Five people who served in the office of the Minister of Internal Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, were indicted on Monday by the Lahav 433 major crimes unit of the Israeli police as part of an investigation into suspicion of issuing firearms licenses without authorization by the ministry, Israeli media reported.
Ben Gvir confirmed the indictments and accused the Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, of leading “a coup d’état against democracy”, in what promises to be the latest clash between the government and the authorities judicial.
The investigation mainly concerns employees of the Ministry of Internal Security, but according to certain information, five contract workers from Ben Gvir’s office are also suspected of having issued illegal licenses to carry weapons.
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The suspects worked for Ben Gvir between October 8 and December 2, 2023 to process the very large number of firearms license applications following the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, explained the Channel 12.
Daily life Haaretzciting a police source, indicated that several suspects had been summoned for questioning.
The decisions taken by Ben Gvir to significantly increase the number of weapons licenses are at the heart of his activity within the ministry, according to him on the grounds that this makes it possible to thwart terrorist attacks.
In March this year, the far-right minister announced the issuance of 100,000 weapons licenses since October 7, 2023 and claimed: “Guns save lives. »
On Monday, he told his party’s Knesset meeting that 80,000 licenses had been issued since then.
Police Chief Kobi Shabtai, left, speaks with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at the scene of a car-ramming attack near Ramot, Jerusalem, February 10, 2023 (Credit: Jamal Awad/Flash90)
Applications for firearms licenses have increased enormously in the wake of Hamas’s pogrom in southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were brutally massacred.
The Ministry of Internal Security also temporarily authorized Ben Gvir’s aides, Knesset employees and others to issue weapons licenses.
Haaretz asserted last December that thousands of licenses had been granted illegally and that Ben Gvir had personally intervened to ensure that the reservations of the police and the Court regarding the ex-spy’s request to the court were overridden. pay of Israel – Jonathan Pollard – and that the license be issued to him.
Ben Gvir reacted to the news of these indictments on Monday by accusing Baharav-Miara of leading “a coup d’état against democracy”.
“Nothing was done illegally,” assured the ultranationalist deputy. “What we have is a totally politicized Attorney General and State Attorney who are fabricating cases with the aim of staging a coup against the right-wing government. »
“You will never intimidate me, I am proud of gun reform and I will not let this coup happen,” he warned.
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and behind her Minister Orit Strouk, during the ceremony marking the first anniversary according to the Hebrew calendar of the pogrom perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, 2023 which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at the cemetery military of Mount Herzl, in Jerusalem, October 27, 2024. (Credit: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP)
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel reacted to the news by saying that more than 1,100 gun licenses had been granted illegally and that there were “suspicions that members of the minister’s office were giving the priority to loved ones [du ministre] by circumventing regulations.
The monitoring body also asked the police and the Attorney General to investigate Ben Gvir’s personal responsibility in this matter and requested the revocation of licenses granted outside legal channels and the confiscation of weapons.
“This is a great danger for the population and we cannot afford to wait another day,” he said.
This reform is worrying because of the influx of firearms into the public sphere and the risk of an increase in crime and domestic violence against women.
Ben Gvir, who has already been convicted of inciting racism and supporting a terrorist organization, himself threatened people with his handgun on several occasions.
In December 2021, the head of Knesset security summoned him after an altercation with Arab parking attendants in Tel Aviv, during which he brandished a pistol.
The following October, he brandished a gun again during a visit to a neighborhood in East Jerusalem, at a time of intense clashes between Israeli Jews and Palestinians.
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