Far-right Israeli minister taunts prominent Palestinian prisoner

A screenshot from the video of the interaction, posted on Ben Gvir’s X account

Israel’s national security minister, Ben Gvir, tells him: “You will not win. He who messes with the people of Israel, he who will murder our children, he who will murder our women, we will wipe him out”.

The 13-second-long video clip is the first time that Barghouti has been publicly seen in years. He appears aged and gaunt.

The Palestinian Authority has condemned the video. Its Vice-President Hussein al-Sheikh described it as “the epitome of psychological, moral and physical terrorism.”

New footage shared on social media shows the far-right Israeli minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, taunting the most prominent Palestinian prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, in his cell.

As Barghouti tries to interject, Ben Gvir adds: “You need to know this, throughout history.”

Marwan Barghouti, 66, was jailed by Israel more than 20 years ago after he was convicted of planning attacks that led to five civilians being killed. He is serving five life sentences plus 40 years.

Opinion polls have consistently indicated that he remains the most popular Palestinian leader, and that Palestinians would vote for him in a presidential election ahead of the current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas leaders.

He remains a senior figure in the Fatah faction, which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA). He was targeted by Israel due to his leading role in the Second Palestinian Intifada or uprising from 2000-05.

The video originally surfaced on messaging groups for Ben Gvir’s supporters on Thursday but has now been reposted on his X account.

The minister says that having read how “all sorts of “senior officials”” in the PA did not like what he said, he will “repeat it again and again without apologising”.

Palestinian prisoner rights organisations say that Barghouti has been placed in solitary confinement since the deadly Hamas-led attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. Last year they accused guards of “brutally assaulting” him in his cell which the Israeli prison service denied.

In response to the new video, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Abdullah al-Zaghari accused Israel of seeking “to eliminate him and assassinate the leaders languishing in its prisons”.

Barghouti is one of the prisoners whose release Hamas is believed to have sought as part of an exchange deal for the remaining hostages it is holding. However, it is thought very unlikely that Israel would free him.

In the video, as Ben Gvir speaks, Barghouti – who is fluent in Hebrew – can be seen nodding and trying to break in, but the short clip ends before he does.

His wife, Fadwa, recommended to her husband’s followers that only one still be used from the video which she believed showed his strength.

Palestinians widely see Barghouti as the leader who could best unify different political factions and negotiate peace with Israel.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has been filmed visiting Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian prisoner, and threatening him that Israel will “obliterate” anyone who opposes it.

It is the first time that Barghouti has been seen publicly in years. Aged and gaunt, wearing a white undershirt, he is almost unrecognisable.

In the video, which circulated on social media on Thursday night, Ben Gvir is seen telling Barghouti: “Whoever messes with the people of Israel, whoever murders our children, whoever murders our women, we will obliterate them. You will not defeat us.”

Barghouti has been in prison since 2004. A senior figure in Fatah, the party that dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA), he was targeted by Israel due to his leading role in the 2000-2005 Second Intifada and popularity among the public.

Qassem Barghouti, Marwan’s son, told Middle East Eye that his family feels a grave threat to his father’s life, particularly after this latest footage.

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“There has been an ongoing approach for two years to threaten and assault him. He was attacked for the first time two years ago at the beginning of the war and was wounded to varying degrees,” Qassem Barghouti said.

“It is clear today from the threat of National Security Minister Ben Gvir, who represents the highest Israeli security hierarchy, that there is a real danger to his life.”

Qassem Barghouti said it is “clear that there is direct threat to assassinate and kill him inside his cell” and that the targeting and abuse of Palestinian prisoners is part of the genocide that Israel is waging in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media reported that Ben Gvir was visiting Tel Aviv’s Gannot prison with prisons service commissioner Kobi Yaakobi “to closely monitor the worsening of the imprisoned terrorists’ conditions”.

Barghouti has long been held in solitary confinement. He was sentenced to five life sentences plus 40 years in an Israeli prison for attacks that killed five people, though he declined to defend himself, saying he did not recognise the court’s legitimacy.

Opinion polls suggest that Barghouti, 66, would be a shoo-in for the Palestinian presidency if they were held and he were able to run for the office.

He is seen as a unifying figure despite identifying with Fatah, which is associated with the deeply unpopular PA.

Gaza ceasefire deal: Hamas, Egypt and Qatar pushing for Marwan Barghouti’s release Read More »

In January, MEE reported that Egypt and Qatar, alongside Hamas, were using “all means available” to secure Barghouti’s release as part of a Gaza ceasefire agreement.

