Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben‑Gvir said on Monday that all Jewish residents of Jerusalem will now be eligible to apply for gun licences based on their home address, confirming a major expansion of firearm access at a moment when he has also been the subject of false online rumours claiming he had been killed. The new policy, reported by Haaretz, opens eligibility to roughly 300,000 additional people living across the city.
Ben‑Gvir has spent the past year pushing for wider civilian gun ownership in what he frames as a protective measure during periods of heightened security tension. Until now, broad eligibility had largely been limited to residents of Jewish settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, where licences were often tied to geographic risk assessments. This latest shift moves that threshold dramatically, making neighbourhood alone the deciding factor for applicants across the city.
