Israel’s Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, on Tuesday ordered the country’s National Security Ministry to reconsider thousands of gun licenses issued since the start of the war with Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, arguing in an interim ruling that they were issued in contravention of Israeli law.
Acting Supreme Court President Yitzhak Amit and justices Yael Wilner and Ofer Grosskopf asked the state to explore ways to suspend the licenses, giving it until Nov. 20 to respond.
The Firearm Law of 1949 tasks the Firearm Licensing Department of the National Security Ministry, which is currently led by Otzma Yehudit Party head Itamar Ben-Gvir, with issuing gun licenses. According to the law, only trained licensing officials are qualified to approve applications.
The three justices wrote in the ruling that they “were provided with data regarding the extent of licenses issued by parties who are not licensing officials according to the Firearm Law, 1949, and the number of permits issued by those parties in violation of the authority given to them.”
The petition was filed by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel.
“The ruling shows that, according to the claims we made in the petition and the data presented by the state in a confidential hearing, there are many gun licenses that were issued without authority,” said Rotem Bavli Dvir, head of the group’s administrative litigation department.
“Due to serious concerns that, as a result, weapons have reached those who are not entitled to carry them, we hope that the state will suspend the weapons licenses distributed without authority,” she concluded.
There has been a surge in permit requests since the Oct. 7 massacre, in which 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, were killed by Hamas terrorists.
Ben-Gvir has rushed manpower to the Licensing Department to handle the surge, including by assigning volunteers from the National Service—a substitute for mandatory military service mainly chosen by religious women.
Eligibility has also been expanded to include more former soldiers as well as emergency medical responders and firefighters.
While the Jewish state has a citizens’ army, it does not have an armed citizenry. Before the Oct. 7 massacre, only some 150,000 Israelis, or 2% of the population, were legal gun owners, compared to 30% in the United States.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled support for Ben-Gvir’s policies at a Dec. 2 press conference, and in the six weeks following the Oct. 7 attacks, more than 260,000 Israelis applied for gun permits.
“My policy within the office is to allow as many people as possible to receive weapons, and [to bring in as] many people as possible to handle their applications,” Ben-Gvir declared at a party meeting on Dec. 4.
“In a very short period, the Firearms Licensing Department did a great job. If permits were once given to only a hundred people a day, we have increased to 1,500 and 1,800, and the hand is still outstretched,” he said.
Responding to the court ruling on Tuesday, Ben-Gvir stressed that “it has been proven that weapons save lives; it has been proven that, thanks to the weapons, many lives of citizens have been saved.
“The meaning of the decision is simple: 185,000 citizens who received a weapon or conditional approval now fear that the court will revoke their license and prevent them from protecting their safety and the safety of their families.”
