On October 7, the day Hamas attacked Israel, Inbal Rabin-Lieberman, a 25-year-old security coordinator at the Kibbutz Nir Am settlement located near the Gaza Strip, saved lives because she had a gun.  After the kibbutz came under attack, Inbal hurriedly opened the armory and distributed guns to the twelve-member security team.

She caught the Hamas murderers unawares because they were not expecting to meet armed resistance.  Lieberman killed five terrorists while the others gunned down twenty-five before the Israeli Defense Force arrived.  Because of her actions, Nir-Am was the only settlement bordering the Gaza Strip that did not suffer Israeli casualties during Hama’s attack.

The number of Israelis killed in the terrorist attack is over 1,400.  How many of those deaths could have been averted had more Israelis owned guns? Israel has draconian gun-control laws, worse than those in New York City.  Only three percent (3%) of Israeli citizens own guns (compared to about thirty-two percent (32%) of U.S. citizens). 

The NY Daily News reports that less than one percent (about 0.5%) of New York City residents have legal handguns.  Jews comprise approximately nine percent (9%) of New York City's population, the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel. 

New York City is trying ridiculously hard to keep guns away from the residents with its draconian gun “safety” laws including unconstitutional, vague, and broad no-carry zones.  New York declared much of the city to consist of sensitive locations where legally permitted guns are outlawed.  Times Square and Central Park will be gun-free sensitive locations.  Gun-free meaning only those bent on murder and mayhem will be carrying a gun. 

The Hamas terrorists were able to get into Israel and kill innocent civilians despite Israel having one of the toughest border security systems in the world, whereas the United States has wide-open borders.  Anyone, regardless of their affiliation and country of origin can enter the U.S. at will.  Millions a year have been pouring in since January 2020.  Is the United States becoming safer as a result?  The Justice Department is now warning that terrorist threats were fast evolving in the U.S. and that “we cannot and do not discount the possibility that Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to conduct attacks on our own soil.”

It is close to impossible to own a firearm as a private citizen in Israel.  Former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett says, “Except during times of heightened terrorism anyone who would possess a firearm without being compelled to do so because of their job (soldier, police officer, etc.) is viewed by the general public as simply being mentally defective. Those same people are the first ones to ask if you sit next to them, if they know you are armed, when you get on Jerusalem’s Lite Rail.”

There is no Second Amendment in Israel.  The Israeli gun lobby cannot gain traction due to a liberal/socialist-oriented populace.  “Politics rule. Citizens don’t.” 

“Much of the opposition to gun ownership comes from the various women’s movements. They point to deaths of women from firearms. Otherwise opposition against private ownership of firearms goes back to the founding of Israel.  The second law passed by the Israeli Legislature (1949) was confiscation of all firearms and munitions.”

“The average citizen has no right to own any type of weapon whatsoever, and doing so illegally will land him or her in jail for many years. In situations like these, selecting who gets to have access to firearms and who doesn’t is the equivalent of selecting who gets to live or die.”

Yonatan Stern is the Cherev Gidon Israeli Tactical Training Academy Director. Cherev Gidon instructors are Israeli combat veterans with a mission to provide high-quality Israeli tactical shooting skills to American civilians. Firearms News reached out to Yonatan, “This is a topic I am intimately familiar with. I moved out of Israel specifically because of its Bolshevik gun controls that denied me any right to defend myself or my family against heavily armed terrorists. I know first-hand how dangerous and deadly this terrible situation is.”

Israeli News reported in February that following a deadly terror attack in Jerusalem, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that, “his government will loosen restrictions on private gun ownership in Israel and expand the licensing of weapons for thousands of civilians. Netanyahu justified the action by citing examples in which armed citizens or off-duty soldiers used their weapons to stop terrorists and save lives.”  

David Codrea, in Firearms News reports that:

“While parallels to the situation in Ukraine are understandable enough to make with this new move to recruit civilians into the defense equation, the biggest similarity (and biggest mistake) is, both nations waited until the wolf was at the door to start the process. Our own Second Amendment presupposed an already armed and trained citizenry that could be mustered and deployed to match a professional military threat.”

“And for their part, now that they’re armed and have experienced firsthand what is needed to fight tyranny, don’t look for soon-to-be battle-hardened Ukrainians to give up their guns the next time peace pokes through the war clouds.”

Rabbi Raz Blizovsky, an activist who has been part of grassroots discussions concerning personal arms, told The Times of Israel, “Firearm licenses for private citizens in Israel are typically only granted to individuals who can prove a need for extra security in their line of work or daily life. It's a "pity" that it took a devastating terror attack to wake up the country to the importance of personal protection for private citizens.  I have been involved with groups that have been talking about this issue for years. During calm times, people don’t do anything.”

Blizovsky told the Times he believes the atrocities committed by Hamas could have been avoided if more Israeli civilians had firearms.

Never ever give up your guns, because the minute you do you become a helpless victim.  You never know when something like an inhumane attack on the homeland will happen. We have open borders through which illegal immigrants pour in from the entire world.  We are not just talking about refugees from Central America and Mexico. Deranged Middle Easterners are entering unfettered.  What are their plans?  Entire terror cells could be walking across the borders.

Don’t believe someone who tells you to give up your guns to make society safe.  The Second Amendment allows us to keep and bear arms to keep us safe, not to take our arms to keep us safe. 

In the end, Stern said the Israeli government’s restriction on civilian firearms ownership cost hundreds of civilian lives. That grave injustice should never be forgotten.

Stern said: “But what I'm talking about right now is the guilt of disarming a population in face of terrorism that is unthinkable and that is evil, and they're going to have to pay when their day of judgment comes. Whether it's in front of a judge or whether it's in front of God, each and every person who wrote those laws and who enforced those laws is going to have to pay for their responsibility for all that blood that was spilled because they disarmed those people and didn't give them the ability to defend themselves.”

“In the end the Israeli government’s restriction on civilian firearms ownership cost hundreds of civilian lives. And that grave injustice should never be forgotten.” Nor allowed to be repeated in other countries.

Image: Ralf Steinberger