Ben-Gvir did not come into power in a vacuum: he was helped into his position by an international community that has afforded Israel complete impunity

Arwa Mahdawi

Ben-Gvir posts Palestinians on conveyor belts to detention camps. The world is silent

Arwa Mahdawi

Thu 3 Sep 2026 06.00 EDT

Let me introduce you to Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of Israel’s far-right Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party, the minister of national security, and an almost cartoonishly evil man. You’ll have heard his name before: he made international news when he filmed himself taunting bound activists who had been detained trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. But you might not be familiar with many of his recent shocking comments, because they haven’t been widely covered by much of the US media.

Let’s start with an AI-generated video that Ben-Gvir posted on Twitter/X on Sunday and then deleted. It shows portly Palestinian prisoners being loaded on to a conveyor belt and going into a detention camp, then emerging emaciated. The caption is “we promised – we delivered!” which seems to be a reference to the national security minister’s promise to worsen conditions for Palestinian prisoners. An ambitious goal, considering conditions are already hellish: Israeli human rights group B’Tselem has likened the prisons where Palestinians are kept to “torture camps”.

I’m being diplomatic with my summary of this latest video, by the way. I suggest you go watch it yourself to fully take in how awful it is. (It may have been deleted, but it lives on online). If the podcaster Hasan Piker had tweeted something similar, with Israelis as the subject rather than Palestinians, it would be front-page news. US lawmakers, all of whom seem to be obsessed with Piker, would be demanding that the podcaster be punished.

Ben-Gvir, by the way, has some imaginative ideas for punishment. One of his sick fantasies is to put crocodiles in moats around prisons where Palestinians are held to stop prison breaks. The plan is now on hold because Israeli rights groups have said it is cruel to crocodiles.

I can’t stress enough that, in any discussion of Palestinian “prisoners”, it’s important to remember that many of these people have not gone through any sort of due process. Thousands of prisoners, including about 200 children, are held under “administrative detention”: a technocratic name for a dystopian practice.

To quote the B’Tselem definition: “In administrative detention, a person is held without trial without having committed an offense, on the grounds that he or she plans to break the law in the future. As this measure is supposed to be preventive, it has no time limit. The person is detained without legal proceedings, by order of the regional military commander, based on classified evidence that is not revealed to them.”

In other words: if you are Palestinian, heavily armed Israeli soldiers can come into your house in the middle of the night, drag you into a de facto torture chamber despite the fact that you haven’t committed a crime, and hold you there indefinitely without telling you why you’re being held or informing your family where you are.

When you hear the word “prisoner”, people like Ben-Gvir want you to think of dangerous terrorists who deserve everything they get. In reality, many are people like Layan Nasir: a 23-year-old woman who was taken away at gunpoint from her parents’ home for no clear reason and only made international news because she is a Christian... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/03/ben-gvir-palestinian-comments

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‘Treated as criminals’: Gaza fishermen risk everything at sea Facing starvation, Palestinians turn to the sea to feed their families, risking imprisonment or death

A displaced Palestinian fisherman casts his net on the beach in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, on 20 November 2025 (Eyad Baba/AFP)

By Maha Hussaini in Gaza City and Mohammed al-Hajjar in Nuseirat

Published date: 22 December 2025 

 

Even after Israeli bombardments destroyed his fishing boat and equipment, Ismail Farhat returned to the sea. Fishing was not a choice for him; it was how he kept his family fed.

On the morning of 8 October, he set out from the shore of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on a small punt he had built himself. Shortly after, an Israeli naval vessel approached and ordered him to “surrender”.

Farhat was then detained, tortured, and threatened with arrest if he returned to fishing, before being released more than two months later, on Tuesday.

“I was fishing with another fisherman when we were suddenly approached by an Israeli naval vessel. They ordered us to remove our clothes, jump into the sea, and swim towards their vessel,” Farhat told Middle East Eye one day after his release.

“Once we were on board, they began interrogating us, asking where we lived, where we had been before we were displaced, and requesting personal details such as our ID numbers, age and mobile phone numbers. One of the soldiers photographed me with his phone.”

Another vessel then approached, and Farhat was transferred to it, where he was subjected to a second interrogation.

After the interrogation ended, Farhat and the other fisherman were released and instructed to head back toward the shore.

Approximately two minutes later, the naval vessel returned and stopped them again.

“One of the soldiers called me by name and ordered me to jump into the water and swim towards him, while telling the fisherman who was with me to return to shore. They then arrested me, blindfolded me, and handcuffed me,” Farhat said.

A fisherman paddles on a makeshift raft as a child swims behind him in Gaza City's main fishing harbour on 7 September 2024 (Omar al-Qattaa/AFP)

“They began insulting and beating me. As usual, they accused every fisherman of being affiliated with Hamas. They told me I was Hamas and pretending to be a fisherman. Every time I raised my head or spoke a word, they beat me and insulted me with obscene language.”

At that moment, Farhat realised he was about to be detained.

He considered himself lucky, however, that he was not shot dead like many of his fellow fishermen.

Detention, torture

Since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military has killed at least 230 Palestinian fishermen, according to the Palestinian Fishermen Syndicate.

Farhat was taken to a port he could not identify, before being transferred to Sde Teiman, a notorious Israeli detention facility where Palestinian detainees are subjected to severe torture.

“Throughout this entire period, I was wearing only shorts, without anything else, and the weather was extremely cold. But I wasn’t allowed to say a word,” he added.

When I arrived at Sde Teiman, they forced me to take off the shorts, searched me, and gave me prisoner clothing. There were around 150 Palestinian detainees in the prison with me, including fishermen and truck drivers, some of whom transported aid or goods.”

