Command CO Maj. Gen. Dan Harel’s decree.
Harel has issued another order that limits Ben-Gvir’s movement in the West Bank.
Ben-Gvir’s expulsion came after he and some 30 other settlers held a demonstration in support of insubordinate soldier Avi Beiber in front of the IDF’s Gush Katif Division headquarters.
Corporal Avi Beiber was sentenced by deputy Gaza Division commander Col. David Menachem to 56 days in prison for not participating in a house demolition operation at the settlement of Shirat Yam.
Police forces arrived at the scene and ordered the demonstrators to leave the area, claiming the demonstration was unauthorized and that the settlers were blocking the main road leading to the IDF base.
Ben-Gvir was interrogated under warning for disorderly conduct. During his interrogation he said the demonstration was legal as less than 50 people participated in it, but the police and IDF were not convinced.
Immediately following his interrogation Ben-Gvir told Ynet, “They are after me. They are after us. They are depriving us of our legal right to protest for the soldier who refused to evacuate Jews. I am not afraid of them.”
'Hotel only an example'
The police have been gathering incriminating evidence against Ben-Gvir for some time now.
On Monday he lead an operation in which some 600 pullout objectors from Jerusalem, Sderot, Ramat-Gan and Gush Katif arrived at the Maoz Hayam hotel and barricaded themselves in the hotel for fear security forces would raid it and evict the settlers from the premises.
“The arrival of hundreds (of pullout objectors) serves as proof to the IDF Southern Command CO and the IDF that they cannot get us out of here,” Ben-Gvir told Ynet early Tuesday.
“We are acting in accordance with the law; the hotel was not rented out by us. The people who arrived here tonight truly believe that only by the power of the masses we can stop the disengagement. Maoz Hayam is only an example of the battle we must wage.”
A Beer Magistrates Court decided to release Ben-Gvir from police custody and have him placed under house arrest for five days.
Following his release, Ben-Gvir said, “I will continue to fight, and with added courage. Instead of one Ben-Gvir in Gush Katif, they will get dozens, if not hundreds of Ben-Gvirs, who will continue to fight the prime minister’s crazy decisions.
