Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has informed the commander of the Israeli border police’s West Bank undercover unit that he was being promoted, after two of his subordinates executed unarmed Palestinians who attempted to surrender, Haaretz reported on Sunday.
A video of the execution, which occurred on Thursday in Jenin, shows two Palestinians exiting a building with their arms up and showing they had nothing under their shirts. The Palestinians then get on the ground, and it appears that the Israeli troops direct them to re-enter the building, and as they do so, they are shot at point-blank range.
After the incident and the publication of the video, Ben Gvir, leader of Israel’s Jewish Power Party, wrote on X that he was providing full backing to “the Border Guard fighters and IDF soldiers who fired at wanted terrorists who emerged from a building in Jenin. The fighters acted exactly as expected of them – terrorists must die!”
The Haaretz report said that on Friday, Ben Gvir arrived at the Israeli border police’s base in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to inform the unit’s commander that he was being promoted to the rank of deputy superintendent. An Israeli police source told the paper that the decision to promote the officer was made two weeks ago, but it needed Ben Gvir’s final approval.
While Ben Gvir was visiting the border unit, three of its officers were being questioned at IDF headquarters about the execution that was caught on video. Ben Gvir released a video statement from the border unit’s base, where he said he opposed the questioning.
“I came to strengthen and hug the heroic fighters here,” Ben Gvir said. “We need to put an end to this distorted procedure. When one of our fighters shoots a terrorist, we immediately take him in for questioning.”
