Ben Gvir okays arming residents of Yeruham in Negev

Residents of Yeruham will now be eligible for personal firearms licenses, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir announces, a day after he visited the southern town.

The working-class Negev burg joins over a dozen localities across the country whose residents are newly eligible for gun permits, which are normally restricted to those in areas considered at high risk of terror activity.

The announcement is the latest development in the far-right lawmaker’s ongoing reform to arm Israel’s civilian population.

In a statement, Ben Gvir says it was “once again proven that firearms save lives” during yesterday’s deadly terror attack at a Jerusalem bus stop, in which an off-duty soldier and an armed civilian shot and killed the two Palestinian gunmen.

Yeruham’s local council head Nili Aharon says the step will “enhance the feeling of security” for residents of the sleepy town, which is rarely mentioned in the context of terror. “There is no doubt that in the current reality this is essential,” she adds.

Requests for gun permits surged following Hamas’s massive October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel. According to Ben Gvir’s office, over 230,000 gun licenses have been issued since the start of the firearms reform, which he began before the war.

The campaign to arm civilians is not without its critics, and several women’s groups have decried the rising number of guns in Israeli homes, saying it poses a risk to victims of domestic violence.

The increased ease of the licensing process has also prompted accusations that some of those acquiring permits are not fit to own a gun, and would be liable to kill others with the weapons. Police do not collect data on the number of people shot by privately held firearms, however.

In the wake of October 7, the National Security Ministry also granted temporary authority to Ben Gvir’s personal staff appointees, Knesset employees and others to approve gun license applications. Several were subsequently investigated by police on suspicion that the ministry inappropriately issued firearms permits.