A significant Jewish American neighborhood chief privately lobbied for the discharge of outstanding Palestinian safety prisoner Marwan Barghouti as a part of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas that’s anticipated to start on Monday, three sources accustomed to the matter instructed The Instances of Israel.
As a part of his efforts, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder provided to journey to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the place negotiations on the settlement had been being finalized final week, to be able to make the case for together with Barghouti on the checklist of 250 prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli jails who can be launched in trade for the remaining 48 hostages held in Gaza, in accordance with a senior Arab official, an Israeli official, and a 3rd supply accustomed to the matter.
The concept was nixed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace amid overwhelming opposition to releasing Barghouti, 66, amongst Israeli cupboard ministers who signed off on the deal, the three sources stated.
Lauder’s resolution to go to bat for a person perceived broadly in Israel and within the Diaspora as an arch-terrorist was significantly noteworthy given the Estée Lauder cosmetics firm inheritor’s stature as the top of a significant, mainstream Jewish group.
Barghouti, the previous West Financial institution secretary-general of the Palestinian, secular, nationalist Fatah celebration headed by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, was sentenced in 2004 to 5 life sentences for serving to plan terror assaults in the course of the Second Intifada that killed 5 individuals in Israel.
Barghouti has denied the fees towards him and has additionally rejected the Israeli courtroom’s jurisdiction to attempt him as a member of the Palestinian Authority’s parliament.
A person walks previous a mural depicting the Palestinian chief Marwan Barghouti, with a message that reads in Arabic, ‘See you quickly,’ on Israel’s safety barrier within the West Financial institution metropolis of Bethlehem, August 20, 2025. (AP Photograph/Mahmoud Illean)
Some regional stakeholders have likened Barghouti to previously imprisoned South African anti-apartheid activist-turned-president Nelson Mandela, and look at him as a possible successor to Abbas because of his widespread attraction throughout varied Palestinian factions.
Whereas he has expressed assist for “armed resistance” towards “the Israeli occupation” within the West Financial institution, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, he has additionally backed a two-state resolution primarily based on the pre-1967 borders and spoken out towards focusing on civilians inside Israel correct.
Former Shin Wager chief Ami Ayalon told the Haaretz newspaper earlier this yr that Israel ought to launch Barghouti as a part of a hostage-release deal to finish the Gaza conflict as a result of “Marwan is the one Palestinian chief who might be elected and lead a united and bonafide Palestinian management towards a path of mutually agreed separation from Israel.”
Lauder, in making the case for Israel to launch Barghouti, proposed that he be exiled exterior the Palestinian territories. The previous chief of Tanzim, the armed faction of Fatah, was on board with the concept, ostensibly hoping to proceed his activism from overseas, the Israeli official stated.
Lauder additionally proposed separating Barghouti’s launch from the hostage-prisoner trade and as an alternative for Israel to border it as a gesture to Saudi Arabia or one of many different Arab nations that additionally pushed for his launch, the Israeli official stated.
In the end, although, the hassle by no means stood a lot of an opportunity because of overwhelming Israeli opposition to releasing Barghouti, who has change into a larger-than-life determine at the same time as he has spent a lot of his imprisonment in solitary confinement, the Arab official stated.
He was seen for the primary time in years in August when Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s workplace leaked a video of the minister taunting Barghouti in his jail cell.
Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (left) speaks to jailed Palestinian terror convict Marwan Barghouti in his cell in footage launched on August 14, 2025 (X screenshot; utilized in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright legislation)
Barghouti’s lawyer has additionally alleged that his shopper was severely overwhelmed by guards — a cost that the Israel Prisons Service, which Ben Gvir oversees, has denied.
Egypt and Qatar, which have been mediating the hostage and ceasefire talks, additionally appealed to the US to intervene and persuade Israel to launch Barghouti, however the Trump administration “declined to get overly concerned,” the Israeli official stated.
Hamas’s management relayed to mediators that “Barghouti’s destiny stays completely central to those talks,” the supply accustomed to the matter stated.
Barghouti’s identify was included on Hamas’s checklist of prisoners it wished launched within the deal, however Israel used one in all its 5 vetoes to maintain him off of it, the Arab official stated.
“Whereas Hamas pushed exhausting for his launch, in the end it couldn’t be seen as holding up a ceasefire over one man,” the Arab official stated.
The Arab official speculated that Netanyahu’s refusal to launch Barghouti was because of each home political issues and issues over the prisoner’s reputation as a Palestinian political determine.
Netanyahu’s workplace and Lauder declined requests for remark.
