Israeli lawmaker pulls gun on Palestinian parking attendant who asked him to move car

A member of Israel's Knesset has been filmed threatening a Palestinian parking attendant with a gun in Tel Aviv.

Itamar Ben Gvir, a lawmaker from the Religious Zionism Party, lost his temper after Palestinian attendant Mohammed Shwaky instructed him not to use a restricted parking spot at the Expo Tel Aviv conference centre car park.

In mobile phone footage recorded by another attendant that circulated on social media Tuesday night, Ben Gvir can be seen brandishing a gun and pointing at the camera, shouting: “I’ll take care of you”.

Shwaky, who lives in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Isawiya, told Ben Gvir and his entourage: “If you are real men, come at me, all of you, without weapons, I will f*ck you all up”.

An Israeli parliament member threatened a Palestinian with a gun a few hours ago. Nothing about this shocks me. pic.twitter.com/RKU5tEOKh3

— Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd) December 22, 2021

Israeli lawmakers are permitted to carry firearms for ‘security reasons’. However, leftist lawmaker Mossi Raz asked Public Security Ministry Omer Barlev to clarify why Ben Gvir has a license to carry a gun in light of his previous criminal convictions. 

Ben Gvir was convicted for supporting a terror group and for inciting racism in 2007, and has previously called for the mass expulsion of Palestinians.

"It's hard living in a place that allows people with political power to incite against you, call for the murder of your people, and even raise a gun on you. A place where the media, political system and even legal system give such a person legitimacy." https://t.co/OfAH2BMSU6

— Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין (@MairavZ) December 22, 2021

The Knesset's security chief on Wednesday summoned Ben Gvir for “a refresher on procedures,” according to Israeli media reports.

For his part, Ben Gvir claimed he felt threatened by the unarmed parking attendant.

“The incident could have ended with a catastrophe,” he said in a statement.

“I saw in front of me security guards with hate in their eyes who cursed me and threatened to harm me. At any moment they could have committed life-threatening violence.”