TEHRAN - The self-proclaimed human rights defenders in the West must now openly express their views about Itmar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s so-called national security minister, who has said Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails should be killed with a “shot to the head”.

“Prisoners should be shot to the head instead of being given more food,” Ben-Gvir insisted in a video message on July 1.

Israel has detained about more than 9,450 citizens from the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, since October 7, along with thousands of citizens from Gaza.

He also emphasized his support for a bill proposed by his right-wing Otzma Yehudit Party, which calls for executing Palestinian prisoners, stating, “They should be killed with a shot to the head, and the bill to execute Palestinian prisoners must be passed in the third reading in the Knesset.”

“Until then, we will give them minimal food to survive. I do not care about this,” Ben-Gvir added.

His horrifying proposal came as Muhammad Abu Salmiya, the director of Gaza's the Al-Shifa hospital, said at a press conference on July 1 that he was tortured while being held without charges for the last seven months at an Israeli detention center.

There are many questions regarding the terrifying remarks of this man. Such words can only be made by a bloodthirsty or sadistic person.

Israel’s defenders in the West have to say whether Ben-Gvir is actually a “torture minister” or national security minister.

This man is notoriously famous as he had previously said “Arabs should be killed.”

In December 2022, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party coalesced with ultra-Orthodox and racist parties to grab power no matter what the costs. 

Though the Army had refused to draft Ben-Gvir when he was 18 due to the convictions against him and his dangerous views, Netanyahu allied with him and other fascists, including Amichai Eliyahu, the heritage minister, who in November 2023 said using nuclear bombs against people in Gaza is “an option” and in January called for “ways more painful than death” for Palestinians.

In his new shocking remarks on Wednesday, July 3, Eliyahu reposted a tweet calling for the reoccupation of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.  The tweet also advocates for the expansion of the Israeli occupation to southern Lebanon and, eventually, Jordan.

Ben-Gvir, a settler in Kiryat Arba, has already been convicted of incitement to racism, destroying property, possessing a “terror” organization’s propaganda material and supporting a “terror” organization – Meir Kahane’s outlawed Kach group.

Abdullah Al-Zaghari, the head of the Prisoners' Club, says, “The statements of fascist and extremist minister Ben-Gvir represent a system that practices genocide against the Palestinian people, and only speaks in the language of killing and fighting any Palestinian presence in any form.”

Al-Zaghari said since the war started on October 7 “the occupation prison administration, which falls under Ben-Gvir’s authority, has actually executed Palestinian prisoners and detainees.”

Ben-Gvir has also called for the Sde Teiman prison to keep its doors open to Palestinian detainees, despite overcrowding, saying, “We are overcrowded in prisons, and it is a good thing.”

The name of Israel was associated with occupation, murder, assassination, land theft, violation of international law, etc. However, since its unthinkable crimes started in October 2023 in the tiny Gaza Strip the name of Israel has also been synonymous with starving civilians, banning food, water, and medicine to people, targeting medical complexes, indiscriminate killings, and in one word “genocide”.

The Western countries that have been blindly backing Israel and failed to take any practical steps against its illegal acts should not now feel surprised by the emergence of such highly dangerous individuals.

It is extremely expected that the West and international human rights bodies strongly condemn the remarks by Ben-Gvir.

Like Prime Minister Netanyahu and his war minister Yoav Gallant who are being sought by International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan for war crimes and crimes against humanity, Ben-Gvir should also be designated as a war criminal.

Such statements, though dangerous, show that Israel is committing political suicide. It seems that the October 7 attack on southern Israel by Hamas, which took Israeli officials by surprise, has made the regime’s officials make intemperate and unbalanced remarks.