Former Firearms Licensing Chief Faces Indictment Pending Hearing

The economic department of the State Attorney’s Office announced today (Tuesday) to Israel Avishar, who served as head of the Firearms Licensing Division in the Ministry of National Security, that State Attorney Amit Aisman is considering prosecuting him, pending a hearing, on suspicion of fraud and breach of trust offenses.

According to the suspicion, after the outbreak of the "Swords of Iron" war, Avishar allowed people who were not legally authorized to do so to issue gun permits to Israeli citizens. In this way, those unauthorized individuals issued about 23,000 conditional gun approvals and about 15,000 final gun licenses.

The case was investigated by the National Unit for International Crime Investigations in Lahav 433 of the Israel Police. Investigators focused on unusual conduct and irregularities in the distribution of thousands of gun licenses, which were allegedly granted by trusted associates of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir without proper authority or suitable professional training.

This affair was exposed בעקבות investigative journalism. It was previously reported in several media outlets that Avishar himself acknowledged, during Knesset discussions, that a command center operated in the minister’s office where unauthorized individuals distributed approvals to carry firearms and conducted phone interviews.

The investigation into the affair was conducted following petitions submitted to the High Court of Justice on the matter, demanding an examination of the legality of the distribution of the approvals. Avishar, for his part, resigned from his position in the division in December 2023.