For the first 50 days of his detention, Farhat was kept in handcuffs at all times.

“You live 24 hours a day with your hands cuffed. We were forbidden from speaking, forbidden from leaning to either side, and forbidden from sleeping. We were not allowed a mattress. I slept on an iron mesh,” he added.

“Sometimes, due to extreme exhaustion, I would fall asleep or lean unintentionally, and they would immediately punish me, forcing me to stand for two or three hours.”

Over more than two months in custody, Farhat said he and his fellow fishermen were “treated as criminals”, despite never being formally charged.

During this period, he encountered numerous fellow fishermen held in the same facility. Many had been detained for fishing amid Israel’s imposed starvation of the Strip since March.

“On some nights, a unit they called the 'commando' would enter the prison and throw stun and smoke grenades on the prisoners. Most of the time, they forced us to remain kneeling,”  ... READ MORE   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/treated-criminals-gaza-fishermen-risk-everything-at-sea 

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Fishermen pull their nets to retrieve their catch on a beach in the Nuseirat camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on 30 August 2025 (Eyad Baba/AFP)

Dallas church’s Nativity evokes immigration detention centers, homelessness: The Nativity scene asks passersby to consider what it would look like if Jesus’ birth took place today.

Oak Lawn United Methodist Church’s Nativity scene depicts silhouettes of Mary and Joseph surrounded by chain-link fencing topped with razor wire. “I feel it doesn't make the story more political, it makes it more biblical. It invites us back into the raw and difficult nature of the true setting of the story,” said senior pastor Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison.    

Dallas Morning News story by Marcheta Fornoff 

 

Oak Lawn United Methodist Church’s Nativity scene depicts silhouettes of Mary and Joseph surrounded by chain-link fencing topped with razor wire. “I feel it doesn't make the story more political, it makes it more biblical. It invites us back into the raw and difficult nature of the true setting of the story,” said senior pastor Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison.... READ MORE  https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/2025/12/17/dallas-churchs-nativity-evokes-immigration-detention-centers-homelessness/

 &

Oak Lawn UMC Reveals Nativity Display Lifting Up the Journey of Migrant Families

Social Media Statement:

This installation on our front steps reimagines the Nativity in the reality faced by thousands of families fleeing violence, poverty, and political instability. The Holy Family were migrants seeking safety. In Dallas, many families face the same uncertainty.  At Christmas, we remember that God chooses to be with those the world pushes to the margins. May this scene call us to make room — in our hearts, in our city, in our policies — for the Christ who comes as an unhoused immigrant child.

Full Press Release:

Dallas, TX — Oak Lawn United Methodist Church has unveiled a powerful new public installation on its front steps this Advent season—an artistic reimagining of the traditional Nativity that places the Holy Family in the lived reality of thousands of migrants and asylum-seeking families today.

The installation invites the Dallas community to see the Christmas story through the eyes of those fleeing violence, poverty, and political instability. Reflecting on the piece, Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison, Senior Pastor of Oak Lawn UMC, said, “The Holy Family were migrants seeking safety. In Dallas, many families face the same uncertainty.”

By grounding the Nativity in a contemporary humanitarian crisis, the church hopes to spark deeper compassion and honest reflection during the holidays.

“At Christmas, we remember that God chooses to be with those the world pushes to the margins,” said Rev. Griffin-Allison. “May this scene call us to make room—in our hearts, in our city, in our policies—for the Christ who comes as an unhoused immigrant child.”

Oak Lawn UMC serves as a key community hub for hospitality ministries, including outreach to unsheltered neighbors and support for recently arrived migrant families through Dallas Responds. This installation reflects the congregation’s ongoing commitment to embodying solidarity, justice, and radical welcome.

The Nativity will be on display throughout the Advent and Christmas season. Community members are encouraged to visit, take photos, and reflect on how the story of Christ’s birth speaks into the urgent realities facing Dallas today.

Press Contact:
Rev. Ryan Wager
Associate Pastor & Operations Leader
Email ryan@olumc.org
Wireless 405-213-8944

 https://olumc.org/nativity-2025/

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Gaza is one of the world's most dangerous places to be a woman. Women are subjected to abuse and torture whilst detained by Israel or killed while fleeing.

 Israel's war on women in Gaza

In February, UN experts expressed alarm at credible allegations of human rights violations committed by the Israeli army against Palestinian women and girls in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with incidents of unlawful execution, alongside family members including children, being reported.

"We are shocked by the reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children in places they sought refuge, or while fleeing. Some of them were reportedly holding pieces of cloth when the Israeli army or affiliated forces killed them," the statement read. 

Abeer Ayyoub

19 March, 2024

Stripped and abused by Israel, one woman in Gaza wishes she 'died sooner'

28-year-old Inas is one of the hundreds of Palestinian women in Gaza who've been detained by the Israeli army since October 7. Speaking to The New Arab, Inas says that she was subjected to verbal, physical, and psychological abuse by Israeli soldiers. 

Inas was arrested in mid-December in the Al-Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City where she was sheltering. She was then forced to walk for two hours until she reached the Al-Shejaiya neighbourhood of eastern Gaza.

"I was handcuffed and bundled into a troop carrier [an infantry fighting vehicle]. They kept beating me until we arrived at Zikim," Inas, who prefers to hide her family name, recalls. "'Welcome to Israel', they said."

Israeli soldiers then threw wet blankets over them during the night. "I was then taken to the Anatot Military Camp where I was subjected to a strip search by female soldiers."

More than three women are killed every hour in Gaza by Israel 

 READ MORE   https://www.newarab.com/features/stripped-and-abused-women-gaza-wish-they-died-sooner

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