Wife of right-wing MK brings her gun to lunch with Sara Netanyahu – then mocks her critics. “I have a gun, deal with it.”
By World Israel News Staff
The wife of firebrand Israeli lawmaker mocked her critics Monday after she had brought her personal firearm to a meeting with Opposition Leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara Netanyahu.
Ayala Ben-Gvir, a resident of the Givat Ha’Avot neighborhood of Kiryat Arba on the edge of Hebron and the wife of Otzma Yehudit chairman MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, raised eyebrows Monday during a luncheon with Sara Netanyahu and the wives of other members of the right-wing bloc. Photographs of the gathering revealed she was armed.
Sara Netanyahu, the wife of the prime minister-elect, hosted the luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Jerusalem, which included Shas chief Aryeh Deri’s wife, Yaffa; Noam chairman Avi Maoz’s wife, Galit; and United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf’s wife, Rivka.
After the event, Mrs. Ben-Gvir came under fire for carrying her handgun on her person during the luncheon.
She fired back at her critics, tweeting: “I live in Hebron, I am a mother of six dear children and I drive on terror-stricken roads and I am married to a man who is the most threatened person in the country. So yes, I carry a gun. Deal with it.”
At the inaugural meeting of the Otzma Yehudit faction for the 25th Knesset Tuesday, she accused her critics of being “male chauvinists” for “coming out against” her for carrying a gun. “Women are also permitted to carry a weapon and protect their lives.”
Personal firearms are often carried by residents of Judea and Samaria due to the elevated security risk in those areas.