Jerusalem (AFP) - The Israeli Elections Commission fined National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir over a video clip he posted on the X platform in which he appears threatening to execute a Palestinian detainee, considering it part of electoral propaganda.
Published on: 02/10/2026 - 16:08
In this clip, which was widely circulated, the far-right minister appears confronting Hamas leader Hassan Salama, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment, threatening to execute him.
According to the decision seen by Agence France-Presse, the fine was not imposed because of the content of the video, but rather because the committee considered it a violation of electoral rules.
The decision stated that “the video is considered election propaganda,” and “it has been proven that public funds were used” in its production.
On Thursday, the Israeli Central Elections Commission ruled to delete the video, and imposed Ben Gvir to pay a fine of 10,000 shekels (about 3,250 dollars).
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, one of two organizations that filed a complaint against Ben Gvir over the video, welcomed the decision on Friday.
“We hope that the repeated decisions of the Election Commission will deter the minister from continuing to use prisons as if they were his private property, and humiliating prisoners as part of his election propaganda,” Merav Ben Zeev, the legal director of the General Committee, said in a statement.
Ben Gvir had published the video clip last month on the X platform, then deleted it, but it remained in circulation.
The video shows Ben Gvir confronting, surrounded by security personnel, Hassan Salama, the Palestinian detainee who was sentenced to several life imprisonment for bloody attacks carried out in Israel in 1996.
Salama appears, looking emaciated, standing silently while Ben Gvir tells him, “I want to kill you. I want to execute you.”
Ben Gvir wrote in the caption accompanying the video, “As Minister of National Security, I led a policy that made his life hell. With God’s help, if I become Minister of Defense, I will work to execute murderous terrorists like him.”
Ben Gvir is known for his provocative statements and publishing videos of detainees.
In August 2025, he published a clip in which he appeared confronting Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent Palestinian detainee in Israeli prisons, inside his cell.
In October of the same year, he published a video showing him standing above a row of Palestinian detainees lying on the ground with their hands tied, calling for “the death penalty for terrorists.”
© 2026 AFP
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