JERUSALEM (AP) 鈥� Israel’s national security minister drew a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister and triggered a backlash abroad Wednesday, after releasing videos taunting detained of Gaza, telling them they should be imprisoned for a long time.
Netanyahu said that although Israel has every right to stop 鈥減rovocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,鈥� the way National Security Minister dealt with the activists was 鈥渘ot in line with Israel’s values and norms.鈥�
Ben-Gvir released videos Wednesday showing him walking among some of the approximately 430 detainees. In one, activists with their hands tied behind their backs are kneeling, their heads touching the floor inside what appears to be a makeshift detention area and on the deck of a ship.
鈥淲elcome to Israel, we are the landlords,鈥� says Ben-Gvir, waving a large Israeli flag. One handcuffed activist shouts 鈥淔ree Palestine鈥� as Ben-Gvir walks by and is immediately pushed to the ground by security personnel.
In another video, Ben-Gvir says the activists 鈥渃ame here all full of pride like big heroes. Look at them now,鈥� while appealing to Netanyahu to grant him permission to imprison them.
Israel’s leader calls for quick deportation of activists
鈥淚 say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, give them to me for a long, long time, give them to us for the terrorist prisons,鈥� Ben-Gvir said.
Netanyahu said he’s given instructions that the activists be deported 鈥渁s soon as possible.鈥�
Ben-Gvir drew the ire of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who publicly chastised his fellow minister on X, saying 鈥測ou knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display.鈥�
鈥淣o, you are not the face of Israel,鈥� Saar wrote.
Ben-Gvir shot back at Saar in the Israeli parliament, accusing him of 鈥渂owing to the terrorists鈥� and that any Israeli apology to the activists would send a message of 鈥渨eakness,鈥� 鈥渟ubmission鈥� and 鈥渟urrender.鈥�
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 鈥渆mploying a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists.鈥�
Adalah’s statement said this followed similar patterns of ill-treatment by Israeli authorities against activists in previous flotilla missions 鈥渇or which Israel faced zero accountability.鈥� The group said its lawyers and volunteers were providing legal advice to the detained activists at Israel’s Ashdod port and were demanding their immediate release.
Flotilla spokesperson Rania Batrice said Ben-Gvir posts such videos because the world hasn’t held Israel to account.
鈥淚f they鈥檙e doing that to Europeans and Americans and people from South Africa and all over the world, imagine what they鈥檙e doing to the Palestinian people,鈥� Batrice told The Associated Press in an online interview.
Batrice urged governments to step up their response. 鈥淪trongly worded letters are not what we need right now. We need more action.”
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the video 鈥渧iolates the most basic standards of respect and dignity” in how people should be treated and demanded an explanation from Israeli authorities.
Italy condemned the detained activists’ treatment as a violation of human dignity and called Ben-Gvir’s videos 鈥渦nacceptable.鈥� It also summoned Israel鈥檚 ambassador in Rome to protest the treatment of Italian detainees and demand their immediate release. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she鈥檚 directed her officials to summon the Israeli ambassador to Ottawa.
Both Turkey and Greece condemned Israel’s treatment of the activists. Turkish Foreign Ministry said the behavior 鈥渙penly demonstrated to the world the violent and barbaric mindset鈥� of Israel’s government. The Greek Foreign Ministry called Ben-Gvir’s actions 鈥渦nacceptable and entirely condemnable鈥� and said it had lodged a formal protest.
Palestinian militant group Hamas called out Ben-Gvir for the 鈥渟cenes of abuse and humiliation鈥� of the activists, saying they show Israel’s 鈥渕oral decadence and sadism.鈥�
Israel intercepts all remaining flotilla boats
Israeli forces on Tuesday boarded the that tried to challenge the blockade 鈥� 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 no live ammunition was fired and that 鈥渘onlethal means鈥� were aimed at the vessels as a warning, but without targeting or injuring protesters.
Israeli forces had begun stopping the flotilla, which had departed last week from Turkey, around 268 kilometers (167 miles) from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla鈥檚 website.
Israel has called the flotilla 鈥渁 PR stunt at the service of Hamas鈥� 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 and detained those on board.
More than a dozen Irish nationals were aboard the flotilla, including Irish President Catherine Connolly’s sister. Irish Prime Minister Miche谩l Martin has called Israel鈥檚 interception of the boats in international waters 鈥渁bsolutely unacceptable.鈥�
The U.S. Treasury, however, imposed sanctions against several European activists aboard the flotilla, which U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called 鈥減ro-terror.鈥�
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 says it’s 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.
Israel鈥檚 retaliatory offensive following the Oct. 7 attacks that started the war has killed more than 72,700 people, according to Gaza鈥檚 Health Ministry. The ministry, part of Gaza鈥檚 Hamas-run government, doesn’t give a breakdown between civilians and combatants. It is staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.
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Hadjicostis reported from Nicosia, Cyprus. Associated Press journalists Areej Hazboun, Isaac Scharf and Ibrahim Hazboun in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Giada Zampano in Rome; Andrew Wilks in Ankara, Turkey, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.
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