In Focus: Israel’s Ben-Gvir Shows Off Gallows Site for Palestinian Hangings

ITAMAR BEN-GVIR, Israel’s far-right national security minister, has posted a video showing construction of a gallows complex for Palestinians convicted of terrorist offenses.

The unidentified site will include death-row facilities and viewing booths for victims’ families to watch executions. Photographs published in Israeli media showed a bulldozer and extensive construction inside a cordoned-off area reportedly near a prison.

Ben-Gvir pointed toward foundations being laid and said the site was where “terrorists will be executed.”

“I promised to worsen the conditions of terrorists in prisons—we kept it,” Ben-Gvir said in the video.

“I promised to pass the Death Penalty for Terrorists law—we did. And now the death row and hanging facility are also starting to take shape.”

The construction follows the law’s passage earlier this year. The Knesset approved the measure by a vote of 62-48.

Military courts must impose death as the only available sentence for Palestinians convicted of covered terrorist killings. Judges may order life imprisonment when they find special circumstances.

Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes are excluded from the military-court system. Jewish Israelis are effectively protected from execution by a separate provision requiring that a murder be committed with the “intent to deny the existence of the state of Israel.”

The separate standards have driven allegations that the law is fundamentally discriminatory and removes essential protections against arbitrary executions.

“It also dismantles fundamental safeguards to prevent the arbitrary deprivation of life and protect the right to a fair trial, and further empowers Israel’s system of apartheid, which is maintained by scores of discriminatory laws against Palestinians,” Amnesty International senior director Erika Guevara-Rosas said.

Ben-Gvir was a principal force behind the legislation. His criminal record includes convictions for incitement to racism, interfering with a police officer performing his duty and supporting Meir Kahane’s banned Kach movement, a terrorist organization.

He has served as national security minister since 2022, apart from a two-month gap last year. His record in public office has been marked by extremist statements and provocations centered on Palestinians and Israeli prisons.

Ben-Gvir celebrated his 50th birthday in May with a cake decorated with the image of a noose, echoing the execution policy he had promoted.

The gallows video appeared days after Ben-Gvir advocated nightly killings in Gaza extending beyond people who posed an immediate threat.

“I think we should be doing 30 to 40 targeted assassinations per night,” Ben-Gvir said in remarks that drew international condemnation.

“Not just those who pose an immediate threat. There are people there who don’t deserve to live  … They are not even people.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the comments “unacceptable and inhuman”. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he strongly condemned “the inhumane appeals made by minister Ben-Gvir, which violate international law.”

Ben-Gvir has faced sanctions from France and Ireland in recent months, following British sanctions imposed last year.

The video emerged amid growing international condemnation of other Israeli policies. Israel issued new tenders for the massive E1 settlement project outside Jerusalem, which risks separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband denounced the tenders as an “unacceptable and destructive act” and summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires.

“The UK has been clear privately and publicly in our opposition to E1 and our support for a two-state solution as the only way to ensure long-term security and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis,” Miliband said.

“All settlements damage that prospect and are a flagrant breach of international law.”

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