The Otzma Yehudit party released footage of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visiting Kibbutz Nahal Oz on October 4, 2023, just three days before the October 7 Hamas massacre.
In the video, Ben Gvir is seen speaking with the community's security coordinators, warning about Hamas's growing military capabilities and expressing opposition to the policy of containment toward the terrorist organization.
The conversation took place at 4:26 p.m., with the Gaza Strip visible in the background. Both security coordinators who spoke with Ben Gvir were casualties of the attack three days later: one was murdered, while the other was seriously wounded.
In the footage, Ben Gvir discusses disagreements within the government over how to deal with Hamas. According to him, while many government officials preferred to avoid military confrontation, he believed that postponing a conflict would allow the terrorist organization to become stronger and more dangerous.
"A large part of the government wants to avoid a conflict," he said. "I'm actually one of those who believe we need to confront them, because if we don't confront them today, we'll confront them in 10 or 15 years, when they'll have ten times as many rockets, ten times as much ammunition, and ten times as much power," the minister said.
Later in the conversation, Ben Gvir addressed incidents occurring at the time near the Gaza border fence and the rules governing the use of force against rioters approaching it, adding that the issue had led to disagreements between himself, the IDF Chief of Staff, and security officials.
"I think that even now, during Sukkot, when they approach the fence, and this is something I'm arguing about with the Chief of Staff and security officials, I don't want to go into too much detail because there are many discussions about it, but I'm one of those who believe we shouldn't contain them," he said.
Ben Gvir went on to advocate the use of lethal force against those who approach the fence intending to harm Israel.
"If they approach the fence and try to harm the State of Israel, we shouldn't throw gas at them; we should shoot them. Because in any normal country, when someone approaches your fence and wants to destroy the country, you shoot to kill him," he said.
Watch the Hebrew video: