Ben Gvir instructed his party members: 'Downplay the crocodile plan'
After boasting about creating moats with crocodiles to secure prisons, the chairman of Otzma Yehudit fears the move is hurting the election campaign and has ordered the party not to highlight the plan in public messaging. This was learned by Ynet. The minister's office stated: 'We do not engage in media spins.'
Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir instructed in internal discussions of Otzma Yehudit to stop highlighting in the media, social networks, and in messaging the plan he promoted to secure prisons using crocodiles. His argument is that highlighting the plan hurts the party's campaign, as the public perceives it as a gimmick and an unserious move. This was learned by Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth.
As recalled, Ben Gvir boasted about promoting the joint initiative with the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to secure prisons using moats with crocodiles and has spoken about it more than once in the recent period, including mentions in the media and in public and official statements to journalists. In an announcement about the start of excavations for the crocodiles in a pilot project around Ketziot Prison, Ben Gvir said:
"Whoever thought this was a gimmick - was wrong."
Just at the beginning of the month, on August 4, the chairman of Otzma Yehudit arrived with the Minister of Environmental Protection Idit Silman at Ketziot Prison, where they toured and filmed a video alongside the moats intended for the crocodiles, which were dug around a wing where Nukhba terrorists are held. The video was filmed after the District Court stopped the use of crocodiles to secure prisons due to a petition by the "Let the Animals Live" organization, but allowed the continuation of the work of digging the moats and infrastructure in the pilot project at Ketziot Prison.
Alongside the instruction not to highlight the crocodiles, Ben Gvir's campaign is also dealing quite a bit with the attempt to take votes from Likud and Shas. The Minister of National Security tells the public all the time that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may prefer the chairman of Yashar, Gadi Eisenkot, over a right-wing government, with the goal of drawing Likudnik votes to himself. In a live broadcast he held on Facebook two weeks ago, Ben Gvir repeated the message:
"If Bibi decides that he will go with Eisenkot, it will be a disgraceful mistake for all time. If he prefers the center-left over us, then a government like the one that was now - everything will go backward."
In addition, the chairman of Otzma Yehudit criticized Likud and claimed that the judicial revolution failed: "Unfortunately, those who dealt with this did not succeed. If they had done what I did in the police - the changes in the prisons - then we would have seen things differently."
Ben Gvir's office stated in response: "Minister Ben Gvir continues to lead a historic, unprecedented reform in the Israel Prison Service - from hardening the conditions of terrorists to upgrading security and defense systems. We will continue to engage in real security work for the sake of the security of the citizens of Israel, and not in media spins."
