Ben Gvir deletes AI video showing emaciated Palestinian prisoners after backlash

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has deleted an AI-generated video showing Palestinian prisoners being systematically starved, after it sparked outrage and comparisons to Nazi concentration camps. The video, posted to Ben Gvir’s social media accounts, showed groups of apparently well-fed Palestinian men in numbered prison uniforms travelling along a conveyor belt towards a detention facility surrounded by fencing. Thought bubbles above the prisoners showed images representing food, education, safety and other basic needs. After passing through the facility, the men emerge with unkempt beards, visibly emaciated and distressed, with several crying. “We promised – we delivered,” Ben Gvir wrote alongside the video in Hebrew, apparently referring to his repeated pledges to worsen conditions for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters US Senator Ruben Gallego was among those condemning the post harshly. This piece of shit should never be allowed in the US. https://t.co/BFlJCarIiT — Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) September 1, 2026 Ben Gvir subsequently deleted the video as criticism mounted online. The imagery drew immediate comparisons with Nazi concentration and extermination camps, where prisoners were stripped of their identities, reduced to numbers and subjected to systematic starvation and abuse. The controversy came as Ben Gvir has increasingly made the treatment of Palestinian prisoners a feature of both his public appearances and political campaigning. On the same weekend, he released footage of himself confronting Palestinian women held in Israel’s Damon prison after they complained about being denied basic necessities. One prisoner told the minister that detainees had gone days without showers, were not receiving adequate medical treatment and did not have clean clothes. Ben Gvir responded by boasting that he was personally responsible for their conditions. “The good conditions in the prisons are over,” he told the women. “This is the current situation, and I am directly responsible for everything.” “I’m glad we lowered these conditions to the bare minimum,” he added. Social media users online condemned the video and said the content draws clear parallels with the Nazi concentration camps. Ben Gvir deleted his call for building extermination camps for Palestinians. Make no mistake, this is what he wants. When someone tells you they are a Nazi, believe them pic.twitter.com/KwdYwsF29I — Alonso Gurmendi (@Alonso_GD) September 1, 2026 The deleted AI video is also the latest in a series of increasingly graphic displays by Ben Gvir centred on the punishment and execution of Palestinians. Last month, the national security minister published footage from a construction site which he said would become an execution facility for Palestinian prisoners. “In this place, the terrorists will be executed,” he said, adding that the complex would contain viewing chambers where victims’ relatives could watch prisoners being hanged. “We are fulfilling what we promised,” Ben Gvir said. Commentators online said that Ben Gvir is not just a fringe part of the Israeli government but a key figure in Netanyahu’s coalition to stay in power. Ben-Gvir is not only a minister in Netanyahu's government but holds the keys to Netanyahu's coalition staying in power. He isn't some weird outside agitator. He is a central part of the Israeli government. https://t.co/TQTwxqcsfB — Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) September 1, 2026 Earlier in August, former Israeli captive Rom Braslavski asked Ben Gvir during a podcast interview whether he could personally execute Palestinian prisoners. Ben Gvir told him he would “try and turn the world upside down” to make that possible. During the same appearance, the minister called for Israel to kill dozens of people in Gaza every night and advocated resettling the besieged enclave with Israelis. “I see all of Gaza as ours,” he said. Ben Gvir has also repeatedly campaigned for the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners and has made degrading conditions in Israeli prisons one of his signature policies since entering government. Former detainees and Palestinian rights organisations have documented severe weight loss, torture, sexual abuse and other forms of mistreatment inside Israeli detention facilities since October 2023. Israeli rights group B’Tselem has described the country’s prison system as a network of “torture camps”. From Kahanist fringe to government minister Ben Gvir, once considered too extreme for mainstream Israeli politics, is a former activist in the Kahanist movement inspired by the late extremist rabbi, Meir Kahane. Kahane’s Kach party advocated stripping Palestinian citizens of Israel of their citizenship and was eventually banned in Israel. It was later designated a terrorist organisation by the United States. Ben Gvir was convicted in 2007 of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation. Before entering mainstream politics, he was known for keeping a portrait in his home of Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli settler who massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994. He has since risen from the far-right margins to become one of Israel’s most influential politicians, overseeing the police and prison system as national security minister. His treatment of detainees has previously prompted criticism even from close Israeli allies.