{"id":34872,"date":"2026-07-19T05:51:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T05:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=34872"},"modified":"2026-07-19T05:51:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T05:51:38","slug":"israel-plans-alligator-alcatraz-for-palestinian-prisoners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/?p=34872","title":{"rendered":"Israel plans \u2018alligator Alcatraz\u2019 for Palestinian prisoners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Environment minister follows Trump\u2019s lead with proposal to surround maximum security jail with crocodile-filled moats. Emily Smith<\/a>,\u00a0Foreign Breaking News Reporter.\u00a0Henry Bodkin<\/a>\u00a0Jerusalem Correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Israel has reclassified the Nile crocodile as a \u2018tended wild animal\u2019, paving the way for their use in the penitentiary system  Credit: Ayzenstayn\/Moment RF<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Palestinian prisoners<\/a> could be held in jails surrounded by crocodile-filled moats, under proposals put forward by the Israeli government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Idit Silman, Israel\u2019s environmental protection minister, has reclassified the Nile crocodile as a \u201ctended wild animal\u201d, paving the way for their use at detention centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reclassification of the reptile followed longstanding protests from both human and animal rights groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is understood\u00a0that Itamar Ben-Gvir<\/a>, the far-Right national security minister, is seeking to initially introduce the crocodiles to Ketziot Prison, a maximum-security jail in southern Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prison will be modelled on Alligator Alcatraz<\/a>, the US immigration detention facility which closed in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"'Alligator
\u2018Alligator Alcatraz\u2019 was constructed to support Donald Trump\u2019s strict deportation agenda  Credit: Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mr Ben-Gvir first proposed the idea in December during consultations with Kobi Yaakob, the prison service commissioner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior prison officials have toured a crocodile farm in Hamat Gader in northern Israel as part of a preliminary assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel<\/a>\u2019s nature and parks authority said the proposal was not possible because wild animals may only be held for educational and research purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to protect them, not have them protect us. That is not the spirit of the law,\u201d officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But by classifying the Nile crocodile as a \u201ctended wild animal\u201d, the reptiles will be allowed to be kept on prison grounds, subject to animal welfare requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Environmental opposition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The move has been met with fierce opposition from Israeli environmental officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neta Drori, the environmental protection ministry\u2019s legal adviser, said there was inadequate professional and factual evidence to support the plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said there was no recognised precedent for using crocodiles as a security measure, notwithstanding comparisons with Donald Trump\u2019s Florida detention facility<\/a>, which is surrounded by wetlands inhabited by the animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConcerning 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,\u201d Ms Drori said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s hardline immigration policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Kathleen Williams, a US district judge, ordered the facility to wind down operations over environmental concerns, and it closed last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Ben-Gvir has previously been criticised for his treatment of Palestinian prisoners<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Ben-Gvir waved a large Israeli flag<\/a> and mockingly told the prisoners, who were kneeling with their heads to the floor: \u201cWelcome to Israel, we are the masters of the house\u201d, as the Israeli national anthem played in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reference Link:- https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/world-news\/2026\/07\/17\/israel-alligator-alcatraz-palestinians-jail-crocodile\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Environment minister follows Trump\u2019s lead with proposal to surround maximum security jail with crocodile-filled moats. Emily Smith,\u00a0Foreign Breaking News Reporter.\u00a0Henry Bodkin\u00a0Jerusalem Correspondent Palestinian prisoners could be held in jails surrounded by crocodile-filled moats, under proposals put forward by the Israeli government. Idit Silman, Israel\u2019s environmental protection minister, has reclassified the Nile crocodile as a \u201ctended wild […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[32066,32065,25547,24508,23877,32067,2138,10003,32064,1510,32068,23750,25456,26276,4935,1515],"class_list":["post-34872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sample-category","tag-alcatraz","tag-alligator","tag-annexation","tag-atrocities-2","tag-brutalities-2","tag-crocodile-2","tag-evil-spirit","tag-genocide-2","tag-inhuman","tag-israel-2","tag-palestinian-prisoners","tag-starvation-2","tag-violation-of-human-rights-2","tag-violation-of-un-charter-2","tag-war-crimes-2","tag-west-bank-2","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34872"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34874,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34872\/revisions\/34874"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gsrra.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}