The Biden Administration became upset and threatened to quit supplying rifles to Israel after photos emerged of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir passing them out to “community security squads,” according to Haaretz.
Photos of the rifles being passed out were posted on Ben Gvir’s social media and “led to a diplomatic incident that threatened to stop the arms shipments from the United States to Israel.”
The Biden Administration reportedly does not want guns passed out to civilians nor distributed during “political events.”
Haaretz noted, “The [Biden Administration] also threatened to halt an order of some 20,000 rifles purchased by the National Security Ministry from American suppliers.”
The Telegraph reported that photos purportedly showed Ben Gvir “distributing the arms at political events in Bnei Brak and El’ad, two towns near Tel Aviv.”
A social media user posted the tweet below, which translates: “National Security Minister of Israel Itamar Ben Gvir distributing arms to civilians. Here [in Brazil] the order is to disarm the civilian and arm the criminal.”
. 🇱💥 Ministro da Segurança Nacional de Israel Itamar Ben-Gvir distribuindo armas aos civis. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Aqui a ordem é desarmar o cidadão e armar o bandido. pic.twitter.com/WUS21E7yER
— Derlin.’.Rodrigues🇷 (@DerlinRod) October 28, 2023
On October 10, 2023, the Times of Israel noted that Ben Gvir’s “ministry [was] purchasing 10,000 rifles to arm civilian security teams, specifically those in towns close to Israel’s borders around the country.”
Bulletproof vests and helmets were also to be distributed.
On October 8, 2023, the day after the Hamas terror attack against Israel was launched, Breitbart News pointed out that private gun ownership among Israelis is low. Unlike the United States, Israel does not have a Second Amendment or its equivalent.
The BBC reported that “Israeli gun ownership is low at about 2% of the population.” In contrast, the findings of a recent study by Rutgers University’s New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center estimated upwards of six in ten Americans — 60 percent — own guns.
Following the terror attacks Israel expedited the gun license process so Israelis could get firearms to defend themselves and Israel.
WATCH: Graphic Content Warning: Home Where Hamas Murdered an Israeli Family in Kibbutz Be’eri
Joel B. Pollak / Breitbart NewsAWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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