The Israeli Minister of National Security calls on the army to kill "30 or 40 Palestinians" from Gaza every night
Ben-Gvir urges in an interview to expel Palestinians from the Strip and build settlements there
BarcelonaIsrael's National Security Minister, the far-right Itamar Ben-Gvir, has stated that Israeli forces should "kill 30 or 40" Palestinians every night in Gaza, beyond those who may pose "a danger at that specific moment." Ben-Gvir made these statements to Rom Braslavski – who was kidnapped on October 7 and held in the Strip by Palestinian militias – in an episode of a podcast published on Sunday. "There are people there who don't deserve to live. They aren't even human," the far-right minister added.
This is just the latest example of incendiary statements by Ben-Gvir, who holds a key position in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government and is responsible for the Israeli police and prison services. The far-right minister has gained influence in Israel and wants to continue shaping the narrative as the country heads towards elections on October 27. Ben-Gvir has no formal authority over the army and cannot order attacks, but he is part of the Israeli security cabinet, made up of high-ranking ministers who participate in defining war and security policy.
Ben-Gvir disagreed with Netanyahu's decision to reduce military attacks in Gaza within the framework of the current "ceasefire," even though Israeli attacks on the Strip are daily: since the agreement announced with Hamas last October, the Israeli army has killed at least 1,262 Palestinians in the Strip and injured more than 4,000. The minister advocates for resuming systematic killings, including people not considered an active threat.
Death penalty law
Ben-Gvir also promised Braslavski that he would try to allow him to personally participate in the executions of prisoners if the law on the death penalty for Palestinians recently approved by Israel, which provides for this sentence for those convicted in military courts for deadly attacks against Israelis, is applied. The law is another example of the Israeli apartheid system, which does not provide for the same penalty for Israeli Jews who kill Palestinians. "I have a personal request, and I say it to you looking you in the eye, minister. Let me be the one to hang them," Braslavski told Ben-Gvir, to which he replied: "I will move heaven and earth for it to be so. I promise you I will do everything I can."
During the conversation, Ben-Gvir also advocated for encouraging Palestinians to leave Gaza permanently and for the creation of new Israeli settlements in the Strip. He told Braslavski that he considers "all of Gaza to be ours," a statement he has repeated on numerous occasions. These are statements that amount to a call for ethnic cleansing.
Ben-Gvir's statements are part of a trajectory that goes back decades, since his involvement, as a teenager, in the kahanist nationalist movement, banned in Israel. As minister, he has advocated for the death penalty as a default sentence for Palestinians found guilty of deadly attacks and has boasted of having deliberately worsened conditions in Israeli prisons where Palestinian detainees are held, including the proposal to bring crocodiles to prisons.