Environment minister follows Trump’s lead with proposal to surround maximum security jail with crocodile-filled moats. Emily Smith, Foreign Breaking News Reporter. Henry Bodkin Jerusalem Correspondent
Palestinian prisoners could be held in jails surrounded by crocodile-filled moats, under proposals put forward by the Israeli government.
Idit Silman, Israel’s environmental protection minister, has reclassified the Nile crocodile as a “tended wild animal”, paving the way for their use at detention centres.
The reclassification of the reptile followed longstanding protests from both human and animal rights groups.
It is understood that Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-Right national security minister, is seeking to initially introduce the crocodiles to Ketziot Prison, a maximum-security jail in southern Israel.
Advertisement
The prison will be modelled on Alligator Alcatraz, the US immigration detention facility which closed in June.
Mr Ben-Gvir first proposed the idea in December during consultations with Kobi Yaakob, the prison service commissioner.
Senior prison officials have toured a crocodile farm in Hamat Gader in northern Israel as part of a preliminary assessment.
Israel’s nature and parks authority said the proposal was not possible because wild animals may only be held for educational and research purposes.
“We need to protect them, not have them protect us. That is not the spirit of the law,” officials said.
But by classifying the Nile crocodile as a “tended wild animal”, the reptiles will be allowed to be kept on prison grounds, subject to animal welfare requirements.
Environmental opposition
The move has been met with fierce opposition from Israeli environmental officials.
Neta Drori, the environmental protection ministry’s legal adviser, said there was inadequate professional and factual evidence to support the plans.
She said there was no recognised precedent for using crocodiles as a security measure, notwithstanding comparisons with Donald Trump’s Florida detention facility, which is surrounded by wetlands inhabited by the animals.
Advertisement
“Concerning the use in the United States, it was noted that this was a short-lived trial that was discontinued. It apparently took place in an area where crocodiles already occur in the wild, and there is therefore no basis for comparison,” Ms Drori said.
Alligator Alcatraz was erected in July 2025 on an abandoned airstrip surrounded by an alligator-infested swamp, and was seen as the crown jewel in the US president’s hardline immigration policy.
However, Kathleen Williams, a US district judge, ordered the facility to wind down operations over environmental concerns, and it closed last month.
Mr Ben-Gvir has previously been criticised for his treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
In one incident, about 430 protesters from more than 40 countries were filmed inside a makeshift detention area after being intercepted by the Israeli military in the Mediterranean while attempting to sail to Gaza.
Mr Ben-Gvir waved a large Israeli flag and mockingly told the prisoners, who were kneeling with their heads to the floor: “Welcome to Israel, we are the masters of the house”, as the Israeli national anthem played in the background.
Reference Link:- https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/07/17/israel-alligator-alcatraz-palestinians-jail-crocodile/