Hamas has videoed the torture of Israeli hostages and sent a copy to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir in an attempt to force him to ease conditions for terrorists behind bars in Israel, The Telegraph reported on Sunday, citing two Israeli officials.
Ben Gvir is in charge of the Israel Prisons Service and has been pressing the security prisons to make the prison experience as harsh as possible for Hamas and other murderer.
One such video reportedly addressed Ben-Gvir directly, showing hostages being tortured with a warning from Hamas that harsher conditions for security prisoners are harming the hostages in Gaza.
The Telegraph did not include a copy of the “torture video.” However, the Internet is rife with videos of Hamas members torturing fellow Arabs. Here are two examples:
**(Appeal to all human rights organizations around the world)**
Please… save the activists who oppose Hamas.
The tools that Hamas uses to torture and beat those who disagree with it are made of solid steel and are tools typically used in construction work. pic.twitter.com/CNuUc0b2dB— Ayman Khaled أيمن خالد (@aypress) July 10, 2024
Hamas torture and spray the word “thief” on Palestinians who ‘attempted to storm a warehouse where they sell overpriced aid pic.twitter.com/5FFffqzEqV
— Watcher (@civwatch_) July 5, 2024
Ben Gvir issued a response saying, “Hamas did not send me any video and I refuse to cooperate with Hamas propaganda: you should only talk to Hamas through crosshairs. The terrorist organization Hamas did not look for any excuse on 10/7 to murder, rape, kidnap, and abuse living citizens and even corpses, and even murdered abductees in captivity. Hamas must be defeated, and we must not submit to its dictates that demand surrender: the territory of the Gaza Strip must be occupied permanently, humanitarian aid must be stopped, and it must be defeated.”
He then noted: “The conditions of the terrorists in the prisons have indeed worsened and the summer camps have ended, and I am proud of that – I have no intention of submitting to the dictates of Hamas.”
In May, CNN reported on the conditions of Hamas prisoners who participated in the October 7 atrocities that featured rape, murder, decapitating, and burning alive more than 1,200 Israelis. An Israeli who worked in the Negev detention facility for the murderers shared two photographs of a scene he said would continue to haunt him:
“Rows of men in gray tracksuits are seen in the photographs sitting on paper-thin mattresses, ringfenced by barbed wire. All appear blindfolded, their heads hanging heavy under the glare of floodlights,” CNN described the situation inside the facility. “A putrid stench filled the air and the room hummed with the men’s murmurs. Forbidden from speaking to each other, the detainees mumbled to themselves.”
“We were told they were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold,” the Israeli whistleblower told CNN, adding that “the guards were instructed to scream Uskot – shut up in Arabic – and to pick people out who were problematic and punish them.”
Sounds inhuman? You bet. But I doubt you would find too many Israelis who would object to this treatment.
After viewing the video, a high-ranking Israeli official reported that Ben Gvir interpreted it as justification for intensifying measures against Palestinian detainees.
“Despite being cautioned that his social media pursuit of popularity was causing our captives in Gaza to endure torture and suffering, he maintained a smile and declared his intention to persist,” stated this top Israeli official.
When approached by The Telegraph regarding these claims, Ben Gvir responded, “I have no knowledge of these accusations.”
I for one have no problem believing him. His deep reupholstering of the prison service has gained Ben Gvir many enemies.
