Prisoners set to confront Ben-Gvir threats: Freed prisoner Younis

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The Palestinian prisoners are determined to face the fascist threats of Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and defeat him, freed Palestinian prisoner Karim Younis said on Wednesday.

In continuation of the Israeli occupation's racist policies against Palestinians, Ben-Gvir said on Sunday that he instructed occupation forces to remove Palestinian flags from public spaces.

In a statement, Ben-Gvir, best known for calling for the killing of Palestinians, claimed that waving the Palestinian flag is an act in "support of terrorism."

"I do not dread the idea of having my Israeli citizenship taken from me, for I am not Israeli, I am Palestinian," Younis told Al Mayadeen upon being asked for a comment about "Tel Aviv" stripping him of his Israeli citizenship.

"I am Palestinian, living at my home and on my land in Palestine. I am Palestinian, not Israeli," he stressed.

Furthermore, he touched on the people's reaction to his freedom, underlining that "the warmth that the people received me with, and their loyalty to the prisoners is an appreciation of their struggles and a recognition of their sacrifices."

"The unity of the prisoners is their biggest strength, and it is thwarting all conspiracies against them," he added.

Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported last week that Israeli occupation intelligence stormed the reception tent erected to welcome back freed Palestinian prisoner Karim Younis in the town of 'Ara in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.

Meanwhile, there have been provocations against the Palestinian people when Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque last Tuesday, protected by a large number of Israeli occupation forces.

The move was largely condemned by several states across the world, including Jordan, which recently summoned the Israeli occupation ambassador over the incident, and Pakistan.

Karim Younis, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli prison, was freed on January 6, 2023, 40 years after he was first arrested in January 1983.

Palestine's Ministry of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners revealed that the occupation took away all the joy by freeing him without prior notice at an early time in the morning in “Ra'anana”-- far from the occupied Palestinian village 'Ara, his hometown where a welcoming ceremony has been prepared by family and neighbors.

The occupation police threatened his family not to show any signs of celebrations, including raising Palestinian flags or Resistance banners and posters, in addition to playing patriotic songs.

It is worth noting that Younis' mom died while he was in prison. Since he was captured in 1983, Sabiha Younis long waited for her son until she passed away.