After Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara issued an instruction to Israel Prison Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi not to allow National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to enter prisons and document meetings with terrorists and prisoners for election propaganda purposes, Ben-Gvir published additional footage from inside a prison on Sunday morning.
This time, the footage shows a meeting he held about a month ago with terrorists who, he claims, belonged to one of the cells that planned to assassinate him and harm members of his family.
The footage, filmed during a visit by the minister to a prison in southern Israel, shows Ben-Gvir confronting one of the terrorists face-to-face, threatening to work toward his execution, and making clear that he intends to continue tightening the conditions of confinement for security prisoners.
Ben-Gvir addressed one of the terrorists, saying, “You tried to kill me.” He then continued, “You picked the wrong minister. I’m not afraid of you, nor of a thousand others like you. And with God’s help, we’ll have you executed - and someone like you, you deserve to die, you deserve to die. You should be killed by hanging, under the death penalty.”
Later on Sunday, Central Elections Committee chairman and Supreme Court Deputy President Justice Noam Sohlberg issued an interim order directing Ben-Gvir and the Otzma Yehudit faction to remove the video from all their social-media accounts immediately, pending a further decision.
Sohlberg said that, at this preliminary stage and without reaching a final conclusion, the petition’s apparent prospects on both election-propaganda and public-property grounds justified temporary relief. He cited the minister’s remarks in the video and its accompanying caption, as well as the use of a prison and access to inmates. He added that blurring the prisoners’ and guards’ faces did not resolve those concerns. The respondents were ordered to answer the petition by Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Ben-Gvir promises to make prison conditions harsher
Later, the minister asked the terrorist about his conditions in prison, saying: “How are your conditions here? How are the conditions?” The terrorist replied, “No, no, it’s not easy. It’s prison.” Ben-Gvir responded, “It used to be the Hilton before I came. But today, that has changed.”
Ben-Gvir was not satisfied with that, however, and went on to make clear to the terrorist that, in his view, attempts to harm him would not deter him from continuing his policies toward security prisoners.
“I’m telling you, I will continue to make conditions in the prisons harsher. I will keep giving you every reason to hate me. You see? You tried to hurt me, and I only became stronger. God is here, watching over us from above. I’m telling you that I will continue doing everything I’ve been doing, because this is our people of Israel, and this is our country.”
Referring to his meeting with the members of the cell, Ben-Gvir said: “I looked them in the eyes. Their legs were shaking.”
Attorney-general bars Ben-Gvir from prison visit videos, recordings
The publication of the footage comes against the backdrop of the attorney-general’s instruction to the Prison Service Commissioner, which was intended to prevent prison visits and recordings of meetings with inmates from being used for election propaganda. However, as noted, the footage Ben-Gvir published Sunday morning was filmed about a month ago, not during a new visit after the instruction was issued.
The meeting itself took place against the backdrop of Ben-Gvir’s policy of tightening the conditions of confinement for security prisoners, which he has pursued since taking office, as well as his efforts to advance the death penalty for terrorists.