Ben Gvir’s Death Penalty Dream Is Israel’s Nightmare |
Last week, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir once again provoked global recriminations when he posted an AI-generated TikTok video declaring he ‘dreams’ of nooses, celebrating a law that mandates death by hanging exclusively for Palestinian detainees. Co-opting a viral social media audio trend, Ben Gvir posted the video to his TikTok account on 4 May 2026, using the viral ‘I know I should sleep, but the voices in my head go…,” followed by an upbeat audio trend as its soundtrack. The footage consists entirely of AI-generated imagery: everyday objects, rendered in artificial detail, morphed into the shapes of gallows and hanging ropes. Text overlaid on the video declared that he dreams of the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, using slang in Hebrew that translates directly to ‘I am dying to execute the terrorists.’
The clip spread rapidly across platforms, with commenters across the political spectrum expressing disbelief that a sitting government minister had produced and published such content. Arab Knesset member Ahmad Tibi responded directly, stating that Ben Gvir and his wife ‘need a psychiatrist immediately,’ adding: ‘Usually, people wish for a better future and love with a birthday cake, but these people sanctify hatred and death.’ Social media reactions ranged from accusations of incitement to calls for international legal accountability. One widely shared post read: ‘This is not normal behaviour; who dreams of killing people?’’
The TikTok video did not arrive without context. Just weeks earlier, on 18 March 2026, Ben Gvir had posted a separate, now deleted, video to X, standing in front of a visible gallows to deny rumours of his death, stating in Hebrew: ‘I am dead with longing to execute the terrorists. Death penalty for terrorists now!’ The terrorist organization Hamas described that post as ‘public incitement to killing’. It warned of repercussions, calling Ben Gvir’s repeated glorification of execution ‘an extremist mentality’ and demanding urgent international action to protect Palestinian detainees from what it called a policy of state killing.
We, the thousands of members of “L’chaim! Jews Against the Death Penalty” from Israel and across the world, unequivocally condemn this latest display of the grotesque celebration of death and killing associated with Israel’s recently passed “Death Penalty for Terrorists” Law. Ben Gvir’s nightmarish dream sequence constitutes but the most recent example of how this law opens a veritable Pandora’s Box of death. The video arrived just two days after Ben Gvir’s 50th birthday party, where his wife Ayala presented him with a cake topped with a golden noose and the inscription ‘Congratulations Minister........