MK Itamar Ben-Gvir addressed today (Friday), in an interview with Reshet B, last night's events in the Shimon Ha-Tzadik neighborhood in Jerusalem, in which, following the throwing of stones at him and the residents by Arabs, he drew his personal weapon.
In an interview with Ronen Pollak, Ben Gvir said: "I will draw my weapon a thousand more times if rocks and stones are thrown at me.".
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Ben Gvir spoke about what he saw in Shimon the Righteous: "Complete lawlessness. Homes with children throwing stones at them from a shooting range, Jews walking down the street and being beaten and stoned, rocks and Molotov cocktails, and the worst thing - police officers being attacked with Molotov cocktails and stones and not having permission to use weapons. They shoot stun grenades, which no longer scares the rioters. These stones are meant to kill.".
In response to the question of whether he felt a danger to his life when he pulled out his weapon, MK Ben Gvir said: "Clearly. Rocks are being thrown at me. I am walking around with security, but if rocks are being thrown at me, the fact that I have security does not exempt me from trying to defend myself. I did not use a weapon, but in this situation, I tell you as a lawyer, if I had used one, there would have been no problem. The rioters stopped being afraid a long time ago.".
Ben Gvir was asked what he would have done differently if things were up to him - and he replied: "One, change the procedures for opening fire, why don't they shoot them with live ammunition? When Molotov cocktails are thrown at a mobile phone, does the mobile phone have to turn back? Is that normal? Two, allow as many civilians as possible to possess weapons, anyone who served in the army should be given weapons, there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to defend themselves. Three, take a hard line: Shuafat camp, for example, shouldn't have been surrounded now, but we should have gone door to door and pulled out the weapons.".
