Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir sharply rejected comments by U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting that Israel might consider releasing jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti to help govern Gaza after the war, calling Barghouti a “murderous Nazi” who would never be freed.
“I have great respect for President Trump he was undoubtedly the best U.S. president for Israel,” Ben-Gvir wrote Thursday evening on X (formerly Twitter). “But it is important to remember that Israel is an independent and sovereign state, and Knesset members vote according to their own judgment. Barghouti is a vile murderer whose hands are stained with the blood of many civilians women and children. He will not be released, and he will not lead Gaza.”
Ben-Gvir’s remarks came in response to an interview Trump gave to TIME magazine earlier in the day, in which the U.S. president said he would “make a decision” regarding whether Israel should release Barghouti, who has been imprisoned for more than two decades.
Trump said he “liked Mahmoud Abbas,” the aging president of the Palestinian Authority, but did not see him as the right person to lead Gaza in the aftermath of the current conflict. When asked specifically about the possibility of Barghouti’s release, Trump replied, “I’ve been asked about that before, so I’ll make my decision.”
Barghouti, a senior figure in the Fatah movement, is widely regarded as one of the few Palestinian leaders capable of bridging political divides between Fatah and Hamas. Many Palestinians view him as a unifying national figure and a potential successor to Abbas.
Once a leading organizer of the first intifada in 1987 and a prominent figure during the second uprising in 2000, Barghouti was arrested multiple times, survived several Israeli assassination attempts, and in 2004 was sentenced to five consecutive life terms for his role in attacks that killed Israeli civilians. He has consistently denied involvement in the killings, portraying himself as a political prisoner.
Trump’s comments have sparked heated debate in Israel, where even the suggestion of releasing Barghouti considered by many Israelis to be a convicted terrorist is deeply controversial.
Ben-Gvir’s swift and combative response underscores the deep divisions between Israel’s far-right ministers and Washington over the future governance of Gaza. While Trump has floated the idea of a Palestinian-led administration after the war, Israel’s current leadership has shown little interest in relinquishing control or engaging figures seen as linked to past violence.
As Washington continues to shape its postwar vision for Gaza including discussions of an interim Arab-led administration and eventual Palestinian governance Barghouti’s name remains symbolic of both the hope for Palestinian unity and the enduring political barriers that stand in its way.
