JERUSALEM (AP) 鈥� 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 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 鈥減rovocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,鈥� the way that National Security Minister dealt with the flotilla activists 鈥渋s not in line with Israel’s values and norms.鈥�
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: 鈥淲elcome to Israel, we are the landlords.鈥� One handcuffed activist, who was shown in the video shouting 鈥淔ree Palestine鈥� as Ben-Gvir walked past, was immediately pushed to the ground by security personnel.
In a second 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, that鈥檚 what it should look like,鈥� Ben-Gvir said.
Netanyahu said that he has given instructions that the activists be deported 鈥渁s soon as possible.鈥�
Ben-Gvir drew the ire of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who publicly chastised his fellow minister on X, posting that 鈥測ou knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display鈥� and that he had 鈥渦ndone tremendous, professional and successful efforts made by so many people.鈥�
鈥淣o, you are not the face of Israel,鈥� Sa’ar wrote.
Ben-Gvir shot back at Sa’ar in the Israeli parliament, accusing him of 鈥渂owing to the terrorists.鈥� He said 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 said in a statement that 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 that its lawyers and other volunteers were providing legal advice to activists at Ashdod and were demanding their immediate release.
Flotilla organizers have said the activists from more than 40 different countries were 鈥渂eing subjected to violent abuse after being illegally abducted at sea鈥� while attempting to bypass the Gaza blockade.
Italy strongly condemned the detained activists’ treatment as a violation of human dignity and called the images involving Ben-Gvir 鈥渦nacceptable.鈥� Italy’s Foreign Ministry said that it would summon Israel’s ambassador to seek formal clarification over the incident.
Both Turkey and Greece also condemned the activists’ treatment. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that 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 that it had lodged a formal protest.
Palestinian military group Hamas called out Ben-Gvir for the 鈥渟cenes of abuse and humiliation鈥� of the activists, describing it as an expression of 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 that 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 around 167 miles (268 kilometers) from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla鈥檚 website. The vessels departed last week from Turkey.
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 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鈥檚 Health Ministry says that Israel鈥檚 retaliatory offensive following the Oct. 7 attacks has killed more than 72,700 people. The ministry, part of Gaza鈥檚 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, Giada Zampano in Rome, Andrew Wilks in Ankara, Turkey, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.
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