Ben-Gvir, responding to Amit Segal, writes:
“The Negev—where for years people complained about the Bedouin takeover of state land—I demolished 10,000 homes there in just the past year and a half.”
This is, of course, complete nonsense. Ten thousand homes have not been demolished in the Negev over the past year and a half.
How do I know? Well, let’s start with the fact that just two days ago, Ben-Gvir issued a press release saying that he had come to witness the demolition of the 10,000th structure this year—and that was in Jawarish, Ramla.
So Ben-Gvir claimed that 10,000 structures had been demolished nationwide. Now it has somehow become 10,000 in the Negev alone.
Second, there is a huge difference between a structure and a home. A structure can also be a tent, a shack, a caravan, or a livestock enclosure. It does not necessarily mean a residential home.
If we are talking about actual permanent houses, the number is probably somewhere around 100.
Third, Ben-Gvir’s count of 10,000 demolitions also includes repeat demolitions. In other words, a tin shack or tent is demolished, the owner rebuilds another tent on the same site, and it is demolished again.
(By the way, most of the demolitions are carried out by the owners themselves. They understand that if they do not demolish the structure themselves, they will face sanctions, so they prefer to do it themselves.)
The bottom line is that there has undoubtedly been improvement and progress when it comes to demolishing illegally built homes, and especially illegal structures. Ben-Gvir genuinely deserves credit for that, alongside Amichai Chikli, the Bedouin Authority, and other bodies involved.
But there is an enormous gap between that and claiming that 10,000 homes were demolished in the Negev alone, and in just the past year and a half.