Ben Gvir pans prosecutor for probing 3 Israelis over killing of Palestinian on Oct. 7

By Sam Sokol 6 July 2024, 10:32 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at a court hearing in Jerusalem on July 2, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir slams State Prosecutor Amit Aisman, calling on him to “remember that he is the attorney of the State of Israel, and not of its enemies.”

In a statement, the far-right politician protests an investigation into three Israeli civilians recently detained on suspicion of killing a Palestinian man on October 7 and stealing weaponry from Israeli troops.

According to Hebrew media reports, on October 7 — as thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel in a shock assault — the three suspects made their way to the Gaza border communities to join the fighting there. One suspect is alleged to have seized a Palestinian whom he identified as an operative in Hamas’s elite Nukhba force, interrogated him, and executed him at the end of the interrogation. According to the Walla news site, the investigation may be restricted to the theft of weapons going forward.

“The state attorney who started working to investigate me on suspicion of ‘incitement’ against the residents of Gaza, is also the one who ordered the crazy investigation against three heroic fighters who on October 7 went out to fight in the hell of the Gaza border area — and are now suspected by Aisman of ‘murdering’ a Nukhba terrorist,” says Ben Gvir.

“It would be better for the state attorney to remember that he is the attorney of the State of Israel, and not of its enemies,” he says.

Last Wednesday, Aisman reportedly asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara for permission to open a criminal investigation into Ben Gvir for allegedly inciting violence against residents of Gaza, in an apparent attempt to satisfy the International Court of Justice that Israel is holding Israeli officials to account for such remarks.

Ben Gvir has made several inflammatory comments about the Gazan population since the Hamas-led October 7 onslaught that started the war, including a remark in November: “When we say that Hamas should be destroyed, it also means those who celebrate, those who support, and those who hand out candy — they’re all terrorists, and they should also be destroyed.”

This comment, as well as remarks by Ben Gvir demanding the cessation of humanitarian aid to Gaza, was cited by South Africa in its various filings to the ICJ.