Ben Gvir Films Himself Touring Construction Site for Palestinian Execution Chamber, Including 'Viewing' Gallery

Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a video of himself on Tuesday standing in front of an active construction site, telling his 150,000 Instagram followers exactly what it is for.

"In this place, the terrorists will be executed," he said in the video. He described the complex as including "viewing chambers where crime victims will be able to come and watch" Palestinians being hanged.

Ben Gvir framed the footage as vindication. He said people who had "ridiculed" and "giggled" at his push to execute Palestinian prisoners could now see the site rising out of the ground. "We are fulfilling what we promised," he said.

This is not a hypothetical policy proposal. It is a cabinet minister filming a promotional tour of state execution infrastructure and describing spectator seating for hangings, as established fact documented on video.

The legal groundwork

Israel's parliament passed a law in March authorizing the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted in connection with deadly attacks. The bill was sponsored by Ben Gvir's Otzma Yehudit party and designates the Israel Prison Service as the executing authority. Critics have pointed out the law is written so it applies only to Palestinians, not Jewish Israeli citizens convicted of comparable offenses.

According to Israeli media reports cited by Middle East Eye, the Prison Service had already begun preparing sites and personnel before the Knesset vote. Those reports indicate three IPS volunteers are expected to carry out executions by hanging, within 90 days of sentencing. Occupation Watch could not independently verify the 90-day timeline or the volunteer arrangement, and treats them as reported detail rather than confirmed fact.

A pattern of statements, not a one-off

Last week, Ben Gvir told Rom Braslavski, a former Israeli soldier previously held by Hamas in Gaza, that he would do everything in his power to let Braslavski personally execute Palestinians, after Braslavski said he wanted to kill Palestinians with his "own hands." Ben Gvir told him the Palestinian prisoners under his ministry's supervision "don't deserve to live." In the same interview he called for killing Palestinians in Gaza and expelling them from the territory.

German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil responded by calling on the European Union to sanction Ben Gvir, telling German media the statements were "dehumanising" and something "we, as the German government, cannot accept in any way."

Rights groups say this formalizes an existing practice

Israeli human rights group B'Tselem has said Israeli Prison Service facilities under Ben Gvir have become "a network of torture camps where inmates are subjected to continuous abuse and violence," and that the death penalty law "adds another official killing mechanism to the existing practices." B'Tselem's executive director said earlier this year that Israel "already kills Palestinians systematically and faces no demands for accountability."

At least 104 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody since 2023, according to figures reported as of June, though Occupation Watch notes this statistic requires independent verification against human rights databases.