Elite Town in Shock: Residents Ordered Silent as Council Scrambles to Block Hamas Family’s Move In

A storm has erupted in the upscale community of Omer after reports surfaced that a local home was sold to relatives of former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. According to residents, municipal officials asked them not to give interviews about the deal, while sources close to council head Erez Badash insisted that neither he nor his staff were involved, suggesting opposition figures may be behind efforts to stop the transaction.

Locals told Israeli Website Walla they were explicitly asked not to speak publicly. One resident posted on the town’s Facebook group that the seller has been subjected to insults and slander since news of the deal broke. She repeated his claim that the buyers are not connected to Haniyeh’s family, noting that a sworn affidavit exists to that effect. “Please stop the defamation against both the buyer and the seller, and especially the ‘blessings’ directed at their children and grandchildren,” she wrote.

Still, relatives of the seller have said on record that there is a connection between the buyers and Haniyeh’s family. The controversy has sparked a fierce local debate, with one resident warning real estate agents that anyone who doesn’t pledge to avoid “threatening the character of the community” will be publicly named and shamed.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also weighed in, calling the news “shocking” and “certainly not good.” In a voice message to residents, he stressed that the police have no role in determining community demographics: “If there’s a crime, the police will act with zero tolerance. But the issue of who lives in Omer is not up to the police.”

As tensions rise, the dispute pits questions of legality, property rights, and community identity against each other, leaving Omer caught in the middle of a heated national and local controversy.