JERUSALEM: Israeli Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman has reclassified crocodiles from wild animals to “captive-bred wildlife”, a transfer that clears the way in which for the reptiles for use for safety functions, together with to discourage jail escapes.
Far-right Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who reportedly proposed in December surrounding a jail for Palestinian detainees with crocodiles, just like Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility, welcomed the choice.
“Are you considering of making an attempt to flee? Assume once more,” Mr Ben Gvir wrote in a Fb publish on Thursday, alongside an AI-generated picture of himself with a crocodile on a leash.
The caption learn: “Ministers Ben Gvir and Silman are cooperating and encircling prisons with crocodiles!”
Israel’s Channel 13 reported that the Israel Nature and Parks Authority had opposed Mr Ben Gvir’s proposal when he first floated the concept final 12 months.
A “SECURITY BODY”
The reclassification transfers oversight of the animals from the authority to a “safety physique”. The Israel Jail Service, which Mr Ben Gvir runs, is one such physique.
The regulation, signed into regulation on Wednesday, stipulates that Nile crocodiles could also be bred offered that “they’re held by a safety physique… below circumstances decided by the Director (of the Nature and Parks Authority) to forestall their launch into the wild, and topic to the Minister of Environmental Safety figuring out that their possession is required for safety functions”.
Israeli media reported that Mr Ben Gvir intends to deploy crocodiles round Ketziot jail in southern Israel, which holds many Hamas militants captured after the group’s Oct 7, 2023 assault on Israel, which triggered the greater than two-year struggle in Gaza.
Channel 13 mentioned Mr Ben Gvir’s proposal was initially “met with ridicule by a number of officers” on the Israel Jail Service when he raised it final 12 months.
