Israel far-right minister calls for death penalty on prison visit
Israel's national security minister on Friday posted a video of himself standing over a row of Palestinian prisoners lying prone with their hands tied, in which he calls for the "death penalty for terrorists".
In footage shared on his personal Telegram channel, Itamar Ben Gvir addresses the camera while pointing at a dozen detainees face down in front of an Israeli flag.
"These guys, the Nukhba who came to kill children, women, our babies. Look at them today," the far-right minister says, referring to the special forces unit of Hamas's military wing.
"But there's still something that must be done: death penalty for the terrorists," he adds.
Ben Gvir, who is known for his inflammatory remarks, has threatened to stop voting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition if his bill calling for "the death penalty for terrorists" is not put to a parliamentary vote by November 9.
In a lengthy caption posted alongside the video on Friday, Ben Gvir said that after Israel killed Hamas's leaders, the Islamist movement had "tortured the hostages" taken to Gaza after its bloody cross-border attack on October 7, 2023.
He went on to boast about the harsh detention conditions he had imposed on Palestinian prisoners.
"I am proud of the revolution in the prisons, unlike anything since the founding of the state; today, instead of a summer camp, there is deterrence. There are no more smiles there -- we erase them," he wrote.
"Ask any terrorist who passed through my prison, if he would like to return there -- they are afraid, trembling, and the number of attacks has fallen remarkably."
Ben Gvir published a video in August showing him confronting the most high-profile Palestinian detainee in Israeli custody, Marwan Barghouti, in his prison cell.
Source: Agence France Presse
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