Israel’s plan to surround part of a prison with Nile crocodiles survived warnings that the animals could endanger prisoners, employees and the public.
It moved forward after the country’s Supreme Court found that the state had failed to provide adequate food to Palestinian security prisoners. Officials allocated 21 million shekels (around $6 million USD), began digging a 560-foot channel, and trained officers to handle the reptiles.
None of those concerns stopped the project. The plan went on hold only after an animal rights organization argued that the crocodiles might suffer.
The Jerusalem District Court’s Aug. 2 injunction does not require officials to fill the trench or permanently abandon the project. It blocks the transfer, selection and preparation of crocodiles while the court reviews the case. Israel may still have a channel under construction, but it cannot operate the project as a crocodile moat without crocodiles.
A Prison Security Plan With Teeth
Israel National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir proposed using crocodiles as an additional security measure at Ketziot Prison in southern Israel, stating, “Anyone who murdered, massacred and raped and behaved like an animal deserves to be guarded by an animal just like them.”
The facility holds Palestinian security prisoners, including members of Hamas’ Nukhba force accused of participating in the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.“Anyone who thought this was a gimmick was wrong,” Ben Gvir’s office said.
The Israel Prison Service developed plans covering the crocodiles’ maintenance, supervision and housing, according to Times of Israel. Prison officers received training on guarding the site and handling the animals.
Ben Gvir’s office said the preparations included everything from animal care to specially designed crocodile “resting cells.”
Senior prison officials visited the Hamat Gader crocodile farm earlier this year to learn how to maintain the animals in captivity. The farm’s CEO, Yosi Mousanejad, said delegation members did not know that crocodiles become largely inactive during winter.
Officials did not ask the farm to supply animals. Mousanejad also declined to treat the crocodiles as a practical security force.
“Our crocodiles don’t have a security guard hat,” he said. “We’re a tourist farm.”
Prisoner Petitions Did Not Stop the Moat
Human rights organizations had already gone to court over the treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Gisha filed a petition in April 2024 alleging that the Israel Prison Service was not providing enough food to maintain prisoners’ health.
The Supreme Court issued its decision nearly 18 months later. The justices found that the Prison Service had a legal obligation to provide adequate food and had failed to meet that obligation.
Five months after the ruling, released prisoners and attorneys continued reporting extreme hunger and malnutrition. The Prison Service rejected accusations of starvation or systematic neglect and said it provided food, medical care and adequate living conditions.
The civil rights organization asked the court to hold the Prison Service in contempt for allegedly failing to comply with the food order.
Those claims did not interrupt development of the crocodile project. Excavation began despite the previous court ruling and continuing allegations about conditions inside Israeli prisons.
The plan’s central feature became legally untouchable only when the alleged victims were the crocodiles.
The Law Needed a Different Kind of Crocodile
Israeli wildlife rules created another obstacle.
Nile crocodiles could be held for purposes such as education and research, not prison security. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority found no professional or scientific precedent for using crocodiles to secure a detention facility.
Every member present at a special authority meeting opposed the proposal.
Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman reportedly responded by reclassifying the Nile crocodile as a “cultivated wild animal,” creating a possible legal route for security agencies to keep the reptiles.
She made the change despite opposition from the wildlife authority and a warning from her ministry’s legal adviser that she lacked unilateral authority to do so.
The Crocodiles Get Their Day in Court
Let the Animals Live, a 40-year-old animal nonprofit, challenged Silman’s decision and asked the court to restore the crocodiles’ protected status.
The organization argued that the government had ignored legal and wildlife experts and lacked authority to proceed.
Judge Avraham Rubin found that claims of expected harm to the crocodiles required further review. His temporary injunction prohibits officials from transferring crocodiles or taking steps to locate and prepare them for prison. He gave Silman, Ben Gvir and the Prison Service until Aug. 5 to respond.
Ben Gvir responded by saying that “once again, in a time of war, the legal system sides with the terrorists, thwarting important steps for Israeli deterrence.”
“We know that the terrorists are worried about the arrival of the crocodiles, but today the court came to their aid,” he said.
The order did not focus on what crocodiles might do to prisoners, employees, or the environment as a non-native species. It focused on what the prison might do to crocodiles.
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