Itamar Ben-Gvir

Israeli violence claims more lives across the occupied West Bank

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Article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Israeli forces fire on funeral procession in Al-Mughayyir near Ramallah. Photo: WAFA News Agency

Funeral processions have become a frequent scene in the occupied territory amid an unprecedented wave of terror attacks waged by illegal Israeli settlers and the IOF.

At least five Palestinians were killed, including two children and a woman, in different parts of the occupied West Bank in the past two days.

Aws al-Nassan (14), and Jihad Abu Na’im (32), were shot dead in a terror attack carried out by illegal Israeli settlers on a boys school in Al-Mughayyir village, in the central West Bank governorate of Ramallah and al-Bireh on Tuesday, April 21.

Israeli violence against the people of the village did not stop there, as the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) fired live ammunition, stun grenades, and tear gas on mourners taking part in the funeral procession of Al-Nassan and Abu Na’im the next day.

Tuesday also saw the tragic death of Mohammad al-Jaabari (16), who was run over by a car of an Israeli colonist, while he was riding a bike on his way to school in the southern governorate of Hebron.

Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that the vehicle, which hit Al-Jaabari, belonged to the security convoy of Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

However, Haaretz (another Israeli newspaper) said it was informed by a security source that the car was en route to provide personal protection and security for settlements minister Orit Strook.

Either way, for many, the incident reflects the systematic targeting of Palestinian civilians by Israeli far-right government officials, such as Ben-Gvir and Strook, who are known for their racism and incitement of violence against Palestinians.

Read more: Israeli minister Ben-Gvir storms Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron to provoke an escalation in the West Bank

A fourth fatality was reported in the northern governorate of Jenin on Tuesday after Palestinian woman Rajaa Oweis (45) succumbed to injuries she sustained during an IOF raid on Jenin refugee camp two and a half years ago.

On Wednesday, April 22, Odeh Awawdeh (29) was killed in Israeli gunfire after a group of settlers attacked the village of Deir Debwan, east of Ramallah.

Israel killed 1,156 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 2023

Al Jazeera reported on Monday, April 20, that 1,151 Palestinians have been killed in onslaughts in the West Bank carried out by the IOF and illegal Israeli settlers since October 2023. This means that the death toll has risen to 1,156, following the assaults launched on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Read more: Twelve Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks across the West Bank

Article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingIsraeli violence claims more lives across the occupied West Bank

Extremist Israeli minister storms Ofer Prison, oversees abuse of Palestinian inmates

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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on January 24, 2023 [Saeed Qaq/Anadolu Agency]

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Friday forced his way into Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, in a visit marked by intimidation and abuse of Palestinian detainees, Anadolu reports.

Ben-Gvir entered the prison accompanied by senior police officials, including Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai, days before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israel’s Channel 7 reported, saying that stun grenades were fired near Palestinian prisoners’ cells during the visit.

Ben-Gvir, known for publishing inflammatory videos targeting Palestinian detainees and repeatedly threatening them, has openly boasted about tightening prison conditions for Palestinians since taking office in late 2022.

During his tour, he said the changes imposed on prisons were “not enough” and vowed to push for legislation allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners.

“This is not a luxury hotel. It is a real prison,” Ben-Gvir said, expressing satisfaction with what he described as a “fundamental change” in detention conditions.

READ: Israel arrests 22,000 Palestinians in West Bank, Jerusalem since start of the genocide war

Conditions for Palestinian prisoners have sharply deteriorated under Ben-Gvir’s tenure amid severe restrictions, widespread abuse and noticeable weight loss among detainees.

Palestinian and Israeli rights groups say former prisoners released in recent months have reported systematic torture, sexual violence, starvation and medical neglect, with some showing signs of severe psychological trauma.

In November 2025, Israel’s parliament advanced at first reading a bill introduced by Ben-Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party that would allow the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis. The proposal still requires second and third readings to become law, and no vote date has been set.

More than 9,300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including about 350 children, according to figures through early February.

Rights organizations have repeatedly warned that abuse of Palestinian detainees has intensified since October 2023, alongside Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

READ: Israeli admission accuses Ben Gvir of fuelling chaos among Arab citizens

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.

Continue ReadingExtremist Israeli minister storms Ofer Prison, oversees abuse of Palestinian inmates

International campaign demands the resumption of ICRC’s visits to political detainees in Israeli jails

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Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Protest at ICRC building in Gaza in support of Palestinian political prisoners in 2024. Photo: AA

The Israeli occupation authorities have banned the international organization from visiting political detainees held in its prisons since October 7, 2023, which many say reflects Israel’s collective punishment policy.

A press conference was held in front of the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Al-Bireh city, in the central occupied West Bank on Tuesday, February 10.

The event was organized as part of an international campaign to gather one million signatures demanding that the ICRC resume its visits to Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.

A number of press conferences were held in parallel in nine other cities across the world, including Beirut, Gaza, Cairo, Rabat, Tunis, Brussels and Paris in coincidence with the one held in Al-Bireh.

