Far-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday carried out a provocative visit to hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Meqdad Qawasmeh, and got into a confrontation with Ayman Odeh, the leader of the Arab Joint List, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.
Ben-Gvir, from the extremist Religious Zionism Party, claimed that he wanted to visit Qawasmeh, who was admitted to the Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot a few days ago, due to his rapidly deteriorating health condition, Haaretz said.
בית חולים קפלן . מקדאק אלקוואסמי שובת רעב כבר 90 יום במחאה על מעצרו המנהלי. בן גביר בא לבקר. עודה בולם. pic.twitter.com/erQlZEFDyy
— Jack khoury.جاك خوري (@KhJacki) October 19, 2021
However, the Palestinian prisoner and his mother firmly refused to meet the far-right Israeli politician, saying that the visit was clearly a provocation, according to the Israeli newspaper.
Odeh – who was visiting with the Qawasmeh family at the hospital – was seen in a video shared on social media confronting Ben-Gvir outside the Palestinian prisoner’s room.
"My son is being killed slowly and mercilessly everyday, his flesh is melting.When is he going to be free? This is enough, I can't bear."
These are heartbreaking words of the mother of Meqdad Qawasmeh, a Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike protesting his detention without trial pic.twitter.com/deU6TBLkAr— Chris Hutchinson (@ChrisHu34451470) October 17, 2021
Qawasmeh has been on a hunger strike for about 90 days in protest of his administrative detention, along with five other administrative detainees, including Kayed Fasfous, who has been on a hunger strike for nearly 100 days and is currently hospitalized at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
Good job by Ayman Odeh in bumping his body against Itamar Ben-Gvir, causing that piece of white underwear to fall off his head.
Ghoul!