Ben-Gvir Gets Control Over Israel’s National Guard in Exchange for Judicial Reform Pause

Details on the new security force that will operate under the National Security Ministry are yet to be defined, but the deal has sparked serious debate  

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that he would oversee the creation of a National Guard to operate under the National Security Ministry in exchange for Ben-Gvir’s green light to pause the government’s controversial judicial overhaul. Ben-Gvir, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, reportedly had threatened to leave the coalition – which could have led to the collapse of the Netanyahu-led government – if the judicial reform legislation was halted.

Massive nationwide protests against the judicial reform erupted on Sunday evening and continued throughout Monday after Netanyahu said he would fire Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for publicly calling for the halt of the reform. The protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and around the country were joined by a general strike – including several of the country’s most important institutions and companies such as Ben Gurion International Airport, the Histadrut General Federation of Workers in Israel, hospitals and clinics, shopping malls and theaters, and even McDonald’s.

The mass countrywide strike forced Netanyahu to announce a decision to postpone the judicial reform legislation rapidly making its way through Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. However, the prime minister faced pressure from within his coalition to not stop the legislative push. Early on Monday, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who were among the government members opposed to postponing the legislation, agreed to the move. But Netanyahu reportedly spent the rest of the day negotiating with Ben-Gvir for his approval.

In return for accepting the legislative pause without quitting the coalition, Ben-Gvir was promised the creation of a National Guard security body operating under his National Security Ministry, to be approved during this coming Sunday’s cabinet meeting, according to a letter signed by Netanyahu that Ben-Gvir made public late Monday.

Dr. Meir Elran, a senior researcher and director of the Domestic research cluster of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) at Tel Aviv University, told The Media Line that the decision to create a National Guard was already approved in June 2022 under the government of former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. “The process of establishing the National Guard is going on presently, and this is just a reiteration of the same decision that was already made before by the previous government,” he explained.

The creation of a National Guard was approved a year after Operation Guardian of the Walls that took place in May 2021, during which the level of violence escalated in mixed Jewish and Arab Israeli cities.

Elran says that this body should be created by expanding the country’s Border Police, and that its relationship to the National Security Ministry should be the same as that of the Israel Police.

Currently, he explained, the “functional and operational responsibilities of the national police are characterized and defined by law. The commissioner of the police is responsible for the law.”

The government minister is responsible for “bringing budgets from the national budget, and being responsible for the coordination of different things, but he is not the commander of the national police,” Elran added.

“I think that Minister Ben-Gvir or any other kind of minister of internal security has to have the same kind of responsibilities that he has over the police,” he said.

Elran does not believe that the National Guard will be subordinate to Ben-Gvir, but if it happens, he said, “I think it’s the wrong decision because it has to be a law enforcement agency, so it is subordinate to the law, exactly the same way as the national police is subordinate to the law.”

There is much debate over the deal struck between Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir. The Media Line contacted several Israeli universities for comment on the subject, but their experts were hesitant discuss the topic yet.

Moshe Karadi, a former Israel Police commissioner, described the National Guard to be formed for Ben-Gvir as “a private militia for his political needs.” Israeli lawmaker Efrat Rayten of the Labor Party tweeted: “Yesterday the prime minister fired the minister of defense, and today he is setting up a private army for Itamar Ben-Gvir.”

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel said in a statement: “There is no place in a democratic country for phalanxes and militias whose power and command will be exercised by a political party. Wagner’s force will not arise and will not exist in the State of Israel. The masses of Israelis who took to the streets to demonstrate for democracy will not allow fascist police forces to be established in the State of Israel to serve the dictatorship. In the Israeli democracy, there will be only one army and only one police, and their loyalty will be subject to the rule of law and not to the leader.”

It is crucial to establish a clear chain of command and set specific objectives for the National Guard’s tasks

Dr. Omer Dostri, a specialist in strategy and national security who works as a researcher at both The Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and the Israel Defense and Security Forum (Habithonistim), told The Media Line that such a body is definitely needed.

“The events during Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021 highlighted the need for a dedicated security force capable of handling domestic violence and terror, particularly in the face of riots and attacks by Israeli Arabs against Jews in mixed Israeli cities,” Dostri said. He added that neither the police nor the military is equipped to handle such situations, as their roles are primarily focused on dealing with criminal activity or external violence against the state, respectively.

Dostri said that Ben-Gvir “places a strong emphasis on improving governance and enhancing personal security for Israeli citizens. He sees the establishment of the National Guard as a valuable means of achieving these objectives.” He adds that Ben-Gvir is keen to bolster his political standing and gain greater authority in his role as National Security minister.

Police officials reportedly are unhappy with the decision to give Ben-Gvir authority over the new security force since, according to Dostri, “they are seeking to maintain control over the National Guard and retain command authority.”

Elran says that, from his perspective, the idea of creating a National Guard is a positive one. But, he adds, the real question is how it will be established, how it is will be structured and, especially, how will the National Guard be positioned in relation to other law enforcement agencies in Israel.

Dostri points out that there are certain challenges to the creation of the National Guard. Among them, he says, is recruitment, since such a body needs a large amount of personnel. This in turn will have financial implications, in order to provide weapons, training and ongoing education.

In addition, he said: “It is crucial to establish a clear chain of command and set specific objectives for the National Guard’s tasks,” and to define the guard’s specific powers and responsibilities.

Given such challenges, Dostri estimates that the process of establishing the National Guard as a distinct and independent entity will take at least two years. In the interim period, he said: “The Israel Border Police is expected to fulfill the role of the National Guard.”