Khaberni - In a new escalation in occupied Jerusalem, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir decided to expand the eligibility for obtaining personal firearm licenses in occupied Jerusalem, to include more than 300,000 additional Israelis, while the German government strongly condemned the violence of Israeli settlers in the West Bank and demanded their accountability.
In a post on the American "X" platform, Ben Gvir - who leads the extreme right "Jewish Power" party - pointed out that 240,000 Israelis have obtained weapon licenses since he took office in 2022.
He said: "Jerusalem is qualified for weapons possession: 41 neighborhoods, 1600 streets, and more than 300,000 additional citizens join the list of qualified areas", a decision human rights activists say is a new step in encouraging the killing of Palestinians.
He explained that he had approved the addition of "41 new neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the list of areas eligible to obtain a personal weapon license, as part of the ongoing expansion to reform the weapon laws I am leading", according to his expression.
He claimed that this decision is based on the conviction that "citizens owning weapons is an important element in enhancing personal security and the ability to respond to terrorist incidents", according to his expression.
He continued: "Based on this decision, more than 300,000 additional citizens in Jerusalem will become eligible to apply for a personal weapon license, thus joining the list of qualified areas".
Ben Gvir had launched a policy of facilitating the granting of firearms licenses to Jews since taking up his position at the end of 2022, despite warnings from rights institutions.
Since the beginning of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2023, the Israeli military and settlers have intensified their assaults in the West Bank, resulting in the death of 1125 Palestinians and the injury of about 11,700, in addition to the arrest of about 22,000, according to official Palestinian figures.
In addition to killing and arresting, the attacks of the army and settlers focused on sabotaging and demolishing homes and facilities, displacing Palestinians, and expanding settlements in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, which the international community considers occupied territory.
Shocking incidents
In the meantime, the German government strongly condemned the new acts of violence committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin also called for accountability for those responsible for these acts.
The spokesperson said: "We have been made aware of these incidents which we consider extremely shocking and unfortunately, they come within a long series of violent attacks on civilian populations". He added that "the killing of five Palestinian civilians within just one week indeed represents a tragic peak".
The spokesperson noted that discussions are ongoing within the European Union about imposing sanctions on more violent settlers, "and we certainly are not an obstacle to these discussions".
According to the "Haaretz" newspaper, the number of attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians in the West Bank increased by 25% last year.
