"Alligator Alcatraz": Israel opens the door to putting crocodiles in prisons

JerusalemA prison surrounded by crocodiles seems like the plot of a fictional movie, but it has become a real proposal within the Israeli political debate. The initiative promoted by the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to use Nile crocodiles as a deterrent around a center housing Palestinian prisoners, has once again put the focus on the "Israeli prison system.

The origin of the controversy is a decision by the Minister of Environmental Protection, Idit Silman. Despite objections from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the legal services of her own ministry, Silman has modified the legal classification of the Nile crocodile, which is now considered a "managed wild animal." As reported by the Israeli press, this change could allow the Israel Prison Service to launch a pilot program with crocodiles in prison facilities, although there is no public confirmation of its definitive implementation.

The initiative would affect Ketziot prison, in the Negev desert, Israel's largest correctional facility, which houses numerous Palestinians accused of security-related offenses, including Hamas members. Ben-Gvir would have already raised the idea in December during a meeting with the Commissioner of the Israel Prison Service, Kobi Yaakobi. According to Israeli media, shortly after, prison officials visited the Hamat Gader crocodile farm in the north of the country to study its feasibility.

Critics of the project have nicknamed it "Alligator Alcatraz", a reference to both the historic American prison and the immigrant detention center promoted in Florida during the Trump administration in a swampy area populated by alligators, which eventually closed.

A controversial proposal amid the prison debate

Critics of the initiative consider it to be more of a political gesture than a real security need. Former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy criticized it, stating that Israel does not have a problem with prisoner escapes, but a lack of penitentiary space, and accused the government of seeking "populism" with a measure more fitting for a James Bond movie.

Beyond the unusual image of crocodiles, the controversy has once again focused on the Israeli prison system. Following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, several Israeli human rights organizations such as B'Tselem, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), and the Office of the Public Defender of Israel have denounced a deterioration in the detention conditions of Palestinians.

"Ben-Gvir's threats to build crocodile-filled moats around prisons are part of a campaign by his ministry to terrorize Palestinian detainees," Sari Bashi, executive director of PCATI, explains to ARA. "I am not aware of any Palestinian who has escaped from a detention center since October 2023, so digging moats with crocodiles seems like an intimidation tactic," she states.

Denunciations about the conditions of Palestinian prisoners

According to Bashi, the main problem is what happens inside the prisons. "Especially since October 2023, Palestinian prisoners have suffered widespread torture, including beatings, starvation, denial of medical care, lack of hygiene, threats, and humiliation," he assures.

In this context, in recent weeks, criticism has increased over restrictions on visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Although in June the Supreme Court unanimously annulled the government's decision to ban the organization's access to Palestinian prisoners, human rights organizations denounce that the Prison Service continues to significantly limit these visits.

"The absurd idea of surrounding prisons with crocodiles is a continuation of a cruel policy by a state and authorities who have abandoned any moral values in the treatment of detainees," Naji Abbas, director of the prisoners and detainees department of the NGO Physicians for Human Rights Israel, tells this newspaper.

Abbas assures that Israeli prisons have become "a network of torture camps" and denounces that at least 105 Palestinians have died in custody in the last two years as a consequence of physical violence or lack of medical care.

The Israeli government rejects these accusations and argues that the measures adopted respond to security needs. The authorities insist that many of the prisoners are linked to armed organizations or have been convicted of violent crimes, and argue that forceful measures must be applied to guarantee security within the prisons.