Aryeh Yitzhak King[1] (Hebrew: אריה יצחק קינג, born November 7, 1973) is an Israeli right-wing activist and politician who currently serves as Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and the founder of the Israel Land Foundation. King is prominent in his activities regarding illegal Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem— which is one of the occupied Palestinian Territories.[2]
Aryeh King's parents immigrated from England, and settled on Kibbutz Alumim in the Negev. King enlisted in the Navy, continued his military service in the Givati Brigade, with the rank of lieutenant, and ended up in the "Samson" undercover unit. King holds a bachelor's degree in political science, Islam, and the Middle East from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. King lives in the Ma'ale HaZeitim neighborhood on the Mount of Olives. He is married to Liska (Shirley), and is father of six children.
In 1997, he began a public activity centered on attempts to Judaize East Jerusalem, in which he opened the "Bureau of Public Inquiries in East Jerusalem". In 2008, he founded the Israel Land Fund, which works to buy land in the Land of Israel held by Arabs. According to King, the fund was established "in response to a change in the Jewish National Fund's policy, according to which the JNF began assisting in the establishment of an Arab city near Ramallah".[3]
King served as chairman of the National Union of Jerusalem from 2006 to 2012. In the 2008 Jerusalem City Council elections, the representative of the National Union was on a joint list with the Jewish House (NRP), and was placed fifth on the joint list. In the run-up to the elections to the Nineteenth Knesset, the Center Party of Hope chose King for second place among the party's candidates,[4] and it was placed in fourth place on the power list for Israel,[5] which did not pass the electoral treshold.
In 2015, it was reported that King purchased an abandoned church compound on the Jerusalem-Hebron Road, near the Al-Arroub refugee camp.[6]
In 2019, King called for the removal of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, on the grounds that they were built by a "Muslim tyrant", and that their removal would connect parts of the city.[7]
In February 2022, he clashed with Joint List MKs Ofer Cassif and Ahmed Tibi in Sheikh Jarrah.[8]
During U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Jerusalem in March 2022, King called on him to leave the capital, tweeting out that Blinken was "not welcome at all", and that it seemed as if he intended to "create provocation".[9]
King's home in Ma'ale HaZeitim has been repeatedly attacked, including with Molotov cocktails, fireworks, and gunshots.[10]
In December 2023, during the Israel–Hamas war, King called for the IDF to "pick up the pace", and bury alive hundreds of captured Palestinian civilians in Gaza, referring to them as "Muslim Nazis". The politician's post on X, later deleted for violating the platform's rules, advocated using bulldozers for this purpose. The captives, allegedly Hamas members, according to the IDF, were shown in footage being guarded by soldiers, after stripped down to their underwear. King stated that the captured Palestinian were neither human beings and not human animals, but rather "subhuman", and should be treated as such. He invoked the biblical reference of Amalek, urging to "Eradicate the memory of Amalek, and never forget", aligning with a historical call for the genocide of an ancient enemy.[11]