Wife of far-right Israel lawmaker brings handgun to Netanyahu meeting 

Ayala Ben-Gvir, the wife of far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, brought her handgun to a meeting held yesterday with the wives of other ministers who are expected to be appointed to senior posts in the new coalition. The event was hosted by Sara Netanyahu, wife of Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, Anadolu news agency reported.

Ayala appeared with a handgun in the waistband of her skirt in a photo shared by Netanyahu’s Likud party of the “team building” event held by Sara at Jerusalem’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Responding to criticism on social media, Ayala defended herself saying: “Yes I carry a gun. Deal with it.”

Wife of incoming homeland security minister, Ben Gvir, met this morning in Jerusalem hotel with wife of the next PM Netanyahu, carrying a pistol on her skirt. Other are wives of next gov leaders pic.twitter.com/o1BHoYvAQ6

— ‏Tal Schneider טל שניידר تال شنايدر (@talschneider) November 14, 2022

“I live in Hebron, I am a mother to six sweet children, and I travel through terror-infested roads,” she wrote on Twitter.

“I am married to my husband who is the most threatened man in the country, and yes, I carry a gun. Deal with it.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir, head of the Kahanist Otzma Yehudit far-right party, is notorious for his extremist ideology, including calling for Arab citizens of Israel to  be expelled and changing the army’s rules of engagement in the occupied Palestinian territories to a shoot to kill policy against the native population of Palestinians.

Ben-Gvir is seeking the position of minister of internal security in Netanyahu’s upcoming government.

He lives with his family in the Kiryat Arba illegal settlement in Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank.

On Sunday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog mandated Netanyahu, leader of the Likud Party, to form a government within 28 days, after his coalition won a majority of seats in the Knesset elections held at the start of the month.

READ: Ben-Gvir makes coalition membership conditional on death penalty for Palestinians