Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has succeeded in having his police forces take over all security matters in the West Bank from Israel’s Defense Forces. Up to now, the IDF has traditionally handled law and order in the West Bank because the territory is under military administration, while the Israel Police is responsible for civilian law enforcement inside Israel itself. And while the IDF has worked with the illegal violent settlers with a ‘wink and a nod,’ Ben-Gvir’s police force will escalate the violence. Just yesterday, he had invoked the Nazi standard of “Lebensunwertes Leben,” of people “not worthy of life,” who now need to be assassinated by the dozens every night.
Defense Minister Israel Katz has been in a fight with some within the IDF over their timid actions to stop rampant violence. On Friday, he announced that, in the next two weeks, the plan for transferring authority from the IDF to Ben-Gvir’s police will be presented. He stated: “All responsibility for enforcing civilian matters and maintaining law and order will be transferred to the police.”
Ben-Gvir today applauded the move, calling it a “significant step toward Israeli sovereignty”—that is, the absorption of the West Bank into Israel. Previously, he had called for his forces to have all responsibility over the West Bank. He added that, to date, “these powers have not been used against the anarchists and against elements from anti-Zionist movements against the State of Israel; it is time to activate these tools against the enemies of the state.”
