After promoting it as an unconventional step to enhance prison security, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir began to withdraw in the media from highlighting the plan to use water moats that include crocodiles around some prisons, fearing that the initiative would turn from a propaganda card into material that would harm his election campaign, after it began to be read among the public as a “show” rather than a serious plan.
According to a report by journalist Amir Ettinger on the Ynet website and Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Ben Gvir, during internal discussions in the Otzma Yehudit party, instructed his campaign staff not to highlight the crocodile plan in the media, communication platforms, and electoral messages.
Ben Gvir bases this, according to the report, on his conviction that focusing on the plan is harmful to the campaign, because it is understood by sectors of the public as a “gamek” and a non-serious step.
Ben Gvir had recently bragged about the joint initiative with the Israeli Prison Service, which requires the use of trenches containing crocodiles to secure prisons, and he spoke about it repeatedly in the media and in official and public statements to journalists.
When announcing the start of trench-digging work as part of a pilot project around the “Ktziot” prison, Ben Gvir said: “Whoever thinks that the matter is just a gimme, has made a mistake.”
On August 4, the head of Otzma Yehudit, accompanied by Environmental Protection Minister Aidit Silman, arrived at Ketziot Prison, where they toured the place and filmed a video next to the trenches designated for crocodiles, which were dug around a wing in which members of the “elite” affiliated with “Hamas” are held.
The video was filmed after the Central Court had stopped the use of crocodiles to secure prisons, against the backdrop of a petition submitted by the “Let the Animals Live” association, but allowed the work of digging trenches and constructing infrastructure to continue within the experimental project in the prison.
In parallel with the directive not to highlight the crocodile issue, Ben Gvir’s campaign also focuses on trying to attract votes from Likud and Shas.
The Minister of National Security reiterates to the public that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may prefer the head of the “Yashar!” party. Gadi Eisenkot decided to form a right-wing government, in an attempt to attract Likud voters to his party.
During a live broadcast on Facebook about two weeks ago, Ben Gvir said: “If Bibi decides to go with Eisenkot, that will be a mistake that will remain a shame forever.” If he favors the center left over us, a government like the one that exists now will set everything back.”
Ben Gvir also criticized Likud, considering that the “judicial revolution” had failed, and said: “Unfortunately, those who dealt with this file did not succeed.” If they had done what I did in the police, and the changes I made in the prisons, we would have seen things differently.”
Ben Gvir’s office responded to the report by saying: “Minister Ben Gvir continues to lead a historic and unprecedented reform in the Prison Service, from tightening the conditions of detention of militants to developing security and protection systems.”
The office added: “We will continue to engage in real security work for the security of the citizens of Israel, and not with media maneuvers.”
Thus, it appears that the “crocodile plan”, which had previously turned into a propaganda material for Ben Gvir, has now entered the stage of media dilution, after it became for his electoral campaign a card that needs more control than promotion.
