Minister Ben Gvir and other ministers express outrage over a visit by top PA official Jibril Rajoub to a relative in Israel. “He supported the October 7 massacre; why aren’t sanctions being imposed?”
During a cabinet meeting on Sunday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir raised the issue of a recent visit by Jibril Rajoub, a senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official, to a relative in an Israeli hospital.
Minister Ben Gvir, who oversees the Israel Prison Service, questioned, “I don’t understand why we aren’t imposing sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, but the most absurd thing is that we allowed him to visit his relative.” An IDF representative responded, saying: “He requested to visit because his relative is in critical condition.”
Minister Orit Strock responded, “Let Rajoub go visit a hospital in Shechem (Nablus).”
Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that if the issue had come to him, he would not have approved Rajoub’s visit. “The issue didn’t come to me, and if it had, I wouldn’t have authorized it.”
Minister Ben Gvir charged, “He should have been arrested for incitement. This is someone who supported the October 7 massacre. The police recommended arresting him, and someone opposed it.”
The Prime Minister concluded the discussion, stating, “We need to clarify whether this is the responsibility of the Military Advocate General or the Shin Bet.”
Rajoub, who also serves as Secretary of the Fatah Central Committee, regularly incites against Israel, and has in the past said that Jews deserved the genocide inflicted on them by the Nazis.
Prior to that, he declared that if the PA had a nuclear bomb, it would use it against Israel.
In one incident, Rajoub was filmed as he verbally confronted Border Police officers at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, telling one of them to “shut up, go to hell.”
In August of last year, Rajoub said in a TV interview that then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who orchestrated the October 7 massacre, is a “pragmatic, patriotic, and realistic man” and that Israel is attempting to demonize him.
