Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir criticized the country's judicial system after the Jerusalem District Court imposed a temporary injunction blocking a plan to relocate Nile crocodiles to a prison facility holding Palestinian terrorists. The courts "once again sided with the terrorists and against the people of Israel," Ben-Gvir stated on Facebook.
Ben-Gvir and Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman had proposed allowing the Israel Prison Service to station crocodiles around Ketziot Prison in the Negev Desert south of Beersheva. The animal rights organization Let the Animals Live filed an administrative petition against the initiative, while the Israel Nature and Parks Authority stated there is no adequate professional basis for keeping crocodiles at a security facility.
Ketziot Prison houses security prisoners, including members of Hamas's Nukhba Force involved in the October 7, 2023 attack on the northwestern Negev. The plan to station crocodiles around the wing housing these inmates was modeled after a Florida prison facility, though that location was built adjacent to an existing crocodile habitat.
To proceed with the initiative, Ben-Gvir and Silman sought to reclassify crocodiles from "protected wild animals" To "domesticated" Status, allowing the Israel Prison Service to manage the reptiles. Construction of trenches around the prison had already begun, with 21 million shekels allocated to the project.
The court's freeze order remains in effect pending the state's response, due by August 16.