Far-right Israeli minister to get his own 'militia': Reports
A notorious far-right Israeli minister is reportedly to get to form his own armed force, which opponents and Palestinians have denounced as a radical militia meant to ratchet up the occupying regime's brutality.
Itamar Ben-Gvir got Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the formation of the force in the future, after threatening to quit the premier's cabinet, Israeli media outlets reported on Monday.
The force is expected to recruit extremist Israeli settlers among others, and reports directly to Ben-Gvir instead of the Israeli regime's police commissioner.
The minister circulated a letter signed by Netanyahu among media outlets, in which the premier has vowed to raise the issue of forming such a body in the upcoming cabinet meeting, The Times of Israel reported.
The prospect of the creation of the force has ruffled feathers even among the regime's current and former officials.
Gilad Kariv, an Israeli legislator, criticized Netanyahu’s promise to Ben Gvir, urging Shin Bet, the regime's so-called internal security service, to publicly oppose the formation of a "Ben Gvir law-approved militia."
Former Israeli police chief Moshe Karadi said Ben-Gvir would be forming "a private militia for his political needs," and warned, "You cannot have an operational force that doesn’t report to the police commissioner."
The Palestinian foreign ministry, meanwhile, issued a statement, calling Ben-Gvir a "fascist" and any armed force that could be run by him a "militia of racial terror [that] will only serve to target, kill, and torture the undefended Palestinian people, en masse."
It held the Israeli regime's cabinet responsible for the repercussion of this decision, "which only confirms Israel’s absolute contempt for Palestinian rights and lives and flagrant breach of the international community’s parameters of a just solution."
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