Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted footage of himself visiting Palestinian prisoner Hassan Salameh in his prison cell and threatening him, “I want to execute you.”
Ben-Gvir, sanctioned by multiple countries including the United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, New Zealand and Australia for breaking international law, shared the video on X on Sunday, showing him threatening Salameh, who has remained in Israeli custody since 1996.
In a post accompanying the footage, Ben-Gvir said that he will push for the execution of prisoners such as Salameh if he becomes defense minister in Israel’s next government.
He also said he will promote what he called “voluntary migration” of Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Ben-Gvir has previously said that his Jewish Power party will seek the defence and justice portfolios as a condition for joining the next government.
He has repeatedly backed the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank under the term “voluntary migration”. Palestinians and Arab countries have rejected the proposal.
Salameh is serving multiple life sentences after an Israeli court convicted him over attacks in the 1990s that Israel says killed and injured dozens of people. He was arrested in 1996 and remains in Israeli custody.
The visit comes months after Israel’s Knesset approved legislation allowing the death penalty for Palestinians convicted in military courts of carrying out deadly attacks. UN officials, along with several human rights agencies, have slammed the law and called for its repeal, saying it violates international human rights law.
The Knesset passed the law in March, with 62 lawmakers voting in favour, 48 against and one abstaining.
Ben-Gvir backed the legislation, which allows the death penalty in certain cases involving Palestinians convicted of lethal attacks in sham trials in Israeli courts.
Israel will hold its Knesset election on October 27.
