With many Israelis gripped by a sense of insecurity following Hamas’s
unprecedented October 7 attack, the number of women applying for gun
permits has soared, while feminist groups have criticized the rush to
arms.
According to security ministry data, there have been 42,000
applications by women for gun permits since the attack, with 18,000
approved, more than tripling the number of pre-war licenses held by
women.
The surge has been enabled by the loosening of gun laws under the
government and its far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
More than 15,000 women civilians now own a firearm in Israel and the
West Bank, with 10,000 enrolled in mandatory training, according to the
ministry.
“I would have never thought of buying a weapon or getting a permit,
but since October 7, things changed a little bit,” political science
professor Limor Gonen told AFP during a weapons handling class at a
shooting range in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.
The October 7 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of
some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians. Israel’s subsequent
offensive has killed at least 37,000 people in Gaza, according to Hamas,
in figures that cannot be independently verified. Israel says it has
killed some 15,000 terror operatives in battle.
A picture taken on May 23, 2024, shows
Limor Gonen being shown how to use a handgun at a shooting range in the
Israeli settlement of Ariel in the West Bank.
“We were all targeted [on October 7] and I don’t want to be taken by
surprise, so I’m trying to defend myself,” Gonen said after the class,
an obligatory step for acquiring a permit.
While the immediate trigger for the surge in gun buying was the Hamas
attack, Ben Gvir was already pledging to reform firearms legislation
when he became security minister in late 2022.
He promised to raise the number of civilians holding weapons and “increase self-defense capacity.”
Under Ben Gvir, the process for getting a gun
license has been sped up, with Hebrew media reporting that in the
immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack the authorities were often
clearing hundreds of permits per day.
Israeli National Security Minister and leader of the Otzma Yehudit party Itamar Ben-Gvir is accompanied by his wife Ayala who carries a handgun in the waistband of her skirt
Eligibility criteria for gun ownership in Israel now include being a
citizen or permanent resident over the age of 18, having a basic command
of Hebrew and medical clearance.
In March, Ben Gvir, who is himself a settler in the West Bank, hailed
civilian weapon ownership passing the 100,000 mark, while showing off
his own gun at a rally.
But his rush to put deadly arms into the hands of ordinary Israelis has drawn criticism, too.
The Gun Free Kitchen Tables Coalition, an Israeli initiative founded by feminist activists, condemned the civilian arms race.
A picture taken on the June 10, 2024, shows
a woman with a handgun in the waist of her jeans as she speaks on her
mobile phone while walking through the Mahane Yehuda market in
Jerusalem.
It is “a strategy of far-right settlers to consider the arming of
women to be a feminist act,” a spokesperson for the group of 18
organizations told AFP.
“The increase of weapons in the civilian space leads to an increase
in violence and murder against women. It’s time for the state to
understand that individual safety is its responsibility.”
Community manager Yahel Reznik, 24, said she now felt “a lot more
safe” in Ariel, which sits three kilometers north of the Palestinian
town of Salfit.
“Thanks to my training I will be able to defend myself and protect others” from an attack, she told AFP.
The surge in gun ownership is not limited to West Bank settlers. In
the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, just north of Tel Aviv, Corine
Nissim said she never leaves home without her gun.
The 42-year-old English teacher walked her three children to the park
with a 9mm Smith & Wesson sticking out the back of her trousers.
A picture taken on May 23, 2024, shows
Yahel Reznik being instructed on how to fire a handgun at a shooting
range in the Israeli settlement of Ariel in the West Bank.
“After October 7, I think like most people in Israel, I realized that
the only person I can trust is myself,” she told AFP, adding she bought
a gun not to feel “helpless.”
“The worst scenario that was going through my head was that, of
course, terrorists attack me and my family in our own house,” the mother
said.
Her decision to own a gun initially surprised some in the seaside town known for its tranquility and safety, she said.
“People watched me and said, ‘This is so surreal to see you like this with a gun and with the baby,'” said Nissim.
But, she said, others started to agree with her and said they would follow suit.
“Many women told me: ‘I’m going to do it. I’m going to get a gun as well.'”
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