Ben Gvir announces ground broken on gallows where ‘terrorists will be executed’

Israel has begun work on building a gallows, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir revealed this week, months after the passage of a new death penalty law for West Bank Palestinians convicted of deadly acts of terrorism.

In a video filmed at an undisclosed location, Ben Gvir pointed to a construction site where he declared “terrorists will be executed” by hanging. He said the facility would include viewing booths so the families of terror victims can watch them hang.

“We are implementing what we promised,” the far-right minister boasted.

Ben Gvir, who for his birthday this year had a cake with a noose on it, did not specify when the facility would be completed.

The death penalty law, which was approved in March and took effect in May, requires that a military court presiding over the prosecution of terrorists whose attacks resulted in the death of a victim apply the death penalty alone as the only available sentence, unless the court finds special circumstances allowing for life imprisonment.

The legislation has been widely condemned as discriminatory since it states explicitly that it does not apply to Israeli citizens or residents of Israel. It also only applies to terror trials in the military court system, which is used for Palestinians, while Israelis are tried in Israel’s civilian court system.

It is unclear, however, if the legislation will lead to automatic death penalty sentences. The condition requiring that the terror attack be carried out with the motive of “negating the existence of the State of Israel or the authority of the military commander in the area” may be hard to prove in court in many cases, leaving judges with room to impose a prison sentence instead.

השר בן גביר מציג את אגף הנידונים למוות ומתקן התלייה שנבנה בימים אלו

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בשבועות האחרונים הולך ונבנה במרכז הארץ אגף ייעודי לנידונים למוות, שבמרכזו מתוכנן לקום מתקן תלייה שבו יבוצעו גזרי הדין בהתאם להוראות החוק.

כך זה צפוי להיראות: אגף ייעודי לנידונים למוות, שאליו יועברו מי שנגזר… pic.twitter.com/3m7SRiQ9c1

— NWS news (@nws_report) August 18, 2026

Along with the death penalty law, Israel earlier this year passed legislation to establish a special military tribunal to try Palestinian terrorists accused of committing atrocities during the October 7, 2023, attacks. The tribunal will be able to charge the assailants with all relevant crimes, including genocide under the terms of Israel’s 1950 Law for the Prevention of Genocide, harming Israeli sovereignty, causing war, assisting an enemy during a time of war, and terror charges under Israel’s 2016 law for combating terrorism.

Those convicted of genocide charges would be liable for the death penalty.

While the death penalty formally exists in Israeli law, it has been carried out only once — the 1962 execution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

Ben Gvir condemned for calling to kill ’30-40′ Gaza enemies daily

The announcement about the gallows construction came days after Ben Gvir promised Rom Braslavski, who was held in Gaza for over two years by Palestinian terrorists, that he would “turn the world upside-down” to allow the former hostage to personally execute his captor.

During the same podcast conversation, Ben Gvir called for killing “30 to 40” people in the Gaza Strip each day, apparently referring to Hamas operatives and other enemies of Israel, drawing condemnations on Wednesday from Germany, France and the United Nations.

“I think we should carry out targeted assassinations in Gaza, taking down 30 to 40 every night,” he said.

“Not just those who pose an immediate threat. No, there are people there who are not worthy of life,” he elaborated.

“They shouldn’t live,” Ben Gvir continued. “They’re not even people.”

Ben Gvir is a member of the security cabinet, but he does not have authority over the military and cannot order strikes on Gaza. But, after operating for decades within Israel’s far-right fringe, he is now among the most influential people in the country.

He also has substantial control over key parts of Israel’s security apparatus, running the country’s prisons — where thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank are incarcerated — as well as the national police force.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz “strongly condemns the inhumane appeals made by Minister Ben Gvir, which violate international law,” German government spokesman Sebastian Hille said. “They are unacceptable.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also slammed the remarks, calling them “intolerable and inhumane” in an interview with the La Montagne regional newspaper.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described them as “appalling. They’re outrageous. They’re dehumanizing, and they’re dangerous,” his spokesman said.

Lars Klingbeil, German vice chancellor and finance minister, said in a TV interview Tuesday that Ben Gvir’s comments “must have consequences,” adding that sanctions were being discussed at the European level.

Several European countries have called for EU-wide sanctions against the far-right minister, but the proposal has failed to win the required unanimity.

Calls to blacklist Ben Gvir grew after he published a video in May of himself mocking bound activists seized by Israeli soldiers on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

France, in response, banned Ben Gvir from entering the country and called for the EU to impose bloc-wide sanctions.

But EU sanctions have to be signed off by all 27 member states and staunch supporters of Israel refused to go along with the push.