'A minister who destroys': Bedouin protest Ben-Gvir over demolition of illegal homes in Negev

Hundreds of people from the Bedouin community demonstrated Thursday outside the offices of the Regulation of Bedouin Settlement Authority in Beersheba, protesting the demolition of homes in Bedouin communities. The protest follows comments made by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who vowed to continue demolishing "more and more and more" illegally built homes in the Negev. "We want to live in peace, we want cooperation," said Talal Alkernawi, the mayor of Rahat. "This conduct is unacceptable to us, we strongly condemn it. To boast that you [Ben-Gvir] are a minister who demolishes? Who are you demolishing, the citizens of the state?" Alkernawi added that the community plans to establish a tent city at the entrances to Beersheba, Ofakim, and Dimona. Ben-Gvir, addressing a Local Government Conference, responded to the planned protest and criticism by saying that Bedouin whose homes were demolished should prepare "many more schools across the Negev, because I am going to demolish more and more and more." He stated that since he took office, over 5,000 illegal structures have been demolished, and land equivalent to Tel Aviv and Givatayim combined has been returned to the state. "Anyone who builds in violation of the law must understand one thing: illegal construction will not pay off. No protest will change this policy," he asserted. The Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages in the Negev strongly criticized Ben-Gvir, disputing his figures. They stated that the area cleared in the Negev is at most 2 square kilometers, compared to Tel Aviv and Givatayim's 55 square kilometers. The council estimates that thousands of families have lost their homes, with cumulative economic damages reaching approximately 250 million shekels. Ben-Gvir retorted, "I hear the crying and wailing of the mayor of Rahat against enforcement of illegal homes in the Negev. And I am telling him: the era of lawlessness is over, the era of governance has begun. We will destroy every illegal house in the Negev down to its foundations."

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We want to live in peace, we want cooperation. This conduct is unacceptable to us, we strongly condemn it. To boast that you [Ben-Gvir] are a minister who demolishes? Who are you demolishing, the citizens of the state?