Stills from footage uploaded to Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's X show detained activists handcuffed and kneeling on the ground. [SCREEN CAPTURE]
Israel’s national security minister released footage showing detained activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla being mocked and handled harshly following the vessel’s seizure in the eastern Mediterranean, drawing international criticism.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister of Israel and a prominent far-right figure, uploaded a video showing dozens of international activists handcuffed and kneeling on the floor of a detention facility at the southern Israeli port of Ashdod via social media on Wednesday. The activists were detained after attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.
The video starts with one activist shouting, “Free Palestine.”
Security personnel then push the activist’s head down and roughly drag the person away.
Ben-Gvir is later seen waving a large Israeli flag in front of kneeling handcuffed activists before saying in Hebrew, “Welcome to Israel. We are the owners of this land.”
In other scenes of the video, activists crowd the deck of a ship as the Israeli national anthem plays over loudspeakers.
The footage also shows Ben-Gvir in a heated argument with one man, commenting that this is exactly how it should be, while another activist is forcibly restrained.
An Israeli naval vessel arrives at Ashdod port on May 20, the day an Israeli rights group and the Global Sumud Flotilla's organizers said that activists aboard the Gaza-bound flotilla were intercepted by Israeli naval forces and detained at an Israeli port. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
The detained activists were some of the passengers aboard an aid flotilla that departed from Turkey in an attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. The Israeli foreign ministry announced on Wednesday that the voyage of activists trying to breach the Gaza blockade has “come to an end,” with Israeli forces transferring the activists to Ashdod Port.
The sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly is among the approximately 400 international activists currently detained, which raises the possibility of broader diplomatic fallout.
Many countries have summoned Israeli diplomatic representatives to demand an explanation and protest the treatment of their detained citizens.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir participates in the annual Jerusalem Day march in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 14. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
Italy released a statement on Wednesday, condemning Israel’s treatment of the activists as unacceptable, and also said that it will summon the Israeli ambassador to Italy to seek formal clarification of the incident.
Likewise, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on X to confirm that he had requested the Israeli ambassador to France be summoned for an explanation.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares described the incident as terrible, shameful and inhumane and said that Spain had summoned Israel’s chargé d’affaires in protest.
As criticism mounted, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare public rebuke of Ben-Gvir.
“Israel has every right to prevent provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters from entering our territorial waters and reaching Gaza,” he said in a statement. “However, the way that Minister Ben-Gvir dealt with the flotilla activist is not in line with Israel’s values and norms. I have instructed the relevant authorities to deport the provocateurs as soon as possible.”
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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