A source close to the negotiations told MEE that his name was one of the top figures that would be traded for Israeli captives taken on 7 October 2023 in the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Major General Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, the director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Services, personally interceded to push for his release, sources said.

However, a source previously told MEE that senior PA officials wanted him excluded from any exchange, fearing it could threaten the leadership of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Following the release of the footage on Thursday, Awni Almashni, a former Fatah candidate backed by Bargouti, told MEE that “Ben Gvir believes he is insulting the Palestinian people with this display”.

“But the Palestinian people and all of Marwan’s fans are proud of Marwan Barghouti’s legendary steadfastness, his great stances, and his refusal to back down in the face of the occupation’s brutality,” he said.

“The will for freedom that Marwan represents will not be broken by the tyranny, injustice and arrogance.”

Since Israel began its genocide in Gaza in October 2023, a spike in arrests, detainment and worsening prison policies has been recorded by rights groups and media outlets.

Barghouti has been singled out for rough treatment, his family say. An attack by prison officers in September 2024 wounded his head, ears, ribs, right arm, and back.

Ben Gvir, an influential far-right settler leader, has said worsening living conditions for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails is one of his top goals.

The Wyoming Department of Health is tracking down visitors from 38 states and seven countries after hundreds of people were potentially exposed to rabies at a hotel in Grand Teton National Park. Hotel employees are also being contacted, though are believed to be less at risk than those who slept in the rooms.

At least 200 guests who stayed at Jackson Lake Lodge from May 15 to July 27 may have been exposed to a suspected bat colony at the hotel.

A block of the cottage-style hotel rooms — rooms 516, 518, 520, 522, 524, 526, 528 and 530 — are thought to have bats living in the attic space above.

After eight reported run-ins with bats since June, the lodge closed the eight rooms July 27.

Based on those reports, it’s unlikely that one bat has entered the same space multiple times, said Travis Riddell, director of Teton County Public Health Department. That raises the possibility of multiple bats residing above the rooms, usually in the form of a colony.

“Although there were a lot of people exposed in this incident, one positive about it is that we know who 100% of those people are,” Riddell said. “People in the community in general don’t need to be concerned about this particular incident.”

If not treated immediately, rabies has a bad prognosis. The disease is almost always fatal without treatment, according to State Health Officer Alexia Harrist.

“What we’re really concerned about is certainly people who have had actual physical contact with bats because the way that rabies is spread is through the bat’s saliva,” Harrist said. “Either through a bite or a scratch.”

Bats are the area’s most common host for rabies and their bite leaves such a small mark that it is rarely visible.

Harrist said anyone who stayed in those rooms should be contacted by their local or state health department to help determine next steps, such as whether to start the costly vaccine process.

Rabies vaccines come in a series and costs vary person-to-person. That range extends upwards of $16,000, according to the Jackson Hole News&Guide, but other regional hospitals can charge twice that.

Not everyone who stayed in those rooms will need the post-exposure prophylaxis, or preventive, vaccinations.

“In general, if people didn’t see a bat in the room, it’s extremely unlikely that they have any risk for rabies,” Harrist said.

From Grand Teton National Park: What is considered a bat exposure to rabies?

A bite or a scratch from a bat to a human.

Saliva contact from a bat to a human’s open cut or mucus membrane.

Physical contact with a bat.

A person who cannot confirm or communicate a potential exposure — like a child, a deep sleeper, or someone who is mentally impaired or on mind-altering drugs — might be considered at-risk.

Bat run-ins are common this time of year. Teton County’s public health department gets several calls each week in the summer from people worried about rabies exposure from bats.

“The chances of even one of [the bats] having rabies or having been exposed to rabies is low, but to me the death of one person because of something that we could have otherwise prevented is not acceptable,” Riddell said.

This is the county’s first mass exposure event since 2017 when over a dozen people received treatment after a bat colony was found at AMK ranch, also in Grand Teton National Park.

The hotel is still on track to host the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium next week. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to speak.

Anyone with questions is advised to contact Grand Teton Lodge Company and their local health department about a rabies risk assessment.

Editor’s Note: Sophia Boyd-Fliegel contributed reporting.

The world got a glimpse of Marwan Barghouti for the first time in years in a video of a far-right Israeli minister berating him.

