‘Deal with it’: Ben-Gvir’s gun-toting wife rips ‘male chauvinists’

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 25^th 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.