The Crocodiles Are the Least of It
Ben-Gvir's crocodile prison is now official policy. It's also the clearest symptom of a government that plunders the budget
The latest story didn't surprise any Israeli, but it did surprise many people abroad who follow me on X and here on Substack. It's about Itamar Ben-Gvir and the crocodiles.
Ever since the Israeli minister responsible for the police - a Jewish supremacist, a disciple of Meir Kahane, a convicted felon who, among other activities, incited against Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin before his assassination — heard about Donald Trump's idea of a alligator-surrounded prison, he has devoted himself to a similar project. In his case, the proposition that prisoners held for security offenses — meaning, in practice, Palestinians — should somehow be guarded by crocodiles.
While in the United States this was an idea floated by the president, soon to be abandoned, in Israel the bureaucracy quietly went to work. Ten days ago, the minister responsible for environmental protection, Idit Silman, issued new regulations recognizing Nile crocodiles as "managed wildlife," thereby allowing them to be kept by security agencies for this purpose.
The Israel Prison Service, under orders from Ben Gvir, has already announced that it is treating the project as “an experiment”.
This week, Ben-Gvir's Ministry of National Security issued the following statement regarding work that has begun at Ketziot Prison, which houses Hamas prisoners:
“The Israel Prison Service is fully prepared. The plan exists down to the smallest detail — from the maintenance and care of the crocodiles to the crocodiles' resting enclosures. Prison officers have been trained to operate the facility. The Ministry of National Security has allocated 21 million shekels for the project, enabling the construction of the canals. The Israel Prison Service welcomes the initiative, which it says will make it easier for prison guards overseeing the Nukhba terrorists. Whoever murdered, massacred, raped, and behaved like an animal deserves to be guarded by an animal, just like them."
One phone call from Netanyahu would end Ben-Gvir's pet project. He won't make it. Netanyahu won't rein Ben-Gvir in over the Temple Mount. Why would he do it over crocodiles?
Off the record, every professional involved in the prison system considers the idea lunacy. There is no meaningful prison escape problem to solve in the first place, and surrounding prisons with crocodiles would not save taxpayers' money.
The reason most Israelis weren't surprised by this story is not only that Ben-Gvir's crocodile fixation is well known. It's also, to put it bluntly, the sheer madness — the unhinged nature — of the current far-right coalition government.
(If this piece seems focused on wasted tax money and practical lunacy, that's only because the moral failure of the project is so obvious it barely needs stating. Prisoners guarded by wild animals belongs to the Colosseum. Not to a Jewish and democratic state).
The crocodiles are just one example, perhaps the most surreal, of something that has become part of daily Israeli life.
Another, far more consequential and persistent example is the way the current coalition has funneled enormous sums of taxpayers' money to the ultra-Orthodox community, one of Benjamin Netanyahu's core political constituencies, throughout the war — even as Israel's national debt and budget deficit continue to grow.
Many commentators, myself included, have used the word "plunder" to describe the way taxpayers' money has been channeled into extraordinary allocations for ultra-Orthodox institutions — institutions that openly reject Zionism and educate their students not to serve in the Israel Defense Forces or any national service.
How much money are we talking about?
In the latest state budget, the government allocated roughly 6 billion shekels (about 2 billion USD) in coalition funds for narrow sectoral purposes. Ultra-Orthodox youth movements received roughly six times as much government funding as Zionist youth movements. The Likud-led government — supposedly committed to free-market economics — expanded a food voucher program, but the eligibility criteria were designed by Aryeh Deri’s people, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, in a way that overwhelmingly benefited his own constituency. That program alone is worth 257 million shekels.
Ultra-Orthodox yeshivas received 2 billion shekels out of the six billion. Additionally, funding for religious buildings rose from 52 million shekels in 2023 to 131 million in 2024, before settling at 123 million in 2025. This was all done while Israel was fighting its longest, hardest war since 1948.
At the same time, the government refused to fund dedicated transportation for reserve soldiers who need to report for duty or return home during Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Also, deep cuts were made to social services because of the costs of the war.
These issues may seem far more technical and budgetary than the story about the crocodiles. But this is the daily fabric of Israeli public life.
These are just a few examples, a taste of Israeli discourse. Israelis are not worried only — or even primarily — about the war. Increasingly, they are worried about the future of their society, considering a a failed political system.
This has been one of Israel's longest-serving governments. Yet when it comes to meaningful reforms, it has accomplished remarkably little. But at channeling taxpayers' money into sectors economists warn are unproductive, it has worked on an industrial scale. The Crocodiles Are the Least of It.
At first I was chuckling to read about the crocodiles. But it’s such a complete waste of funds. The religious anti-Zionist right is an existential threat to the state of Israel. As a Jew in the diaspora, Smotrich and Ben-Gvir have got to go!!!! How can we in the diaspora help overthrow these two whack jobs???
The PM gives speeches describing himself as a champion of Zionist unity while allowing to flourish within his ranks, as core elements of his coalition, narrow sectoral interests and extremist agendas that weaken the social bonds he professes to uphold. The contrast between word and deed is glaring.