Head of Firearms Licensing Division Resigns • Ben Gvir: "We are stressed by the attacks of the left""

4 December 2023   

The head of the Weapons Licensing Division at the Ministry of National Security, Yisrael Avissar, who has held the position for 6 years, resigned yesterday (Sunday). He justified his decision by citing Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's policy for granting weapons licenses. Which course to start with? Your decision • Access free courses in a variety of fields Last week, Avissar admitted in a Knesset hearing that people without authorization were appointed to issue weapons licenses to citizens. The office of the Prime Minister's Legal Advisor Gali Baharav Meyara is investigating whether the weapons licenses were issued without authority. The office of the Minister of National Security Ben Gvir said in response to the resignation: "The minister's policy for distributing weapons to Israeli citizens who meet the criteria is clear and ongoing. Anyone who does not continue to implement the policy in accordance with the minister's instructions and the threat map, and is pressured by leftist attacks in various committees, cannot indeed continue as head of the Firearms Division, at a time when Israel is at war and as many citizens who meet the criteria as possible must be armed. "We should note that everyone who receives a weapon needs a medical certificate, a police certificate, but on the other hand, weapons save lives and the minister's policy expands and does not restrict. Israel is at war - we must get out of the concept!" The ministry's interim director general, Elazar Ben-Harosh, also announced last week that he would leave his position - this ahead of a hearing on a petition submitted to the High Court of Justice, after the Civil Service Commission did not approve his appointment, but he was appointed by the minister anyway. According to data published online in mid-November, within about five weeks, about a quarter of a million applications for weapons licenses were submitted. The figure is almost identical to the cumulative number of applications over the past 20 years. It also emerged that an average of about 1,700 licenses were issued per day since the beginning of November.