The Palestinian Authority has reacted angrily after footage was released of Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, appearing to threaten prominent Palestinian Marwan Barghouti during a visit to his prison cell.
“You will not defeat us, whoever messes with the people of Israel, whoever murders our children and women – we will wipe him out,” Mr Ben-Gvir appears to tell Mr Barghouti. “You need to know this, it’s been like this throughout history.”
Mr Barghouti (66) has been incarcerated since 2002 when he was sentenced by Israel to five life sentences plus 40 years after a court convicted him of planning attacks in the occupied West Bank that led to the deaths of five civilians during the second Palestinian Intifada, or uprising.
The Palestinian Authority said the comments amounted to “state terrorism.”
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“We condemn the raid by extremist minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on the cell of commander Marwan Barghouti, directly threatening him. This is an unprecedented provocation and organised state terrorism,” a statement by the Palestinian foreign ministry read.
Palestine Liberation Organisation executive committee deputy chair Hussein al-Sheikh also criticised Mr Ben-Gvir’s remarks. “Ben-Gvir’s threat against leader Marwan Barghouti in his cell is the peak of the psychological, moral and physical terror used against prisoners, and a grave violation of international and humanitarian treaties and conventions,” he wrote on X.
But Mr Ben-Gvir, who has imposed numerous restrictions on Palestinian prisoners since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023, rejected the Palestinian condemnation, saying he would repeat his statements “again and again without apologising”.
He referred to Mr Barghouti as an “arch-terrorist” and called for his name to be erased, citing a Hebrew curse used for enemies of the Jews.
The short video clip marked the first image of Mr Barghouti seen in public in over a decade. He was placed in solitary confinement at the start of the Gaza war.
Relatives of Mr Barghouti said they were “shocked by the changes in Marwan’s facial features, from the fatigue and hunger he is in”. His wife, Fadwa, said she didn’t recognise him.
At the time of his arrest Mr Barghouti was the leader of the Tanzim militia, linked to the Fatah party led by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas. Despite his imprisonment, Mr Barghouti has consistently topped opinion polls asking Palestinians who they would vote for in a presidential election, ahead of current Mr Abbas and leaders of Hamas. Although he is a senior member of Fatah, his support cuts across party lines.
Palestinians have long sought his release, including through hostage deals, but Israel has so far rejected this. Hamas wants him set free as part of a ceasefire deal with Israel to end the Gaza war.
