Ben-Gvir Posts AI-Generated Video Boasting of Gaza's Destruction, Mocking Palestinians as 'Donkeys'

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's far-right National Security Minister, posted an AI-generated campaign video on X this week that imagines the Gaza Strip in 2030 as a ghost town, its schools, roads and port reduced to rubble by the war his government waged.

The video, reported by Anadolu Agency, ends with a scene of a donkey and a message from Ben-Gvir's Jewish Power party.

"You'd have to be a donkey to stay in Gaza."

The line mocks Palestinians who have remained in the territory through more than two years of war and a fragile ceasefire. Ben-Gvir has long called publicly for Israel to occupy Gaza, displace its population and build Israeli settlements there, positions that have made him one of the most watched figures in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition.

The war, launched after Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack and carried out with US military and diplomatic support, has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians and wounded over 175,000, according to figures reported by Gaza's Health Ministry and cited widely in international coverage, though exact tolls are difficult to verify and are disputed by Israeli officials. The United Nations and aid groups have said roughly 90 percent of Gaza's buildings and infrastructure have been damaged or destroyed.

A ceasefire took effect on October 10, 2025. Palestinian officials and rights monitors have continued to report Israeli military activity inside Gaza since the truce began, though this report does not document specific post-ceasefire incidents.

The campaign video surfaced days after Arab-led parties in Israel accused Ben-Gvir, according to Anadolu, of using his record of measures against Palestinians to energize right-wing voters and intimidate Arab constituents ahead of the vote.

Israel holds parliamentary elections on October 27. A Channel 12 poll published this week projected 55 seats for opposition parties against 51 for Netanyahu's coalition, short of the 61 needed to govern, with Ben-Gvir expected to retain a senior ministerial post regardless of the outcome, according to comments Netanyahu has made publicly.

The video is a campaign advertisement, not a government statement, but it was posted by a sitting cabinet minister whose ministry has overseen demolitions in Jerusalem and policing across the West Bank. Occupation Watch is treating the post as a documented statement by a named Israeli official celebrating the destruction of Gaza and disparaging the Palestinians who remain in it.