Israelis rush to buy firearms after Hamas attack
According to a press report yesterday (Monday), Israelis have lined up to buy weapons in an unprecedented way, following the attack launched by the Hamas movement on 7 October.
The Financial Times reported that gunfire erupted in a suburb of the Israeli city of Kfar Sava on Friday following firearms training at a nearby shooting range. In the city of Holon, a queue has formed around a building to purchase weapons. Gun shop owners tell the newspaper there has been an unprecedented increase in sales following fears of further unrest following the October 7 attack.
Hundreds of Hamas fighters have infiltrated Israel from Gaza in an attack unprecedented since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,400 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to authorities. The newspaper reported in its article: “The bloodiest attack in the country since 1948 has destroyed Israelis’ sense of security.”
Additional opening hours for gun shops
The Israelis have applied for so many firearms licenses that the Department of Homeland Security has added dozens of personnel to approve them. The Jerusalem Post reported that nearly 10,000 new applications were submitted in the first week alone.
A parliamentary session revealed that since the Hamas attack, around 41,000 Israelis have applied for a weapons license, compared to 38,000 a year.
Managers of three gun stores in Israel told the newspaper that the recent increase in gun ownership was unprecedented. The queues were so long that shops remained open even after overtime and, in one case, even opened on the Jewish Sabbath.
The Minister of National Security, the far-right politician Itamar Ben Gvir, has promised to deliver 10,000 weapons – including 4,000 rifles – free of charge to settlers in the occupied West Bank, and has relaxed permit rules so that 400,000 new people can bring with them himself a firearm.
Settlers… “first responders”
Ben Gvir said adult civilian residents of the town of Sderot, which was attacked by Hamas and has since been evacuated, will automatically be entitled to purchase a gun.
Ben Gvir carries a firearm and was once photographed waving it at a Palestinian man who was harassing him. According to the newspaper, his office recently published a photo of the minister smiling in front of a group of rifles.
Ben Gvir constantly posts on his accounts on social media platforms, regarding the distribution of weapons to Jewish civilians, and also reposts similar posts from public figures in Israel.
Israeli police recently said they will begin arming civilians to serve as first responders in cities across the country as the war with Hamas continues, according to an earlier report from Agence France-Presse.
Distinction between Arabs and Jews
Palestinians – both those living within Israel’s 1948 borders and those living in the West Bank – fear these weapons will be used against them, given the anger and fear among Israelis following the October 7 attacks.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 91 Palestinians had been killed in the West Bank, including six on Sunday, in clashes with Israeli forces, arrest raids and settler attacks. This came as Israel bombed the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attack, killing 5,087 people, including 2,055 children, according to Palestinian officials.
“If I try to buy a gun, I will never get the license,” said Ahmed, a 48-year-old barber from Jaffa. But if (an Israeli Jew) wants a gun, they will give it to him for free.”
Nayla Gelkopf-Plais, a social activist in the city of Haifa, where Jews and Arabs live, told Agence France-Presse that police must collaborate with civil authorities and be wary of “the formation of private militias.” She added: “We are in town on a hot plate.”
Firearms sales in Israel have been severely limited for decades, falling from 185,000 in 2009 to fewer than 150,000 in 2021. The Financial Times reported that in Israel’s war against Hamas in 2021, accompanied by widespread sectarian violence among Palestinians with Israeli citizenship and Jews living in mixed cities: About 20,000 gun licenses were issued, nearly double the previous year, according to the Department of Homeland Security.