Itamar Ben-Gvir was criticised by heads of state around the word as well as Israeli politicians. Photograph: Ammar Awad/ReutersView image in fullscreenItamar Ben-Gvir was criticised by heads of state around the word as well as Israeli politicians. Photograph: Ammar Awad/ReutersIsraeli security minister stirs diplomatic outrage with flotilla activist abuse videoFar-right figure Itamar Ben-Gvir shares footage of himself taunting bound international detainees
Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has sparked a diplomatic crisis by publishing footage of Israeli security forces abusing international activists who were detained as they tried to sail to Gaza with aid.
There was a rapid and furious response from countries whose citizens were onboard the boats, including the UK, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Ireland, in many cases delivered in person from the top of government.
The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, one of the country’s staunchest allies, described Ben-Gvir’s behaviour as “despicable” and said the minister had “betrayed the dignity of his nation”.
The video includes images of dozens of men and women kneeling in rows, with their foreheads to the ground and their hands zip-tied behind their back. Ben-Gvir appears waving an Israeli flag, mocking and taunting the detainees, including shouting: “The people of Israel live” in the face of one bound man.
1:03Israeli minister Ben-Gvir posts video taunting detained Gaza flotilla activists – videoItaly’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said the images were “unacceptable”, and demanded the release of all Italian citizens involved, along with an apology for the mistreatment and the display of “total contempt” toward the Italian government.
“It is inadmissible that these demonstrators, including many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment that violates human dignity,” Meloni said in a long statement posted on social media.
The Spanish foreign minister called the treatment “monstrous, disgraceful and inhumane”. His British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, said she was “truly appalled” by the video, which “violates the most basic standards of respect and dignity in the way people should be treated”, and added that she was in touch with the families of British citizens held by Israel.
More than 400 activists from 40 countries, travelling on 50 vessels, took part in the flotilla, organisers said. It set off from Turkey carrying food and other aid, in the latest high-profile attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Read moreSeven months after a ceasefire came into force in Gaza, hunger is widespread, most Palestinians live in tents or overcrowded shelters without adequate sanitation or access to clean water, and Israeli attacks are still a near-daily occurrence.
Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla in international waters on Tuesday and brought everyone onboard to Israel. Earlier on Wednesday, the South Korean president, Lee Jae Myung, had also denounced Israel’s actions, describing them as “way out of line”, and questioned the legal basis for the arrests outside Israeli territorial waters.
The global outrage at the activists’ treatment prompted the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to condemn Ben-Gvir within hours of the video being published online.
“The way that minister Ben-Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms,” he said, adding that he had ordered the deportation of the group “as soon as possible”.
1:18Israel Defense Forces intercept Global Sumud Flotilla en route to Gaza – videoThe Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Saar, launched a more scathing personal attack on the national security minister. “You knowingly caused harm to our state in this disgraceful display – and not for the first time,” he said in a statement on X. “You are not the face of Israel.”
Rights groups documented widespread, systemic torture and abuse of Palestinians in Israeli prisons and detention centres during the Israel-Gaza war sparked by Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023.
Ben-Gvir’s video, publicly celebrating the mistreatment of citizens of some of Israel’s closest allies, reflects a broader culture of impunity, said Sari Bashi, director of the rights group Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.
“To me it’s just an indication of how badly the rights and welfare of detainees have suffered under [Ben Gvir’s] leadership,” Bashi said.
“A prison guard who sees his boss’s boss express pride in the mistreatment of foreign detainees will have no qualms about abusing Palestinian detainees and he won’t even have to be afraid to get caught. Ben-Gvir is saying that this behaviour is welcomed and encouraged at the highest level.”
The llegal rights group Adalah, which represents some of those detained, said it had “documented similar patterns of ill-treatment against activists in previous flotilla missions, for which Israel faced zero accountability”, and called for the international community to take urgent action to protect activists held by Israel.
The video was released the day after another far-right member of the Israeli cabinet – the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, announced that he had ordered the ethnic cleansing of a Palestinian village in response to reports that the international criminal court (ICC) was seeking a warrant for his arrest.
Smotrich called a press conference to attack the ICC and publish an order for the eviction of all residents of Khan al-Ahmar, home to more than 700 people. It lies in the heart of the occupied West Bank, about 6 miles (10km) east of the Old City of Jerusalem, ringed by Israeli settlements.
The ICC’s top prosecutor has requested arrest warrants for Smotrich, Ben-Gvir, Orit Strook, the minister of settlements and national missions, and two Israeli military officials, Haaretz newspaper reported this week.
