JERUSALEM (VINnews) — National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has released footage of a tense confrontation with Palestinian security prisoners at Damon Prison, declaring that the era of comfortable conditions for terrorists in Israeli prisons is over.

The video, filmed during a recent visit to the northern Israeli prison and released by Ben-Gvir on Sunday, shows the minister speaking with Palestinian women detained for security offenses, including members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.

One of the prisoners complains through a translator about the conditions inside the facility, saying that the prisoners have been deprived of basic amenities and medical treatment. She also complains about raids of their cells and a lack of adequate access to showers and water.

Ben-Gvir responds bluntly, telling the prisoners that the conditions they once enjoyed in Israeli prisons are a thing of the past. “The days of summer camp in Israeli prisons are over,” he says.

זה לא עובד עליי ״ההתבכיינויות״ של המחבלות על התנאים בבתי הכלא, לחטופים שלנו לא היו שום תנאים, אמשיך להוביל מדיניות מינימום של המינימום! pic.twitter.com/4WTESzG5eH

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) August 30, 2026

In another part of the exchange, Ben-Gvir contrasts their complaints with the conditions endured by Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. “Our hostages didn’t have shampoo, and they didn’t have these conditions,” Ben-Gvir says.

He later declares that he is proud of the policy he has implemented since taking responsibility for Israel’s prison system. “I am proud that we have succeeded in bringing the conditions of the terrorists down to the bare minimum,” he says. “We are not apologizing. Anyone who harms Israeli citizens will not receive a summer camp in prison. Terrorists will receive the minimum required by law, and nothing more.”

In the video, Ben-Gvir makes clear that the tougher prison policy is intentional and that he personally takes responsibility for it. “I came to see firsthand the implementation of our policy,” he said after the visit. “I heard from the prison officers and I heard the complaints of the terrorists. We are not apologizing.”

In a social-media post accompanying the footage, Ben-Gvir similarly said that complaints from security prisoners would not persuade him to reverse his policy, arguing that the treatment of Israeli hostages in Gaza demonstrated the stark difference between how Israel treats prisoners and how Hamas treated its captives.

The footage drew an especially strong response from Rom Braslavski, an Israeli who was held hostage in Gaza by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Braslavski responded directly to the video, pointing out that the woman complaining to Ben-Gvir belonged to the same organization that had held him captive.

“I was held hostage by her organization,” Braslavski wrote, criticizing her complaints about prison conditions and expressing support for Ben-Gvir’s approach.

His response reflected a sentiment shared by supporters of the minister: that Palestinian terrorists convicted or detained for security offenses should not enjoy conditions that Israeli hostages were denied while being held by Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza.

For many Israelis, particularly those whose families have been directly affected by the October 7 massacre and the hostage crisis, Ben-Gvir’s refusal to offer what he calls “luxury conditions” to security prisoners is viewed as a matter of justice rather than cruelty.

The video has also triggered fierce condemnation from Palestinian prisoner organizations. The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs accused Ben-Gvir of using the women as part of a political spectacle designed to humiliate and intimidate them. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society similarly condemned the filming and publication of the footage, describing it as an assault on the prisoners’ dignity.

Critics of Ben-Gvir’s policy have also pointed to allegations of abuse and deteriorating conditions in Israeli detention facilities, while Ben-Gvir and his supporters maintain that security prisoners are receiving the minimum conditions required by Israeli law.

Since entering office, Ben-Gvir has repeatedly pushed for tougher conditions for Palestinian security prisoners, including restrictions on privileges and other amenities. He has argued that prisoners convicted or detained for terrorism should not receive benefits beyond what is legally required.

The confrontation has become another example of the radically different approaches to the treatment of Palestinian security prisoners.

Ben-Gvir’s critics view his public confrontations and deliberately harsh rhetoric as degrading and dangerous. His supporters see precisely the same conduct as evidence that the minister is delivering on a promise he made to Israeli voters: to end what he describes as a system in which terrorists were treated too generously while Israeli victims and hostages suffered.

His central message remains unchanged: those who attack Israelis should not expect comfortable conditions in Israeli prisons.