Police officers and prison guards at the scene of a prison escape of six Palestinian prisoners, outside the Gilboa prison September 6, 2021. (Flash90)
Channel 13 publishes report claiming that Ben-Gvir’s remarks on conditions of Palestinian prisoners led to worse treatment for Gaza captives; former minister fires back.
By World Israel News Staff
Channel 13 News blamed statements made by former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for the abuses that Hamas hostages endured in captivity, triggering the Otzma Yehudit lawmaker to fire back.
The outlet claimed in a report on Tuesday that a recently released hostage said that Hamas had “worsened” the captives’ conditions due to comments made by Ben-Gvir about crackdowns on Palestinian terrorists in Israel prison.
The report did not reference the specific remarks made by Ben-Gvir, nor did it reveal which hostage had allegedly made the claim.
Shortly after the October 7th attack, Ben-Gvir announced that privileges previously granted to imprisoned terrorists – such as access to entertainment and to a kitchen to make their own food – had been rescinded.
Ben-Gvir also implemented changes to the prisoners’ diets, removing treats from the menu.
Some on the Israeli left decried the moves, claiming that keeping terrorists in stricter conditions would radicalize them further.
“Tonight, Channel 13 News decided to grant legitimacy to the atrocities committed by Hamas against the hostages, with a report claiming that due to the changes I led in the conditions of terrorists in prison, Hamas abused our hostages,” Ben-Gvir said in a media statement.
They seem to have forgotten that the terrorists murdered, raped, and massacred Jews long before the reform in the terrorists’ prison conditions was implemented. They don’t need any excuse to do this beyond our very existence,” he added.
Ben-Gvir stressed that Israel’s massive failures on October 7th stemmed from the belief that “if we just tolerate, submit to the terrorists, and bow our heads, they will graciously agree to stop murdering Jews. We all saw the price of this distorted perception in the horrific massacre.”
In a separate report, former hostage Eliya Cohen said that after the successful rescue of four Israeli hostages in June 2024, guards chained him and other captives together for days on end, with the idea that it would make rescuing them more difficult.
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