2023-11-01 23:09:51
In a gun store in the West Bank, the salesman places a selection of unloaded pistols on the counter and invites a group of men gathered around him to pick them up and pull the trigger to see what it feels like. His background noise is a burst of automatic rifle fire from the nearby shooting range and, from time to time, the rhythmic sound of pistol shots.
“Everyone comes to our store to ask for a Glock,” he explains. “Actually what you need is a weapon that makes you feel comfortable when you have it in your hands.”
The group of men, some from Israel’s religious Jewish communities, others dressed in more discreet T-shirts and kippahs, watch the seller carefully as he explains how to choose a firearm.
“I applied for my license a month ago and, if the attacks had not occurred, I would have postponed this training. I was not in a hurry, but after the attacks I decided to do it immediately,” says Yonatan Elbaz, 29, who lives in the neighboring settlement of Beitar illit. Elbaz chooses an Israeli-made gun because he wants to “buy a gun from Eretz Yisrael,” he says, referring to the biblical name for the Israeli town.
Since the unprecedented October 7 attack by Hamas militants on several Israeli towns near the Gaza border, which killed at least 1,400 Israelis, applications for weapons licenses have skyrocketed.
As the failure of the Israeli intelligence services and the army’s failure to protect its citizens living near the Gaza border are questioned, a growing number of Israelis have applied for a weapons license or rushed to buy a weapon, as they say they feel uneasy and believe they have to take responsibility for their safety.
Zin Levy, who has come to the store to buy bullets and renew his gun license ahead of schedule, lifts his shirt to reveal a holstered Smith & Wesson. He explains that he has had a gun for many years and that before the attack he was considering the possibility of getting rid of it. He now takes her everywhere.
“I guess it’s a kind of protection, a deterrent. The feeling of insecurity is widespread,” he says. He says that a request has circulated among neighborhood groups in his Jerusalem neighborhood that anyone with a license to carry weapons bring their weapon to prayers at the neighborhood synagogue.
The armory, with its display cases decorated with shiny spent bullet casings, is located inside Caliber 3, a complex of shooting ranges, a martial arts training hall and a synagogue on the edge of the Gush Etzion settlement in the hills. of the West Bank, south of Bethlehem.
Outside, teams of scowling Israeli soldiers wait to enter an adjacent shooting range, queuing alongside crowds of citizens who have flocked to the center for the day of training required to obtain a weapons license.
“Normally we have three training sessions a week for new licenses, but right now, since October 7, we are doing two a day,” explains Yael Gat, director of Caliber 3: “Many more people come: now everyone “They want a gun. They are shocked and do not feel safe. Since the attack, the perception is very different: they want guns to protect themselves.”
Two days after the Hamas attack, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir launched what his ministry called an “emergency operation so that as many civilians as possible can arm themselves.” He decreed that any eligible Israeli citizen who wanted to purchase a gun could go through a telephone interview instead of in person and obtain a firearms license within a week.
Israelis who have gone to the store to buy a gun have already been able to process a license through the fast track. Daniel Yashua, 25, a member of the ultra-Orthodox community, which in the past was rarely associated with Israeli military service or gun ownership, leans against a display case as he describes the speed with which he has obtained a license for a personal weapon. The gun he carries in his waistband, he explains, is from his job as a security guard at a religious men’s school, but now he wants a gun for personal use.
“I submitted the documentation a week before October 7. Normally, with the system we have in Israel, this would take months. But now it takes a few days,” he says. “I already had it in mind, but I want to feel safe.”
Nearby, a woman who lives in the Gush Etzion settlement and who prefers not to give her name looks at the selection of guns while carrying a small child on her hip and looking at her phone. “I’m a single mother and I have two children,” she explains. “I don’t really want to have a gun, but I want to have the option to protect my little daughters.” “Right now everyone feels like they need the security that a gun gives them, especially women, since the men are deployed. Everyone wants to feel safe,” says Gat.
Not everyone who trains and buys from Caliber 3 lives in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, considered illegal under international law and where settler incidents against Palestinians are on the rise.
The head of the Samaria regional council in the West Bank last week distributed 300 assault rifles to “civil security squads” in coordination with Ben-Gvir’s ministry and the Israeli army.
Above the armory’s display cases, a wall-mounted television shows images of attacks recorded by security cameras and accompanied by the sign: “Israel, under attack: on the roads, at bus stops, on trains, everywhere.” parts”. “For us, the attacks of October 7 were on a larger scale, but it is not a new threat,” says Gat. “What we do at Caliber 3 is help people feel safe… The Israeli army cannot be everywhere all the time.”
Translated by Emma Reverter
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