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JERUSALEM — Israel’s far-right national security minister triggered a global backlash Wednesday after he released videos taunting detained activists from a flotilla that tried to get past the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
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The videos show National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir walking among some of the approximately 430 detainees after their arrival on navy ships.
One 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 waves a large Israeli flag and tells the detainees. “Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords,” he says.
One handcuffed activist shown in the video shouting “Free Palestine” as Ben-Gvir walks past is 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 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to grant him permission to imprison them.
Within hours of Ben-Gvir releasing the videos, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands had summoned Israel’s ambassadors to seek an explanation for the treatment of their citizens.
According to organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla, the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly was among activists from more than 40 countries aboard the flotilla, which was intercepted in international waters this week.
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said in a statement she was “appalled” by the footage, and demanded the “immediate release” of those detained.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement that the treatment of the activists “violates their human dignity,” while South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung said Israel’s actions were “way out of line.”
Britain’s Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper said in a post on X that Ben-Gvir’s conduct “violates the most basic standards of respect,” adding that she was working to support British nationals detained.
Greece’s Foreign Ministry called the incident “unacceptable and entirely condemnable,” while Turkey accused Israel’s government of acting with a “violent and barbaric mindset.”
Netanyahu, whose coalition government depends on support from Ben-Gvir’s far-right Jewish Power party, partially distanced himself from the incident.
While Israel has every right to stop “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,” Ben-Gvir’s actions were “not in line with Israel’s values and norms,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said that he has given instructions that the activists be deported “as soon as possible,” seemingly rejecting the public call from Ben-Gvir to imprison them in Israel.
Ben-Gvir’s conduct also 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.”
“You are not the face of Israel,” wrote Sa’ar.
Ben-Gvir shot back in the Israeli parliament, accusing Sa’ar of “bowing to the terrorists.” He said that any Israeli apology to the activists would send a message of “weakness,” “submission” and “surrender.”
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.”
This followed similar patterns of ill-treatment by Israeli authorities against activists in previous flotilla missions “for which Israel faced zero accountability,” Adalah said in a statement. The group said that its lawyers and other volunteers were providing legal advice to activists in the port city of Ashdod and were demanding their immediate release.
Israeli forces on Tuesday boarded the last of the flotilla boats that tried to challenge the blockade.
Organizers of the flotilla, which aimed to highlight the conditions for the 2 million or so Palestinians in Gaza, said Israeli soldiers fired on five boats during the interdictions, causing some damage. Israel’s Foreign Ministry denied that live ammunition had been used and said “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 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.
The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against several European activists aboard the flotilla, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called “pro-terror.”
The Associated Press
Nick Duffy is a weekend and world editor for NBC News.
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