Studies show that only a minority of victims report the violence they experience. As a result, only partial official information about victims of violence is available to the authorities, representing just the tip of the iceberg.

Data from 2021 shows that tens of thousands of women victims of violence reported this to the police: 21,936 reported physical violence, 21,972 reported threats, and 5,444 women reported sexual crimes. In the same year, there were 13,106 patients in centers for the prevention and treatment of domestic violence, of which 66.2% were women, 11.4% were children and 22.5% were men. That year, 1,918 women, girls and boys stayed in shelters from domestic violence.

Women who are unable to get out of violent relationships and receive proper protection from the authorities pay with their lives: about 25 women in Israel have been murdered each year over the past several years, about half of them by their partners. Pro arming policymakers chose, unfortunately, to ignore this data.

Bringing firearms into the home may deepen patterns of violence against women, and certainly the sense of threat experienced by victims of domestic violence.

As much as the government has no intention of withdrawing from the dangerous policy of mass distribution of weapons, it should at least act to minimize the inherent danger. Therefore, it is necessary to act without delay to implement the recommendations of the 2019 Firearms License Procedure Audit Committee report (the Ronen Committee), and pay closer attention to the arguments put forward by women’s organizations and civil society organizations, led by the “Gun on the Kitchen Table” coalition.”

In order to minimize the expected harm to women, the national security policy with regard to the distribution of weapons must include, among other things: interfaces between the Ministry of Welfare and National Insurance and the Israel Police, the creation of supervision and control mechanisms that will include the obligation to install a safe, an in-depth examination of the consequences of the mass arming that will include collecting and publishing data systematically; revoking licenses issued in violation of the law and/or based on flawed procedures, a plan to collect weapons the day after the war, and implementing a policy of reducing the phenomenon of domestic violence.

הפוסט Sisterhood of Gun Violence: Women will Bear the Consequences of the Arming of the Israeli Civilian Population הופיע לראשונה ב-Adva Center.

April may be the cruelest month, but August 2018 is giving it strong competition. On August 20, Israel Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan (Likud) approved new, less stringent criteria for licensing civilians to keep and carry guns. The reason behind the decision: to allow on-the-spot reaction to Palestinian acts of terror within Israel. The new criteria will allow an estimated 600,000 more persons to own and carry weapons. The new “civilians against terror” are to include persons who served in IDF combat units, past IDF officers and NCOs, police personnel and police volunteers.

It was estimated that prior to the new regulations, approximately 150,000 civilians were licensed to carry guns. Unlike the United States, where the right to bear arms is considered an individual right, in Israel, up to now, guns were mainly the prerogative of persons actively serving in the IDF or residing in the occupied territories. Their presence, at least in the hands of soldiers, is quite obvious to all. Now, in order to enable civilians “to help fight terrorism,” that right has been extended.

Progressives in the United States view the proliferation of guns as one of the causes of their usage for purposes that have nothing to do with defense. It is no secret that it is also a cause of serious accidents, not to mention murders and homicides, on the part of minors who get hold of those guns unbeknown to their parents. While progressive Americans fight for gun limitations, the very government of Israel is now facilitating gun proliferation. This change has, of course, a gender dimension: most of the new carriers will be men; many of the innocent victims will be the women married to or in relationships with them.

The new regulations concerning gun possession are but another consequence of the occupation of Palestinian territories and the lack of political will on the part of Israel’s political leaders to negotiate a political settlement to the conflict. The lives saved by having more people tote more guns will be negligible compared to the innocent civilians killed by indiscriminate firing as well as shootings in moments of anger. The idea of putting guns in the hands of more Israelis will most likely result in more, rather than fewer, Israelis being killed.

What is needed is not to arm over half a million more Israeli men so that they can fight off Palestinians who violently protest the occupation, but rather to work for a negotiated political settlement of the conflict.

הפוסט More People Toting Guns: The Latest Cost of the Occupation הופיע לראשונה ב-Adva Center.