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Hamas Attack: Israeli Women Rush To Buy Rifles With 18,000 Applications Now Approved

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June 22, 2024
NEWS

More than 18,000 women civilians now own a firearm in Israel and the occupied West Bank, with 10,000 enrolled in mandatory training.

According to the security ministry data, there have been 42,000 applications by women for gun permits since the October 7 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 Israel's right-wing government and its far-right security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir.

A political science professor, Limor Gonen, during a weapons handling class at a shooting range in the West Bank settlement of Ariel told AFP the October 7 attack prompted her to buy a weapon.

"I would have never thought of buying a weapon or getting a permit, but since October 7, things changed a little bit,"

The October 7 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,431 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the territory's health ministry.

"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, saying this was 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-defence capacity."

Under Ben Gvir, the process for getting a gun license has been sped up, with Israeli media reporting that in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack the authorities were often clearing hundreds of permits per day.

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.

The full list of requirements makes it nearly impossible for non-Jews to obtain a permit.

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.

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 organisations said.

"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 kilometres north of the Palestinian city of Salfit.

"Thanks to my training I will be able to defend myself and protect others" from an attack.

Violence in the West Bank, which was already rising before the war, has surged since October 7.

At least 549 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers and troops across the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the Palestinian Authority.

Attacks by Palestinians have killed at least 14 Israelis, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

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.

"After October 7, I think like most people in Israel, I realised 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 tranquillity 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.'"

[color=orange]SaharaReporters[/color]

princepeter566:
The best way to deal with this people of the other religion is to be more brutal than them.
Violence is only language they understands.
Nice on Isreal

olisaEze:
They say proliferation of arms is why the United States has a high rate of gun violence. The same arms proliferation abounds in Israel but we never hear of Israelis killing fellow Israelis. Any nation that its people don’t see themselves as one are likely to kill themselves extinct, whether they have been given the right to bear arms or not. Even as terrorists & corrupt politicians are a common enemy, the same corrupt politicians will still find a way for Nigerians to turn their gun barrels on each other in the end.

Goldeno:
That's because right now they are killing Palestinians, you think if Americans had their own Palestinians to kill they will be killing them selves?

princepeter566:
The best way to deal with this people of the other religion is to be more brutal than them.
Violence is only language they understands.
Nice on Isreal

ezechi24:
A nation where the acclaimed jesus came from getting ready to kill and drink the blood of their enemies, but our mumu Africans down here claiming to be followers of that same jesus from Israel would rather sit in the church and shout fire fire till they all gets shot to death even listening to the bunch of lies their pastors tell them ....like the one that grew a new brest with an handkerchief.

Floky215:
America and Australia got more of who are suppose to hate them and take up arms to fight the state but no, they are not brain washed by the Islamic religion, rather they assimilate and work towards the progress of their land.
Today everyone want to migrate to these zones for a better future including the moslems themselves

The so called Palestinians on the other hands are thieves driven by religious ideology to steal, kill and destroy..!!
Those claiming Palestinians today are all descendants of immigrants.

Go to Australia where you have the aborigines, to USA where you have rhe red Indians...they never started killing people just cos for rhe fun ofnir or because someone stole their land in which case they have the legitimate right to fight..!!

Trust me, if Islam had made its way to these two places before the Europeans came...it would have been a continuous blood shed till date..!!


The problem have always been islam..!!
Discount Islam from this world and see peace all around..!!

jmoore:
A creature with low IQ will open mouth waaa to say rubbish.

Is it the synagogue/church in Israel that gave the women guns in the article?

Is it the churches in Nigeria that will give ak 47 to their members?

What a government is doing in Israel is what you guys want the churches in Nigeria to do?

You elect dumb misleaders to govern your country and turn around to blame the church.

jmoore:
A creature with low IQ will open mouth waaa to say rubbish.

Is it the synagogue/church in Israel that gave the women guns in the article?

Is it the churches in Nigeria that will give ak 47 to their members?

What a government is doing in Israel is what you guys want the churches in Nigeria to do?

You elect dumb misleaders to govern your country and turn around to blame the church.

ezechi24:
Shut up fake pastor.

jmoore:
Anu mpam! See how you have disgraced yourself.
Blame the church too for Nigeria generating paltry 5,000 megawatts on the national grid.

Khyrvxjzy:
kill all Muslim terrorist

yyba:
How about Christian terrorists?

ezechi24:
A nation where the acclaimed jesus came from getting ready to kill and drink the blood of their enemies, but our mumu Africans down here claiming to be followers of that same jesus from Israel would rather sit in the church and shout fire fire till they all gets shot to death even listening to the bunch of lies their pastors tell them ....like the one that grew a new brest with an handkerchief.

yyba:
How about Christian terrorists?