Israel’s far-right security minister posted video footage of himself taunting the most high-profile Palestinian prisoner while visiting him in jail this week, in an encounter that has prompted outrage from supporters.

Barghouti, now in his mid-sixties, was a senior leader in President Mahmoud Abbas’ secular Fatah movement during the intifada. Many Palestinians see him as a natural successor to the ageing and unpopular leader of the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Marwan Barghouti is serving five life sentences after being convicted of involvement in attacks at the height of the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, in the early 2000s. Polls consistently show he is the most popular Palestinian leader.