It is worth mentioning that Israel has banned the international organization from visiting the prisoners since October 7, 2023.

The political detainees held by Israel have also been deprived of family visits, and their lawyers have rarely been able to meet them for 28 months, amid continuously deteriorating humanitarian conditions inside the prisons.

The brutal crackdown against the Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement pre-dates the genocide in Gaza, but began in January 2023, by Israel’s Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Read more: The Palestinian Prisoners’ Movement: the struggle behind bars

Israel has misused the presence of the ICRC in the occupied territories to whitewash its crimes, says Qadura Fares

During the conference, former head of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, Qadura Fares, highlighted the key role that the ICRC has played in safeguarding various humanitarian issues internationally and inside occupied Palestine, including the prisoners’ issue.

“We know that the ICRC operates in accordance with international conventions, and in a way that is consistent with its mission as an international humanitarian organization. We are not asking the ICRC to do anything beyond its capacity, but to exert pressure on Israel through the appropriate international legal channels,” Fares noted.

“Nobody can expect Itamar Ben-Gvir, Netanyahu or Smotrich as racist fascist leaders to reconsider their decisions and permit the visits to the prisoners again on their own,” the prominent Palestinian political leader added.

Fares emphasized that this goal will be reached only with pressure being exerted on the Israeli authorities in order to cancel the arbitrary measures against the prisoners.

He also affirmed that the ICRC is able to exert such pressure, but it opted to work “within the limits of the authorization given to it by the Israeli occupation government.”

Fares further pointed out that Israel is misusing the presence of the ICRC and other international organizations in the occupied territories to whitewash its image, by showing that these international bodies are allowed to operate there, while their jurisdiction is extremely restricted and confined by the unlawful Israeli regulations.

The prisoners’ issue is a concern of people of conscience worldwide

Meanwhile, director of the Center for the Defense of Liberties and Civil Rights (Hurryyat), Helmi Al-Araj, asserted that the fact that the campaign has been launched from many cities around the world, including European cities “provides a conclusive evidence that the segregation of the detainees in ghetto-like prisons led to an uprising by the people of conscience all over the globe to support them.”

“This once again proves that all the peoples who struggle for freedom worldwide consider the issue of the Palestinian prisoners, in particular, and the Palestinian cause, in general, their own cause,” Al-Araj maintained. 

For his part, Palestinian political activist, freedom fighter, and former prisoner in Israeli jails, Omar Assaf, indicated that Lebanese and Syrian nationals have also been held in Israeli prisons, while the majority of the prisoners detained by Israel are Palestinians.

Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Continue ReadingInternational campaign demands the resumption of ICRC’s visits to political detainees in Israeli jails

Ben Gvir’s party pushes Israeli bill targeting mosque calls to prayer

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Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, during a news conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, on, 05 February , 2024 [Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Israel’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party, led by the extremist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, is continuing to push a new bill that targets the Islamic call to prayer in mosques by imposing strict restrictions and tough enforcement measures. 

The party described the proposal as a “dramatic change” in how the authorities deal with what it called “noise coming from mosques”. 

In a statement, Ben Gvir said: “The unreasonable noise of the muezzin harms quality of life.”

MK Zvika Fogel said the issue “is not religious but health-related”, calling for firm and clear legislation to address what he described as “systematic legal violations”.

Fogel, who chairs the Knesset’s National Security Committee, submitted the proposal. It is based on the principle of a “general ban with a special permit”, meaning loudspeakers would not be allowed in any mosque unless an official permit is granted. The permit would take into account factors such as volume levels, the mosque’s location, and how close it is to residential areas.

READ: Ben-Gvir flees after being pelted with stones in Palestinian village in Negev

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UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide and the UK government and military's active participation in genocide.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.

Continue ReadingBen Gvir’s party pushes Israeli bill targeting mosque calls to prayer

Israeli government asks supreme court to reject calls to dismiss Ben Gvir

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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir gives a speech in West Jerusalem January 24, 2023 [Saeed Qaq/Anadolu Agency]

The Israeli government has asked the Supreme Court to reject petitions calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to dismiss National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

According to Israel’s Channel 14, the government has submitted its formal response to the court regarding petitions demanding Ben Gvir’s removal from office.

In its response, the Netanyahu government said that “the fate of the petitions is immediate rejection due to the absence of any legal basis that would justify exceptional and extreme intervention in the highest constitutional act, namely the formation of an elected government”. It added that the request violates the principle of separation of powers, the foundations of good governance, as well as the law and judicial precedent.

The government also stated: “The honourable court should not accept petitions that seek to create a precedent of judicial intervention in determining government ministers due to ideological opposition to the policies promoted by the minister.”

The petitions come amid growing legal and political criticism of Ben Gvir’s conduct, particularly over his controversial statements and policies, his interference in police work, and accusations of incitement and undermining the rule of law.

READ: Ben-Gvir wears noose pin in Knesset debate on Palestinian death penalty bill

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza's hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.

Continue ReadingIsraeli government asks supreme court to reject calls to dismiss Ben Gvir