National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s (Otzma Yehudit) security assessment meeting turned into a series of clashes as multiple opposition MKs were removed throughout the discussion at the Knesset’s National Security Committee on Monday.
The meeting was held to allow Ben-Gvir to present information on the work done since the start of his tenure as security minister, as well as showcase his plans.
From the very start of the session, opposition MKs objected to the minister’s claims and were subsequently removed, one by one, from the discussion.
“I am proud of the changes I made to the prison system,” Ben-Gvir first said. “For 30 years, you treated terrorists with civility, turned the prisons into summer camps, into all-inclusive hotels. For 30 years, you bowed down before every terrorist. Then Itamar Ben-Gvir came along and changed the entire equation you created.”
Naama Lazimi (the Democrats), Meirav Cohen (Yesh Atid), and Adi Ezuz (Yesh Atid) were all removed from the panel after slamming Ben-Gvir’s remarks, saying that hostages in Hamas captivity reported being severely beaten because of the treatment of prisoners in the Israeli jail system.
“You’re the spokespeople for Hamas,” Ben-Gvir yelled in response to the MKs, “Go be the spokespeople of Hamas.”
“The hostages were brutally beaten. Did you know that? Did the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) tell you that they were beaten because of you?” Lazimi asked the panel before being forcibly removed.
During the session, Ben-Gvir presented the committee with multiple short clips showing security forces in various situations making arrests, and listed a manifold of activities he said were carried out since taking on the national security minister portfolio.
“What I did at the Temple Mount returned us to being the owners of the Temple Mount,” Ben-Gvir told the panel.
The politician has made multiple trips to the Temple Mount in past years, receiving backlash from local and regional figures alike for transgressing the status quo established in 1967.
“Previously, a Jew who even muttered on the Temple Mount would be arrested. Everything has changed now. We are back as the owners of the Temple Mount. Today, people feel much safer,” Ben-Gvir said.
230,000 new gun licenses since Ben-Gvir became minister
“Another thing I did was gun reform,” the minister said, adding that “a year and a half before I arrived, there were 8,000 firearm licenses. Today, there are 337,000 armed citizens.”
“We were able to lower the theft of cars,” he told the committee, “an 18% lowering of theft of cars.”
“The prime minister promised me the death penalty for terrorists,” Ben-Gvir continued, adding that the death penalty law would soon come into fruition.
According to Ben-Gvir, “Under my policy, I prioritized strengthening security and establishing governance through the creation of a national guard.”
“We established a national guard in the North, South, and center, with 900 fighters, on a budget of NIS 230 million. Four hundred weapons and explosives were also confiscated in house searches, and 662 kg. of drugs and hundreds of illegal residents were arrested as well,” he said.
As Ben-Gvir continued presenting his statistics in a slideshow, additional MKs voiced their objections.
“You’re the minister who released the most terrorists, you’re Hamas’s Che Guevara,” MK Naor Shiri (Yesh Atid) told Ben-Gvir before being removed.
Merav Ben Ari (Yesh Atid) shouted, “You’re the biggest embarrassment,” as she was taken out of the meeting.
MK Pnina Tameno-Shete (Blue and White) said that Ben-Gvir’s review neglected to reflect the Israeli public’s opinion, as they are routinely met with police brutality and profiling.
Though she was initially removed from the discussion, she later returned, telling Ben-Gvir, “You are harming Ethiopian-Israeli children every day.”
“Since 2019, 30,000 cases have been opened against Ethiopian-Israeli children. You did nothing about this,” Tameno-Shete said.
Knesset members also criticized Ben-Gvir for not allowing enough time to ask questions at the end of his presentation.