Biden threatens to 'end arms shipments' to Israel after National Security Minister gives guns to citizens

Over the weekend, Law Enforcement Today reported that the US Department of Commerce has issued a 90-day "pause" on the issuance of export licenses for most civilian firearms and ammunition due to what it said was “national security and foreign policy interests.”

The Biden administration has attempted to push for more gun control at the federal level in the US right after just about every shooting in America, specifically mass shootings. Most recently, following the Maine shooting, Biden asked, “Who the hell needs an assault weapon that can hold, in some cases, up to 100 rounds?”

This question was posed even after thousands of illegal immigrants have arrived daily into the country via the southern border, many from the middle east, and tensions have been high in other nations against America due to its intervention with the Israeli-Hamas war.

Now, the US has threatened to end "arms shipments" to Israel, which Joe Biden has been supporting unabashedly, due to an image circulating that showed National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir handing out firearms to citizens and “community security squads.” 

According to the Israeli news outlet, Haaretz, Ben-Gvir’s shared posts on his social media accounts showing him handing rifles to civilians in two towns, Bnei Brak and Elad. The event was reportedly political in nature and has turned into a "diplomatic incident."

“I’m telling you, dear citizens: a handgun can save a family, a rifle can save an entire building,” Ben-Gvir said at the event.

Prior to this, Israel's gun laws have been even more strict than some of the most Democratic-and-gun-controlled cities in the US.

Via Tri-State Alert, Attorney Clint Barkdoll said, “I think you’re going to see changes in Israel when it comes to gun laws in light of what happened last weekend. I don’t think a lot of people in the US or around the world realize how low gun ownership was in Israel. You do wonder if they had higher gun ownership, might some of these catastrophes from the terrorist attacks last weekend have been prevented? Probably.”

Since the October 7 attack, Israeli police have in fact encouraged private citizens to carry firearms, specifically when going to synagogues. 

While the firearms handed to citizens were not American made or provided, Joe Biden still used the incident to warn Israel that the US would stop supplying guns if they planned on using them to arm civilians, or if they were to be handed out at political events.

"The administration also threatened to halt an order of some 20,000 rifles purchased by the National Security Ministry (NSM) from American suppliers," Haaretz reported, adding that the "announcement shocked Israel’s defense establishment." 

After "diplomatic deliberations," Israel agreed to distribute weapons only by the Israeli Police or the Israel Defense Force (IDF). Clarification on the "community security squads" was also made, with Israel saying the entities are "seen as an auxiliary force of the Israel Police and the Border Police, and that their weapons use will be overseen by the security forces."

The squads will be required to wear "colored operational vests." There are 700 new squads that have been created around the country, according to the NSM.

Police Maj. Gen. Shimon Lavi is in charge of arming the squads, and he's said that so far 32 of them have received their weapons, totaling approximately 5,000 rifles.

There has been a shortage of firearms- both rifles and handguns- and Israel has been looking for foreign suppliers to arm both community security squads and private citizens.

Reportedly, the NSM is also conducting a "private licensing campaign" for citizens. This campaign has seen almost 30,000 gun licenses in 2023. This represents twice as many as the entire year of 2022.