Israel's Ben-Gvir pushing for powers to designate individual criminals, groups as terrorists

Far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is pushing for a bill that would allow for criminal groups or individuals to be designated as terror entities, raising concerns that such powers would be used to target the country's Palestinian citizens.

The bill, if approved, would give the extremist minister the power to designate criminals as terrorists, which in turn would enable the Shin Bet intelligence service to use special powers reserved for national security issues.

It will give the intelligence service the green light to use methods such as administrative detention, torture and abuse.

Israeli media said the Ministerial Committee on Legislation had already advanced a bill on Sunday.

The move has raised serious concerns among Palestinian citizens of Israel, who number around 2.1 million.

Palestinians in Israel are often subjected to discrimination, marginalisation and a lower quality of life compared to Jewish citizens, forcing many into criminal activity as their only "way of survival".

Speaking to The New Arab, Palestinian activist Abed Abu Shehadeh said that "Israel’s exploitation of crime within the Arab community to justify involving Shin Bet to combat it" is "nothing more than a cynical use of a phenomenon that the state and police have failed to address for decades".

Abu Shehadeh said Ben-Gvir, who has been convicted of racism and incitement against Palestinians and has a track record of making racist and xenophobic comments about the community, will no doubt exploit Shin Bet’s secrecy to "spy and act against activists and political figures within the Palestinian community in Israel".

Palestinians are also the victims of crime at disproportionate levels, with murder cases in their communities solved at a lower rate compared to Jewish ones.

The Palestinian community in Israel has the third-highest murder rate among OECD countries, with 11.11 murders per 100,000 citizens, according to a Taub Institute study.

So far in 2025, with Ben-Gvir as national security minister, the number of murders in Israel has reached an all-time high of 255, with 205 of those killed being Palestinian.

Haaretz, citing sources, said it "remains unclear" what the legal significance of the bill would be and its implications for members of criminal organisations.

"Everything has been done without proper staff work, but for the 'likes,'" a security official told Haaretz.

According to the Israeli paper, some Shin Bet staff have voiced opposition to the bill following concerns that it could be "misused against private citizens". Shin Bet chief David Zini’s stance on the bill also remains unclear, despite Ben-Gvir claiming that he supports the proposed law.

Discussions on the law are due to be held over the next few weeks, the Israeli daily added.