JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's national security minister drew a sharp rebuke from his boss and triggered a backlash abroad on Wednesday, after he released videos taunting and telling detained activists from a flotilla that tried to get past the Israeli blockade of Gaza that they should be imprisoned for a very long time.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said although Israel has every right to stop “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,” the way that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists “is not in line with Israel's values and norms.”
Ben-Gvir on Wednesday released the videos of himself walking among some of the approximately 430 detainees, after their arrival on navy ships. One video shows activists with their hands tied behind their backs kneeling with their heads touching the floor inside what appears to be a makeshift detention area at Ashdod port and on the deck of a ship.
Ben-Gvir waved a large Israeli flag and told the detainees: “Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords.” One handcuffed activist, who was shown in the video shouting “Free Palestine” as Ben-Gvir walked past, was immediately pushed to the ground by security personnel.
In a second video, Ben-Gvir says the activists “came here all full of pride like big heroes. Look at them now,” while appealing to Netanyahu to grant him permission to imprison them.
Israel's leader calls for quick deportation of activists
“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.
Netanyahu said that he has given instructions that the activists be deported “as soon as possible.”
Ben-Gvir drew the ire of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar, who publicly chastised his fellow minister on X, posting that “you knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display” and that he had “undone tremendous, professional and successful efforts made by so many people.”
“No, you are not the face of Israel,” Sa'ar wrote.
Ben-Gvir shot back at Sa'ar in the Israeli parliament, accusing him of “bowing to the terrorists” which he called “a disgrace and a shame.” He said that any Israeli apology to the activists would send a message of “weakness,” “submission” and “surrender.”
“Is he worried about the images? I am worried about the security of the residents of the state of Israel, and I care about them,” Ben-Gvir said.
Israel accused of humiliating activists
An Israel-based legal advocacy group, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah, accused Israeli authorities of “employing a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists.”
Adalah said in a statement that this followed similar patterns of ill-treatment by Israeli authorities against activists in previous flotilla missions “for which Israel faced zero accountability.” The group said that its lawyers and other volunteers were providing legal advice to activists at Ashdod and were demanding their immediate release.
“The international community must take urgent measures to protect the flotilla members against this brutal and illegal conduct by Israeli officials,” the group said.
Flotilla organizers have said the activists from more than 40 different countries were “being subjected to violent abuse after being illegally abducted at sea” while attempting to bypass the Gaza blockade. In a post on Telegram, they urged the international community to end the blockade and release all 9,500 Palestinians “held in Israeli torture dungeons.”
Italy strongly condemned the detained activists' treatment as a violation of human dignity and called the images involving Ben-Gvir “unacceptable.”
The Italian government said that it's taking urgent action at top official levels to secure the speedy release of Italian citizens among the detainees and is demanding an official apology for what it said was Israel's disregard of explicit requests. Italy's Foreign Ministry said that it would summon Israel's ambassador to seek formal clarification over the incident.
Hamas called out Ben-Gvir for the “scenes of abuse and humiliation” of the activists, describing it as an expression of Israel's “moral decadence and sadism.”
Israel intercepts all remaining flotilla boats
Israeli forces on Tuesday boarded the last of the flotilla boats that tried to challenge the blockade — the latest effort to highlight the grim conditions for nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Flotilla organizers claimed Israeli soldiers fired on five boats during the interdictions, causing some damage. Israel's Foreign Ministry said that no live ammunition was fired and that “nonlethal means” were aimed at the vessels as a warning, but without targeting or injuring protesters.
Israeli forces had begun stopping the flotilla around 167 miles (268 kilometers) from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla’s website. The vessels departed last week from Turkey.
Israel has called the flotilla “a PR stunt at the service of Hamas” with no real intent to deliver aid to Gaza. The boats carry a symbolic amount of aid.
On Monday, the Israeli navy stopped 41 boats from the flotilla in international waters off Cyprus and detained those on board.
More than a dozen Irish nationals were aboard the flotilla, including the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin has called Israel’s interception of the boats in international waters “absolutely unacceptable.”
Turkey and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have called the interdictions an act of “piracy.” Italy, Spain and Indonesia called on Israel to release activists and ensure their safety.
The U.S. Treasury, however, imposed sanctions against several European activists aboard the flotilla, which U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called “pro-terror.”
Gaza's coast blockaded for nearly two decades
Israel has maintained a sea blockade of Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007. Israeli authorities intensified it after the Hamas-led militant attacks on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023.
Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment. Israel has said that the blockade is intended to prevent Hamas from arming itself. Egypt, which has the only border crossing with Gaza not controlled by Israel, has also greatly restricted movement in and out.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says that Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the Oct. 7 attacks has killed more than 72,700 people. The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn't give a breakdown between civilians and combatants. The ministry is staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
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Menelaos Hadjicostis reported from Nicosia, Cyprus. Areej Hazboun, Isaac Scharf and Ibrahim Hazboun in Jerusalem, Samy Magdy in Cairo, and Giada Zampano in Rome, contributed to this report.
