Israel’s ultranationalist far-right faction Jewish Power is moving forward with a provocative new outreach strategy targeting young Israelis: launching a children’s book that celebrates the controversial career and policy agenda of its leader, incumbent Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The illustrated publication, designed to reach a core and fast-growing segment of Ben Gvir’s voter base, will not be distributed through official Israeli educational institutions; instead, party organizers plan to hand out copies directly to young students outside school campuses to maximize grassroots exposure.
Israeli media reports confirm the book was crafted using simplified, accessible language tailored specifically for a child audience. Titled *The Minister Who Didn’t Stop*, the book is scheduled for an official launch at the party’s regional conference in Netanya on September 1, a date deliberately chosen to align with the opening of the Israeli academic year and capitalize on back-to-school momentum.
In an official statement, Ben Gvir’s office defended the project, framing it as a public education effort: “We are proud to launch the children’s book … and through it tell the children of Israel and the entire Israeli people the story of Minister Ben Gvir’s tremendous achievements throughout his four years as minister of national security.”
The push to court young voters comes as support for Ben Gvir and Israel’s broader far-right movement has surged dramatically among younger Jewish Israeli demographics in recent years. Ben Gvir’s young supporters have repeatedly been documented chanting the virulently anti-Palestinian slogan “Your village should burn” at political rallies—a slogan that glorifies the historical destruction of Palestinian villages and advocates for the forced expulsion of all Palestinians from land claimed by Israel.
Data from independent Israeli think tank the Israel Democracy Institute underscores the scale of this ideological shift: 73 percent of Jewish Israelis between the ages of 18 and 24 now identify as right-wing, creating what political analysts describe as fertile ideological ground for extremist politicians like Ben Gvir to expand their influence.
But far from the “tremendous achievements” the book highlights, Ben Gvir’s tenure has been marked by international condemnation and widespread allegations of human rights abuses. A long-time follower of Meir Kahane, an American-born Jewish supremacist whose ideology is classified as terrorist by multiple governments, Ben Gvir has already been convicted by Israeli domestic courts on charges of inciting racial hatred and supporting a banned terrorist organization.
Today, Ben Gvir is a global pariah, barred from entering at least 10 countries over his extremist rhetoric and human rights record, and placed on a Schengen Area watchlist that effectively blocks entry to most of Europe. This international isolation is widely seen as symbolic of the broader global rebuke of Israel’s current government, which faces widespread accusations of carrying out genocide in Gaza and enforcing apartheid policies across the occupied West Bank.
Just weeks before the book launch, Ben Gvir publicly called on Israeli military forces to execute “30 or 40” Palestinian civilians in Gaza every single night, infamously claiming that many Palestinians living in the besieged enclave are “not worthy of life” and “not even people.” When asked in a previous interview whether the racist chant “Death to Arabs” constitutes a moral wrong, Ben Gvir flatly denied the charge, responding “No. I don’t think so.”
Among Ben Gvir’s most controversial policy actions is a series of changes to the Israeli prison system that leading international human rights organizations have condemned as amounting to systematic torture and starvation of Palestinian political detainees. Ben Gvir has personally ordered mandatory cuts to food rations for Palestinian prisoners, openly stating that “One of my top goals … is worsening the prisoners’ conditions.”
This report is original coverage from Middle East Eye, an independent outlet focused on unfiltered reporting and analysis of the Middle East and North Africa region.