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Establishment of National Guard: Political Militia Subordinate to Minister Ben-Gvir

>> Read the full position paper  

 

This position paper is written in light of the draft resolution that will be put to the government’s vote to establish a national guard “subordinate to the Ministry of National Security,” which will be “a dedicated, skilled, and trained force that will be used to handle emergency scenarios, nationalist crime, and fight terrorism, as well as to strengthen governance in areas where this is required,” and promotion of the necessary legislative amendments and government decisions to anchor the powers of this national guard and its personnel. The draft further notes that “there is need for a skilled and trained dedicated force that can simultaneously operate in several arenas and deal with disturbances and emergency scenarios… to allow the Israel Police to concentrate on their day-to-day traditional core tasks, which are often compromised due to recurrent disturbances and emergency situations that cause harm to the citizens.”

Zulat’s Position: 

  • The proposal will enable the government to establish a private military militia typical of dictatorial regimes, as is evident from the role assigned to it to strengthen “governance.”
  • The establishment of a national guard will weaken the Israel Police, which already suffer from a shortage of personnel, equipment, and budgets, and will therefore hinder the fight against crime and corruption.
  • The establishment of a national guard is likely to increase the politicization of the Israel Police and make them hesitate to investigate corruption.
  • The proposal will allow the government to choose the entire chain of command and recruits from among its loyalists.
  • The proposed resolution will enable the government to issue new instructions for the use of force and bypass the legal limitations currently governing the operations of the Israel Police. “
  • The terms used to define the role of this national guard (“emergency scenarios,” “governance,” “terrorism,” “disturbances”) are a dangerous recipe that will allow selective, political, and racist enforcement. The government could also send this national guard to universities and cultural institutions or to stop labor strikes, arguing that this is intended to strengthen governance.

 

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Dr. Maha Sabbah Karkabi

 

Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Tel Aviv University (2015), a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Gender Studies, SOAS, University of London (2015-2016), a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Sociology at Tel Aviv University (2016-2017), and a postdoctoral fellowship Ph.D. at the Humphrey Institute for Social Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (2018-2020).
Dr. Maha Karbahi’s areas of interest focus on the connection between social change, family behavior, and gender inequality in societies in the process of change and specifically in Palestinian Arab society in Israel. Her research draws attention to the study of family life and employment, using a combined “ethnic lens” and “gender lens” and paying attention to the perspective of Palestinian Arab women, a group characterized by intersections between multiple marginal locations, which over the years has remained hidden from the research eye. Dr. Karkabi-Sabah’s research is published in professional journals and chapters in scientific books that are considered pioneers in family research, work, and gender equality.

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Prof. Frances Raday

Professor Emeritus in the Lieberman Chair in Labor Law, in the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University and serves as a full professor in the College of Management’s academic track, where she also serves as chair of the graduate program and as honorary president of the Concord Center for International Law Absorption. Radai was a member of a working group of the UN Human Rights Council on discrimination against women. In addition, she is a prominent and feminist human rights activist.

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Dr. Rawia Aburabia 

Faculty member of Sapir Academic College’s School of Law, received her PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research deals with the interface between law, gender, minorities, and human rights. Has published in leading journals on the subject of the matrimonial laws pertaining to Muslim women in Israel. Her book Under the Law, Outside Justice: Polygamy, Gendered Citizenship, and Colonialism in Israeli Law is expected to be published as part of the Gender Series of Kibbutz Meuhad Publishing House.

Dr. Aburabia has extensive experience in international human rights and public law. She has worked as a jurist for the Association for Civil Right and has been invited as a specialist to address such international forums as the United Nations and the European Parliament on the subject of indigenous communities and minority rights. She has interned with Human Rights Watch in Washington DC, and has been a member of the executive board of Amnesty International. In 2018, she was selected by the magazine Globes as one of the 40 most promising young persons in Israel under the age of 40.

 

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Ron Kessler

With over two decades of experience in the field of digital content, Ron has participated in numerous political and social campaigns. He helped run the digital activity of senior public officials, and worked in various NGOs. Ron is a fundamentally optimistic man, who believes that Israel can be changed and so can people. Lives in Tel Aviv.