{"id":17847,"date":"2026-05-20T18:02:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/global-outcry-over-israeli-security-ministers-videos-taunting-bound-flotilla-activists-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T18:02:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:02:52","slug":"global-outcry-over-israeli-security-ministers-videos-taunting-bound-flotilla-activists-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/05\/20\/global-outcry-over-israeli-security-ministers-videos-taunting-bound-flotilla-activists-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Global outcry over Israeli security minister\u2019s videos taunting bound flotilla activists – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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JERUSALEM \u2014 Israel\u2019s 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<\/a> 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. \u201cWelcome to Israel, we are the landlords,\u201d he says.
One handcuffed activist shown in the video shouting \u201cFree Palestine\u201d as Ben-Gvir walks past is immediately pushed to the ground by security personnel.
In a second video, Ben-Gvir says the activists \u201ccame here all full of pride like big heroes. Look at them now,\u201d 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\u2019s ambassadors to seek an explanation for the treatment of their citizens.
According to organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla, <\/a>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\u2019s Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said in a statement she was \u201cappalled\u201d by the footage, and demanded the \u201cimmediate release\u201d of those detained.
Italy\u2019s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement that the treatment of the activists \u201cviolates their human dignity,\u201d while South Korea\u2019s President Lee Jae Myung said Israel\u2019s actions were \u201cway out of line.\u201d
Britain\u2019s Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper said in a post on X that Ben-Gvir\u2019s conduct \u201cviolates the most basic standards of respect,\u201d adding that she was working to support British nationals detained.
Greece\u2019s Foreign Ministry called the incident \u201cunacceptable and entirely condemnable,\u201d while Turkey accused Israel\u2019s government of acting with a \u201cviolent and barbaric mindset.\u201d
Netanyahu, whose coalition government depends on support from Ben-Gvir\u2019s far-right Jewish Power party, partially distanced himself from the incident.
While Israel has every right to stop \u201cprovocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,\u201d Ben-Gvir\u2019s actions were \u201cnot in line with Israel\u2019s values and norms,\u201d Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu said that he has given instructions that the activists be deported \u201cas soon as possible,\u201d <\/strong>seemingly rejecting the public call from Ben-Gvir to imprison them in Israel.
Ben-Gvir\u2019s conduct also drew the ire of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar, who publicly chastised his fellow minister on X, posting that \u201cyou knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display\u201d and that he had \u201cundone tremendous, professional and successful efforts made by so many people.\u201d
\u201cYou are not the face of Israel,\u201d wrote Sa\u2019ar.
Ben-Gvir shot back in the Israeli parliament, accusing Sa\u2019ar of \u201cbowing to the terrorists.\u201d He said that any Israeli apology to the activists would send a message of \u201cweakness,\u201d \u201csubmission\u201d and \u201csurrender.\u201d
An Israel-based legal advocacy group, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah, accused Israeli authorities of \u201cemploying a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists.\u201d
This followed similar patterns of ill-treatment by Israeli authorities against activists in previous flotilla missions \u201cfor which Israel faced zero accountability,\u201d 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\u2019s Foreign Ministry denied that live ammunition had been used and said \u201cnonlethal means\u201d 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\u2019s website. The vessels departed last week from Turkey.
Israel has called the flotilla \u201ca PR stunt at the service of Hamas\u201d 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 \u201cpro-terror.\u201d
The Associated Press
Nick Duffy is a weekend and world editor for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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