Israel is advancing a plan to use crocodiles at its prisons, a policy promoted by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was voted into office on a promise to dramatically worsen conditions for Palestinians in Israeli jails.
Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman this week reclassified the legal status of the Nile crocodile, enabling the animals to be placed in areas surrounding prisons to prevent escapes. Reports in Israeli media suggest that the practice will begin at Ketziot Prison in southern Israel, which primarily holds Palestinians on terror-related charges.
Mr Ben-Gvir, who has criminal convictions and has filmed himself abusing prisoners since taking office, has restricted the duration of showers allowed to Palestinians held on security charges and has banned inmates from running bakeries.
He first suggested using crocodiles in December, during a meeting with the head of Israel’s prison service, according to Israeli outlet Channel 13. Officials from the prison service visited a crocodile farm in northern Israel in January.
Ms Silman reportedly went ahead with the reclassification despite opposition from her ministry’s legal adviser and Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority, Ynet reported. Nile crocodiles could previously be kept only for educational or research purposes and only on licensed premises.
“Although prison service officials said they were aware of and prepared to ensure the animals’ physical welfare, including based on their experience operating canine units, the organisation does not appear to have expertise in raising dangerous wild animals such as crocodiles,” the Environmental Protection Ministry’s legal adviser, Neta Drori, wrote in a letter to Ms Silman.
Opponents of the move say it is a stunt for political purposes. Journalist Josh Breiner posted on social media that the idea “perfectly expresses the level of populism that the criminal minister has sunk to, which any person of sound mind understands as utter stupidity”.
Former government spokesman Eylon Levy wrote: “There is no problem in Israel of prisoners escaping from prisons. It has a severe problem of a shortage of detention cells … it is possible to address the problem, or it is possible to behave like villains from James Bond movies because there is nothing cheaper than populism.”
Israeli human rights groups regularly publish reports of torture against Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Leading rights organisation B’Tselem published a report in January that said the jails “continue to function as a network of torture camps for Palestinians, with the systematic abuse even more extensive than before”.
“This includes physical and psychological abuse, inhuman conditions, deliberate starvation and denial of medical care, all of which has led to numerous deaths,” the group added.
