Itamar Ben-Gvir

Itamar Ben-Gvir was born in 1976 in Mevaseret Zion

Ben-Gvir was born on 6 May 1976 and grew up in Mevaseret Zion. His father, Tzadok, was born in Jerusalem to parents from Iraq, and his mother, Shoshana, was born in Iraqi Kurdistan and was active in the Irgun. He attended the ORT high school in Jerusalem and began becoming religious at age 12.

During the First Intifada he joined the Moledet youth movement and later Kach, where he became youth coordinator. He was not drafted into the IDF. In 1995 he appeared on television with an emblem taken from Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's car, weeks before Rabin was assassinated.

Many indictments were filed against him over the years. He was convicted several times, including in 2007 for incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organization. His criminal records were erased in January 2021.

He studied law at Ono Academic College. After appeals against the Israel Bar Association, he passed the bar exams in 2012. As a lawyer he defended far-right Jewish activists suspected of terrorism and hate crimes.

He entered the Knesset in 2021 on a joint list. After the 2022 election he became minister of national security. He resigned on 19 January 2025 over the Gaza ceasefire deal and returned to the government 2 months later.