Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has posted video footage in which he is seen taunting the imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in jail, prompting strong condemnation from Barghouti’s family and Palestinian leaders.
The 13-second clip shows Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician on whom the UK and several other countries imposed sanctions this year for incitement to violence against Palestinians, making threatening remarks to Barghouti while Israel’s prisons minister, Kobi Yaakobi, an ally of Ben-Gvir stands nearby.
Barghouti, 66, who was jailed by an Israeli court in 2002 for his role in planning several killings during the second Intifada, appears gaunt after being held in solitary confinement for years. He is detained in Ganot prison, in central Israel, and is almost unrecognisable.
Ben-Gvir’s visit had been described as being part of the pursuit of a policy of stricter conditions for Palestinian prisoners, but the emergence of the video suggests the footage may have been its primary purpose.
“You won’t win. Whoever messes with the nation of Israel, whoever murders our children and women, we will wipe them out,” he says. “You should know this, [this happened] throughout history.”
Ben-Gvir, the leader of the far-right Jewish Power party, said this year that “there is no reason for a gram of food or aid to enter Gaza”.
He serves as the national security minister despite a conviction in 2007 for incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation.
Barghouti, who is sometimes compared to Nelson Mandela, is a senior figure in Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement and is hugely popular in in the West Bank and Gaza. He is seen as one of the few figures who could meaningfully reconcile rival Palestinian factions.
Palestinians have long sought his release, reportedly including him in recent hostage negotiations, but Israel has refused.
The footage of Barghouti shows the first images of him in a decade. The organisation that represents Palestinian prisoners has alleged that Israeli prison officers have assaulted him; a claim Israel has denied.
In the video, Barghouti, who is standing in a white T-shirt, tries to speak, but Ben-Gvir interjects and the short clip ends. The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the incident, describing Ben-Gvir’s actions as “organised state terrorism”.
The Palestinian Authority vice-president, Hussein al-Sheikh, described it as “the epitome of psychological, moral and physical terrorism”.
The emergence of the footage follows similar grandstanding this week by Ben-Gvir’s fellow far-right minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who said he would “bury” the idea of Palestinian statehood after announcing a huge new illegal settlement construction.
