‘Shame!’
A group of protesters confronted Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, accusing him of pursuing war at the expense of a deal with Hamas to free captives in Gaza. They called him a draft dodger, referencing the ban on him serving in Israel’s army due to his extremist background.
Published On 24 Aug 202524 Aug 2025
Footage shows far-right minister taunting 66-year-old Palestinian leader during jail visit.
Palestinian officials have condemned far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s taunting visit to the jail cell of long-imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti.
Footage of the visit shared on social media on Thursday showed the minister making threatening remarks to the 66-year-old.
In the footage, Ben-Gvir is seen telling Barghouti, who has been in prison since 2002, including years in solitary confinement: “You won’t win. Whoever messes with the nation of Israel, whoever murders our children and women – we will wipe them out.”
“You should know this, [this happened] throughout history,” Ben-Gvir added.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the incident “in the strongest terms”.
In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said Ben-Gvir’s actions were “an unprecedented provocation and organised state terrorism, falling within the framework of the crimes of genocide, displacement, and annexation faced by the prisoners and our people”.
It added that the Palestinian Authority will take the threat seriously and will follow up with the International Committee of the Red Cross, relevant states, the international community, and its specialised organisations and councils.
Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa, said he and other Palestinian prisoners are subjected to inhumane treatment behind bars.
“They are still, Marwan, chasing you and pursuing you even in the solitary cell you’ve been living in for two years, and the struggle of the occupation and its figures with you continues. The shackles are on your hands, but I know your spirit and determination, and I know you will remain free, free, free,” she wrote in a statement on Facebook.
“I know that the only thing that can shake you is what you hear about your people’s pain, and the only thing that crushes and wounds you is the failure to protect our sons and daughters. You are of the people; wherever you are among the people, you are one of them and part of them.”
Israel’s Channel 12 broadcast a video clip of Ben-Gvir’s visit at Ganot Prison in central Israel. The channel reported that the minister’s visit was intended to oversee stricter conditions for Palestinian prisoners.
The video marks the first time for years that footage of Barghouti has been published. His family and rights groups said he has been in solitary confinement since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October 2023 after Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.
Relatives of Barghouti who viewed the footage told Al Jazeera Arabic there was a “shocking” appearance in his features, apparently from “exhaustion and hunger”, and expressed fear that he would die in custody.
In October, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society accused Israeli prison staff of “brutally assaulting” and injuring Barghouti while he was being held in solitary confinement.
The claims that he has several times been beaten by prison staff have been denied by the Israel Prisons Service.
The Fatah leader was sentenced to five life sentences plus 40 years for his alleged role in planning attacks that caused the deaths of five civilians during the second Intifada.
Foreign minister says Slovenia acted after EU foreign ministers failed to agree on joint action against Israel.
Slovenia has banned far-right Israeli cabinet ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country.
Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon declared the pair personae non gratae on Thursday in what she said was a first for a European Union country.
“We are breaking new ground,” she said.
In a statement, the Slovenian government accused Israel’s National Security Minister Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Smotrich of inciting “extreme violence and serious violations of the human rights of Palestinians” with “their genocidal statements”.
It also noted that both cabinet ministers “publicly advocate the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the forced evictions of Palestinians, and call for violence against the civilian Palestinian population”.
There was no immediate reaction from Israel’s government.
Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, key coalition partners in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, have drawn international criticism for their hard-line stance on the Gaza war and on illegal settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Smotrich, who lives in a West Bank settlement, has supported the expansion of settlements and has called for the territory’s annexation.
Settlements are illegal under international law. Last July, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s continued presence in occupied Palestinian territory was unlawful, a decision Israel has ignored.
Smotrich has previously called for “total annihilation” in Gaza and said that a Palestinian town in the West Bank should be “wiped out”. Ben-Gvir was an open admirer of Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli who massacred 29 Palestinians as they prayed in Hebron in 1994. He has been convicted multiple times by Israeli courts for “incitement to racism”.
Despite the ministers’ positions, Netanyahu relies heavily on support from the two and from their factions in parliament for the survival of his government.
On May 21, Slovenia’s President Natasa Pirc Musar told the European Parliament that the EU needed to take stronger action against Israel, condemning “the genocide” in Gaza.
Fajon said Slovenia had decided to make the move after EU foreign ministers did not agree on joint action against Israel over charges of human rights violations at a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
She said other measures were being prepared, without going into detail.
In June, Britain, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Canada imposed sanctions on the two Israeli ministers, accusing them of inciting violence against Palestinians.
Last year, Slovenia announced it was recognising a Palestinian state, following on the heels of Norway, Spain, and the Republic of Ireland.