THE United Nations Human Rights Office has condemned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for verbally confronting Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in his prison cell and posting video footage of the encounter online.
The footage shows Ben-Gvir “berating and taunting Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi face-to-face inside an Israeli jail”, according to UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan.
“The minister’s behaviour and the publication of the footage constitute an attack on Barghouthi’s dignity,” Al-Kheetan said in a statement.
The UN official emphasised that “international law requires that all those in detention be treated humanely, with dignity, and their human rights respected and protected.”
Al-Kheetan warned that “such conduct by the minister responsible for the Israeli Prison Service may encourage violence against Palestinian detainees, enabling human rights violations in Israeli detention facilities.”
Barghouti, 66, has been imprisoned by Israel since 2002. The former Fatah official “défend une résolution politique au conflit israélo-palestinien” and “est régulièrement cité comme un possible successeur au président palestinien, Mahmoud Abbas, malgré sa détention.”
Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician who heads Israel’s National Security Ministry, published the confrontational video on Friday. The incident has drawn widespread Palestinian condemnation alongside the UN rebuke.
The controversy emerged as the UN simultaneously reported escalating violence in Gaza, where Israeli military operations have intensified in the northern part of the strip. The human rights office documented attacks on displaced Palestinian civilians and continued restrictions on humanitarian aid that have pushed the territory toward widespread starvation.
The incident involving Barghouti represents the latest flashpoint in tensions over the treatment of Palestinian prisoners, a longstanding source of controversy in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The UN’s swift condemnation underscores international concerns about adherence to detention standards amid the broader regional crisis.
