Published : 22 Aug 2026, 06:16 AM
Updated : 08 Sep 2026, 09:34 AM
Israel National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is facing backlash for the construction of a hanging site for the execution of Palestinians sentenced to death at a prison in Israel, the Independent reports.
He posted a video online showing the facility’s construction, which included viewing booths for family members of victims to witness the executions.
Earlier this year, Israel passed a highly controversial law that made death by hanging a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks.
The law says it applies to Israeli murder convicts whose attacks are aimed at “ending Israel’s existence”. This allows the law to hand the death penalty to Palestinians, but not Jewish Israelis who commit similar crimes, critics say.
Ben-Gvir, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, have campaigned on making conditions for Palestinian prisoners worse.
"I promised to worsen the conditions of terrorists in prisons — we kept [this promise]," he said in a Telegram post. "I promised to pass the death penalty for terrorists — we did. And now the death row and hanging facility are also starting to take shape."
Rights groups have strongly criticised the inclusion of a viewing platform at the execution sites, the Independent said.
CAGE international research director Asim Qureshi told the UK-based publication the viewing booths are “another example of the depravity” that has become embedded in Israeli politics and which “completely dehumanised Palestinian life”.
Qureshi warned that these steps could negatively impact the collective Israeli conscience, especially after Ben-Gvir’s public call for the killing of “30 to 40” people in Gaza every night.
Last week, the minister had promised Rom Braslavski, a former Israeli soldier held hostage in Gaza by Hamas, that he would do anything possible to allow him to execute Palestinians when Braslavski said he wanted to kill them with his “own hands”
Ben-Gvir said seeing him do so would be “one of my greatest dreams.”
The minister’s statements have drawn condemnation beyond rights groups. The conservative Jerusalem Post published an opinion piece that argued the execution facility would only give ammunition to Israel’s enemies.
It added that wider Israeli society would not support Ben-Gvir’s rhetoric, saying: “Reasonable people do not glorify executions, take public joy in them, or circulate videos of gallows under construction”.
The rhetoric of the Israeli far-right has come under greater scrutiny since the UN found the country had committed genocide in Gaza.
Following the Oct 7, 2023 attacks, Ben-Gvir and politicians like him have become increasingly popular in Israel. But his antics – such as celebrating the death penalty vote with champagne, or eating a birthday cake iced with gallows – have drawn consistent outrage, the Independent reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to remove him from his post.
