National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir spoke this morning (Wednesday) at the MUNI EXPO 2026 Local Government Conference about the major protest planned by Bedouins in the Negev following the demolition of illegal structures, and made clear that enforcement policy will continue and even expand.
Ben Gvir said that in recent years, there had not been a sufficient response to the phenomenon of illegal construction in the Negev. "When I came in, no one was dealing with it. In the past year alone, we demolished 5,700 illegal homes," he said.
Referring to reports that families whose homes were demolished had moved into educational institutions in southern Israel, the minister said, "They told me today that they are threatening me. They say Bedouins whose homes were demolished took over and are sleeping in a school in Tel Arad. They are there because they say: 'Ben Gvir is destroying our homes.'"
The minister made clear that, as far as he is concerned, he has no intention of changing the enforcement policy. "Let them sleep in many schools, let them prepare many places, because I am going to demolish more and more of their [structures]," he declared.
At the conclusion of his remarks, Ben Gvir stressed that the campaign is directed against building violations and not against the entire Bedouin community: "Anyone who builds legally - ahlan wa sahlan [welcome]. Anyone who is law-abiding - I will embrace him. But someone who builds illegally - there is no reason that when one citizen builds, within two days they come and demolish it, while in the Bedouin diaspora there were those who were not touched."