Ben Ghafir (center) supervises the distribution of weapons to volunteers in Ashkelon in the wake of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood (French)

Occupied Jerusalem -

The Israeli security services expressed their fear of a potential security threat as a result of the campaign launched by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to arm Israelis, especially settlers, amid allegations that some of the weapons distributed had reached the hands of Palestinian resistance fighters in the West Bank and inside the Green Line and were carried out with them. Shooting operations.

The newspaper "Israel Today" said in a report published on Wednesday that large quantities of weapons distributed to Israelis and settlers as part of the campaign to arm Jews and grant weapons licenses were sold to Palestinian activists from the West Bank as well as to parties inside the Green Line, and some of them were used in shooting operations that took place. Recently on both fronts.

According to the newspaper, the recent attacks in Israel and the West Bank, in which Arabs carrying blue Israeli identity cards participated, raise great concern among senior police officers, mainly because many of the weapons used by the attackers belonged to Israelis.

Senior police officers recently pointed out a worrying phenomenon, which is that many Israelis do not care to keep the weapons in their possession according to procedures, and they end up in the hands of criminals and organized crime gangs, and some of them - due to greed for money - are sold to armed Palestinian organizations.

Thefts and neglect

The head of the Operations Coordination Department in the Intelligence Division of the Israeli Police, Shmuel Sharvit, warned that “illegal weapons among criminals may reach terrorist cells (Palestinian resistance factions),” as he put it.

A senior police officer adds, "It is crazy that crime gangs invest so much money in stealing the weapons that Israelis put under their pillows."

Following the Al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, 2023, the Israeli police tightened its grip on everything related to controlling weapons and weapons in the Arab community within the Green Line, within what it called Operation “Safe Path”, in order to combat the chaos of the spread of weapons and fear of selling weapons. To activists in Palestinian factions in the West Bank.

The Israeli police carried out inspection campaigns, collected intelligence information, and made arrests inside the Green Line, with the aim of finding weapons stolen from the Israeli army’s combat zones in the south and north, and from soldiers. A large portion of them were stolen from Israelis who were negligent in guarding their personal weapons, and there are those who sell the weapons they obtained. Under licenses at exorbitant amounts, according to the Israel Today newspaper.

Some Israelis sell their weapons for money, according to Israel Today newspaper (Reuters)

Full market

“The market is full of weapons,” Charvit says, “and we are focusing on that, and the police activity does not stop. Most of the illegal weapons are seized by criminal elements, but we are beginning to see indications that they are flowing to armed Palestinian elements as well.”

He explained that a total of 1,044 weapons of various types have been seized since the beginning of the war on Gaza, including 822 pieces in Arab towns within the Green Line, in the coastal region, the Wadi Ara region, and the Umm al-Fahm region, where there were recently reports of the seizure of large quantities of weapons.

In the northern region and the Upper Galilee, many arrests of Arabs holding Israeli citizenship are taking place on suspicion of participating in “hostile” activities and arms deals, and in the southern region and the Negev, large-scale activities are taking place on the Jordanian border, which in recent months has become a “hot border” due to attempts to smuggle weapons, ammunition, and drugs. .

Israeli security services are also trying to thwart robbery attempts in army firing zones and assembly areas during the fighting in Gaza, according to Officer Sharvit.

Large-scale operations are also underway to search for weapons and ammunition in the West Bank, where, just this week, an M16 rifle and a pistol were seized in the town of Bani Naim, Hebron District.

According to the newspaper, large quantities of weapons and ammunition located in Arab towns within the Green Line were stolen from military warehouses of the Israeli army.

But according to Israeli police sources, in the wake of the widespread supply of weapons to Israelis and their “negligent possession,” even private homes have become an attractive target due to easy access to them, because citizens do not keep their personal weapons as required according to the procedures to keep them in a safe place, and they are exposed to theft, and some The weapons were sold by their licensed owners in order to get money.

According to Israeli police intelligence, most of the weapons are actually sold to organized crime gangs, but some of them, “due to greed,” also flow to Palestinian resistance factions.

Source: Al Jazeera + Israeli press