The US has threatened to stop supplying rifles to Israel after their national security minister was seen handing them out to civilians.
The diplomatic spat was prompted by images on social media of Itamar Ben-Gvir giving rifles to community security squads across the country, according to Israel’s daily Haaretz.
The images appeared to show Mr Ben-Gvir distributing the arms at political events in Bnei Brak and El’ad, two towns near Tel Aviv.
After several days of diplomatic exchanges, Israel committed to distributing the weapons only through its police or army, although politicians can be present when they are handed out.
A state department spokesperson said: “President [Joe] Biden directed his team to ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself, consistent with international law, and we are actively providing additional security assistance to the Israeli Defence Forces.
“Our assistance will flow quickly to meet Israel’s urgent needs.”
A spokesman for Mr Ben-Gvir did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Since the start of the war with Hamas, Israel has set up hundreds of volunteer security squads and has been arming them in view of possible unrest in Palestinian communities.
I can see why Biden is concerned. Americans might find out that civilians can be trusted to defend themselves.
This also explains the freeze on exports of guns and ammo. Israeli civilians might buy guns and defend themselves.
Apparently, this does not afffect exports to Israel.
How odd. Last year when the Ukrainian government was handing out weapons to citizens, no one so much as twitched in response.
ReplyDeleteAs I later updated, this does not affect shipments to Israel.
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