Senior Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti appears in court in Jerusalem in 2012. (Bernat Armangue | AP)

TEL AVIV, Israel — The world got a glimpse of one of the most famous Palestinian prisoners in Israel on Friday, Marwan Barghouti, for the first time in years.

A video posted by Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, shows him berating Barghouti in his prison cell.

Palestinian prisoners released during ceasefire report harassment by Israel Several Palestinian prisoners and detainees released during this ceasefire deal have been harassed by Israeli forces after their release, their homes raided or their family members arrested.

“You will not win. He who messes with the people of Israel, he who will murder our children, he who will murder our women, we will wipe him out,” Ben-Gvir is recorded as saying.

It was not immediately clear when the video, which has been circulating widely in Israel and the occupied West Bank, was filmed.

In the 13-second cut of video that is circulating, Barghouti, 66, tries to respond but is unable to interject. He is pale, white haired, and shrunken — nearly unrecognizable from the dark, rotund man he once was, when he was a wildly popular politician tipped to be the next leader of the Palestinian Authority.

Now, he is serving five consecutive life sentences, after being convicted by an Israeli court in 2002 for helping plan attacks on civilians during a Palestinian uprising that came to be known as the Second Intifada.

“When I received the video, really I didn’t recognize Marwan. He lost a lot of weight and even his face is not what we were used to seeing,” Khader Shkirat, one of Barghouti’s lawyers, told NPR. He said he had to consult with Barghouti’s wife to confirm that the gaunt figure in the video was her imprisoned husband.

The number of Palestinian detainees held by Israel has roughly doubled since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas. As of August 2025, there were around 10,700 Palestinians in Israeli custody — including several thousand held without trial — and, in many cases, also without charge, according to data provided by the Israel Prison Service to Israeli human rights group, Hamoked.

“The starvation of the prisoners is the same as they are imposing on Gaza,” Shkirat said.

The figures do not include the unknown number of Palestinians from Gaza detained in the past nearly two years of war.

Additionally, 76 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody in the past 22 months of war, according to Palestinian prisoners’ organizations.

In recent prisoner exchanges of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners, Israel has refused to release Barghouti, whose conviction and long imprisonment are widely viewed among Palestinians as politically motivated.

Officials close to ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel say Barghouti, who remains a unifying figure for many Palestinians, is the prisoner the group most wants released in hostage exchanges. The officials spoke anonymously to discuss details of the stalled talks.

Shkirat said they considered Ben-Gvir’s comments a threat and have appealed to the U.S., Qatar and Egypt to ensure that Barghouti is protected from assassination in Israeli detention.

He said despite having been excluded from previous proposed prisoner exchanges between Hamas and Israel, he believed Barghouti would be freed.

“Marwan will be free and leading his people and I hope Ben-Gvir will be in prison,” he said, referring to an arrest warrant reportedly prepared by the International Criminal Court for the Israeli minister.

Ben-Gvir, convicted in Israel on at least eight charges, including supporting a terrorism organization, does not shy away from publicity and has a history of stoking outrage.

Earlier this August, he openly recited a Jewish prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a site revered by both Muslims and Jews. After the site was captured by Israel from Jordan in a 1967 war, the sensitive holy site was opened to both Muslim and Jewish visitors, but Jewish visitors are not allowed to pray there.

Ben-Gvir’s political party, the Jewish Power or Otzma Yehudit, has an anti-Arab platform which borrows ideology from two political parties associated with a radical, U.S.-born rabbi and which Israel has deemed terrorism organizations.

Groups Call for Release of Marwan Barghouti Marwan Barghouti’s name evokes strong reactions on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Since the Islamist group Hamas forcibly took control of the Gaza Strip in June, there are new calls in Israel and the Palestinian territories to release the 48-year-old jailed Fatah leader.

Ben-Gvir has also encouraged Jewish settlements in defiance of international law in the occupied West Bank. Since Israel’s war against Hamas began in 2023, Ben-Gvir, a settler himself, has focused on settling the Gaza Strip once again and has repeatedly called for Palestinians to be moved elsewhere to make room for Jewish settlements.

Aya Batrawy contributed reporting.

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.

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“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.”

Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo asked at a daily United Nations briefing in New York if Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had seen the video of Barghouti being interrogated and what was the reaction to it.

The UN chief’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric replied, “I can tell you that the video is disturbing. We’re aware of the video. And it’s worth reminding that, prisoners need to be treated, that need to be treated, in a way that abides by international law and that respects their inherent dignity.”

‘Shocking’

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.