Report: 5 former employees in Ben Gvir’s office under investigation for unlawful issuance of gun permits

Five staff members in the office of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir are being probed by the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit in an investigation of allegations that the National Security Ministry issued firearms permits without authority, according to Hebrew media reports.

The investigation has dealt primarily with employees in the National Security Ministry, but according to reports, five temporary employees in Ben Gvir’s office are also suspected of issuing unlawful gun permits.

The suspects were employed by Ben Gvir between October 8 and December 2, 2023, in order to deal with the large influx of firearm permit applications in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in southern Israel, Channel 12 reports.

Ben Gvir, in response to the investigations, accuses Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of conducting “a coup against democracy.”

“Nothing was done illegally,” the ultranationalist lawmaker insists. “What we have is a political state attorney and state prosecutor, who are trying to fabricate cases and stage a coup against the right-wing government.”

“I’m telling you here: Do not deter me, I am proud of the firearms reform, and I have no intention of allowing this coup to continue,” he warns.