Hagai Reznik warns of 400,000 illegal weapons flooding Israel—100,000 in the Negev alone—calling for radical legislative reform to stop the crisis before it engulfs the entire nation.
Hagai Reznik, director of the Rifman Institute for the Development of the Negev, has sounded a chilling alarm: Israel is drowning in illegal weapons, and without urgent government action, the country could face a national security catastrophe.
In a letter to the Prime Minister and senior ministers, and in an interview with Channel 7, Reznik revealed staggering figures—400,000 illegal weapons across Israel, with 100,000 concentrated in the Negev. Police, he said, are fighting an impossible battle: “Even on the best days, they seize 50–60 weapons. It’s like emptying the sea with a spoon.”
Reznik’s proposal is bold: a new legislative framework that would authorize administrative searches and detentions based on geographic intelligence “cells,” rather than requiring painstaking warrants for each individual home. Judicial oversight would remain, but police would finally have the flexibility to dismantle arms networks.
He stressed that the reform is not about targeting a community but protecting all citizens. “The right to life outweighs every other consideration,” Reznik declared, insisting that a cell-based approach would prevent collective blame while empowering residents to share intelligence safely.
The urgency, he warned, is underscored by the emerging black market for rented weapons. In Bedouin areas of the Negev, firearms are now available like consumer goods—assault rifles and long guns rented for hours or days, with social media flooded by young men flaunting their borrowed firepower. “This culture of weapons is normalized and entrenched,” Reznik cautioned.
Reznik himself and members of his institute have received threats for raising the alarm, but he insists the danger can no longer be ignored. “The catastrophe is not ahead of us—it is already here,” he said.
Reznik has already won support from MK Tzvika Fogel, chair of the Knesset’s National Security Committee, who promised to bring Reznik’s legislative plan to the table at the opening of the next Knesset session. But Reznik warns that without immediate action, Israel risks losing control of the escalating weapons epidemic.
