Michael Ben-Ari

Michael Ben-Ari (Hebrew: מיכאל בן ארי; born 12 October 1963) is an Israeli politician, and former member of the Knesset. During the 18th Knesset, Ben Ari was a member of the National Union party, until it broke up as elections for the 19th Knesset approached and he co-established the Otzma LeYisrael party. He failed to be re-elected to the 19th Knesset. He was banned by the courts from running in the 2019 election. He was the first outspoken disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahane to have been elected to the Knesset. He has a Ph.D in Land of Israel and Archaeology studies.

Ben-Ari grew up in the Kfar Shalem neighbourhood in south Tel Aviv, born to Mizrahi Jewish parents from Iran and Afghanistan. He studied at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva at Kfar Haroeh, at the hesder yeshiva in Yamit, and at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva. As part of his hesder army service, he was with the Nahal settlement at Neve Dekalim from 1982 to 1986. He studied education at Bar-Ilan University, gaining a BA, before studying the Talmud for a Master's degree, and the Land of Israel for a PhD. He was a rabbi teacher at the Darchei No'am Yeshiva in Petach Tikva as well as the Bnei Akiva Yeshiva in Giv'at Shmuel.

Previously a member of the banned Kach party, Ben-Ari still views himself as Meir Kahane's follower. He ran with the Herut - The National Movement party in the 2003 elections, and for the 2006 elections, he ran with the Jewish National Front party, but both times failed to be elected since the parties did not pass the threshold. Leading up to the 2009 elections, the Jewish National Front joined a new party called Eretz Yisrael Shelanu. That new alliance then joined the National Union, and Ben-Ari was placed fourth on the combined list for the elections. He entered the Knesset as the party won four seats. Once elected, he appointed Hebron residents and Kahanists Baruch Marzel and Itamar Ben-Gvir as his aides in the Knesset.

In 2009, in an open letter to Israeli leaders and politicians, Ben-Ari stated that Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Israel would be an insult to the memory of Holocaust victims.

Unlike his teacher, Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was marginalized and isolated as a member of Knesset, Ben Ari has succeeded in integrating himself into Israel's political arena. According to Uri Avnery his extremist perorations are listened to with 'rapt attention' by most factions in the Knesset.

Ben-Ari's November 2009 United States visa application was denied on the grounds of his arrest during anti-disengagement protests in 2005 and his support for Kahanist ideology.

Ben-Ari opened his external Member of Knesset office in the south Tel Aviv neighbourhood where he grew up. Throughout the 18th Knesset session, he struggled to bring attention to the growing number of Sudanese he blamed for increasing crime rates and other residents' problems. In June 2011, to draw attention to what he saw as the ever-increasing illegal alien problem, he bused 40 Sudanese nationals to a prestigious pool in northern Tel Aviv, provided them with new bathing suits and paid for their entrance.

Ben-Ari's 2012 visa application to attend a conference in D.C. was denied on the State Department's "prerogative to ban terrorists from entering the country."