Detained activists from a flotilla attempting to breach Israel's naval blockade of Gaza arrived in Israel on Wednesday, where National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released videos taunting them and calling for their prolonged imprisonment.
The videos, showing Ben-Gvir walking among approximately 430 detainees after their arrival on navy ships, sparked backlash both abroad and within Israel. A fellow government minister described the videos as inappropriate and disgraceful.
One video depicts activists with hands tied behind their backs, kneeling with heads touching the floor inside a makeshift detention area at Ashdod port and on a ship's deck. Ben-Gvir waves a large Israeli flag and tells detainees: Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords. A handcuffed activist shouting Free Palestine was immediately pushed to the ground by security personnel.
In a second video, Ben-Gvir says the activists came full of pride like big heroes, look at them now, while appealing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to grant him permission to imprison them. I say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, give them to me for a long, long time, give them to us for the terrorist prisons, that's what it should look like, Ben-Gvir said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar publicly chastised Ben-Gvir, posting on X that you knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display and that he had undone tremendous, professional and successful efforts. No, you are not the face of Israel, Sa'ar wrote.
Adalah, an Israel-based legal advocacy group, accused Israeli authorities of employing a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists. The group said this followed similar patterns of ill-treatment in previous flotilla missions for which Israel faced zero accountability. Adalah demanded immediate release of activists and called on the international community to take urgent measures.
Flotilla organizers said activists hail from over 40 countries. Italy strongly condemned the treatment as a violation of human dignity and called images involving Ben-Gvir unacceptable. The Italian government said it is taking urgent action to secure the release of Italian citizens and demanding an official apology. Italy's Foreign Ministry said it would summon the Israeli ambassador for formal clarification.
Hamas called out Ben-Gvir for scenes of abuse and humiliation, describing it as an expression of Israel's moral decadence and sadism.
Israeli forces boarded the last flotilla boats on Tuesday. Flotilla organizers claimed Israeli soldiers fired on five boats, causing damage. Israel's Foreign Ministry said no live ammunition was used and nonlethal means were aimed as warnings. Israel has called the flotilla a PR stunt at the service of Hamas with no real intent to deliver aid.
On Monday, the Israeli navy stopped 41 boats in international waters off Cyprus and detained those on board. More than a dozen Irish nationals were aboard, including the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin called the interception absolutely unacceptable. Turkey and Hamas called the interdictions an act of piracy. Italy, Spain, and Indonesia called for release of activists.
The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against several European activists aboard the flotilla, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called pro-terror.
Israel has maintained a sea blockade of Gaza since 2007, intensified after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks that killed around 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages. Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment. Israel says it prevents Hamas from arming. Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza.
Gaza's Health Ministry says Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 72,700 people. The ministry, staffed by medical professionals, is considered generally reliable by the international community.
