Report: Ben Gvir tells police to prioritize demolition of family homes, targeting Arabs
Sources speaking to Haaretz allege minister overstepping limits of his authority by meddling in policy
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir recently instructed the Israel Police to prioritize buildings that house families for home demolitions, overstepping the bounds of his authority in an apparent attempt to target the Arab community, according to a Haaretz report.
The report published Thursday said the far-right minister had told commanders in the police’s national enforcement unit, which carries out demolitions, to focus on illegally constructed family homes.
Populated buildings are typically prioritized low for demolition by the government. Instead, enforcement agencies consider criteria such as the severity of the construction violation and the building’s location, rather than occupancy.
Sources told Haaretz that Ben Gvir intended to stymie Arab construction with his demand that police use occupancy as a criterion.
“When the minister said to prioritize populated buildings, it was completely clear that he meant demolitions in the Arab community,” one source told the Hebrew-language daily.
Since becoming national security minister, Ben Gvir has consistently railed against illegal Bedouin construction in the Negev, where residents of unrecognized villages struggle to obtain construction permits.
One source told the paper that by prioritizing the demolition of houses with occupants, Ben Gvir said he sought to “demonstrate governance and increase deterrence.”
According to another, the minister remarked that “the best deterrent is evicting a family from its home.”
Last year saw a steep rise in the demolition of illegally constructed buildings as the Land Enforcement Authority, formerly subordinate to the Finance Ministry, was transferred to Ben Gvir’s auspices by means of a government decision.
But setting demolition policy still falls outside the national security minister’s authority, and instead rests with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. Although aware of Ben Gvir’s directives on demolition enforcement, the attorney general has yet to address the matter.
Senior officials in the Justice Ministry have tried to curb Ben Gvir’s influence over demolition priorities by appealing directly to the police, but to no avail, the report said.
“Ben Gvir is acting like a ‘super-commissioner,’ but he doesn’t have the authority to decide demolition priorities,” an official in the ministry told Haaretz.
