Israeli Channel 12 reported that the Serious Crimes Investigation Unit of the Israeli Police had opened an investigation into 5 employees from the office of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on charges of illegally issuing 1,146 weapons licenses.
The investigations include granting temporary and final weapons licenses without taking into account legal standards, as 23,000 temporary weapons licenses were issued after October 7, 2023, and 458 of them are allegedly illegal.
Also, 15,242 final licenses were issued, and 688 of them are suspected of violating the standards.
Ben Gvir attacks the investigation
Ben Gvir, leader of the far-right Jewish Power party, responded to the investigations by launching an attack on the government’s legal advisor, Gali Behrav Meara, and described the matter as a “coup against democracy.”
The National Minister confirmed on the “X” platform that he would not back down from his policy of arming settlers, accusing the legal advisor of trying to undermine the government.
The campaign to distribute weapons to Israeli settlers and civilians began since the start of the Israeli war of genocide on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. It was claimed that the weapons were distributed to protect the settlers, but Israeli media reports indicated that they were also distributed to criminals and unqualified individuals.
Media outlets and human rights organizations criticized this campaign as one of the reasons for the escalation of settler attacks on Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank.
According to observers, the policy of arming settlers exacerbates violence against Palestinians, as attacks escalated in parallel with the Israeli war on Gaza. Attacks by settlers and the Israeli army resulted in the death of 795 Palestinians and the injury of 6,450 others in the West Bank since October 7, 2023.