National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said Wednesday that if police do not sharply limit the use of stun grenades, “there will be no stun grenades in the police.” His warning came after images from a surprise protest by ultra-Orthodox demonstrators on Highway 4 and after criticism from Haredi lawmakers. Ben Gvir said he would hold an urgent discussion over what he called a rise in cases where stun grenades were used against civilians outside procedure.
The minister’s hard line marks a sharp reversal from his earlier defense of police use of the same crowd-control tool against anti-government and judicial overhaul protesters. In March 2023, when thousands blocked roads nationwide, police used stun grenades on the Ayalon Highway to clear demonstrators. At the time, then-Chief Inspector Meir Swissa, then the operations officer for the Tel Aviv district, was filmed throwing a grenade toward protesters. Ben Gvir called him “a top officer” and “a hero of Israel,” saying he would not let “shaming” of police affect him.
During that earlier exchange, Ben Gvir said the protesters had attacked officers, spat at them, and thrown metal barriers, and he argued that Swissa acted while police lives were being endangered. When asked on Knesset Channel whether the incident had been investigated, Ben Gvir said he had seen it in videos and insisted, “You do not need to be expert in every noise of a protest.” He also said that if right-wing protesters had behaved the same way, “without hesitation I would appoint Meir Swissa.”
In Wednesday morning’s Haredi protest, participants accused police of severe violence. Footage showed Bnei Brak-Ramat Gan station commander Lt. Cmdr. Yuval Shavit tearing a protester’s pants and dragging him on the road, while another officer was filmed kicking a protester in the head. Shas chairman Aryeh Deri urged Ben Gvir to “wake up” and stop what he called police violence, and United Torah Judaism lawmaker Meir Porush demanded an urgent Knesset committee session on alleged discriminatory enforcement. Ben Gvir did not address the alleged police violence, focusing instead on the use of stun grenades.
