{"id":2701,"date":"2026-05-23T14:41:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/?p=2701"},"modified":"2026-05-23T14:41:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T14:41:30","slug":"israel-condemned-for-monstrous-treatment-of-gaza-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/2026\/05\/23\/israel-condemned-for-monstrous-treatment-of-gaza-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel condemned for \u2018monstrous\u2019 treatment of Gaza activists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Politicians around the world criticise Israel after footage emerges showing government minister mocking handcuffed detainees Nick Squires<\/a> in Rome. Henry Bodkin<\/a> Jerusalem Correspondent<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published 20 May 2026 9:14pm BST<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Flotilla
Activists were handcuffed and made to kneel with their heads touching the floor after they were arrested in international waters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Israel was widely condemned for the \u201cmonstrous\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d humiliation of activists who were detained after trying to deliver humanitarian aid by boat to Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yvette Cooper, the Foreign Secretary, said she was \u201ctruly appalled\u201d by a video posted by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli national security minister, in which he taunted protesters as they knelt on the floor with their wrists tied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have demanded an explanation from the Israeli authorities and made \u200cclear their obligations to protect the rights of our citizens and \u200call those involved,\u201d \u2060Ms Cooper said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 430 protesters from more than 40 different countries were filmed in a makeshift detention area in the port of Ashdod and on the deck of a ship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The minister waved a large Israeli flag and mockingly told the detainees: \u201cWelcome to Israel, we are the masters of the house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Itamar
Video footage shows Itamar Ben-Gvir waving an Israeli flag and mocking flotilla hostages<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One female activist shouted \u201cFree Palestine\u201d as Mr Ben-Gvir walked past and was immediately pushed to the ground by security staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a second video, Mr Ben-Gvir said the Global Sumud Flotilla activists \u201ccame here all full of pride like big heroes, look at them now\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, should give him permission to imprison them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The activists, who were handcuffed and made to kneel with their heads touching the floor, were detained after being arrested in international waters and stopped from reaching Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, demanded that Israel<\/a> apologise for its \u201cunacceptable\u201d treatment of the activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Italian government summoned the Israeli ambassador in Rome to give an explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Meloni and Antonio Tajani, Italy\u2019s foreign minister, said Rome \u201cdemands an apology for the treatment\u201d of the activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guido Crosetto, the defence minister, told Israel: \u201cWe pride ourselves on having always treated your compatriots with respect, and we are not in the habit of arresting people in international waters, but rather of rescuing them if they need it. I don\u2019t think this kind of behaviour is in the best interests of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition MPs called for more than diplomatic remonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riccardo Ricciardi, from the progressive Five Star Movement, said: \u201cWe would like to see the country and the continent raise their heads, sanction Israel, and sever all trade agreements with the most criminal government in the world today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jos\u00e9 Manuel Albares, Spain\u2019s foreign minister, condemned the treatment of the protesters as \u201cmonstrous, disgraceful and inhumane\u201d. Canada, Turkey, Ireland, the Netherlands and France also condemned the treatment of the activists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia and New Zealand both said they would summon the Israeli ambassadors to their countries over the footage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gaza
Flotilla organisers said \u2018men and women were forced to kneel on the ground\u2019 and were \u2018displayed as trophies\u2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Flotilla organisers said the activists had been humiliated and \u201cdisplayed as trophies\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIsrael\u2019s treatment of the Global Sumud Flotilla activists seized in international waters was shameful and reprehensible,\u201d they said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMen and women [were] forced to kneel on the ground, tied up, humiliated, brutalised and displayed as trophies during minister Itamar Ben-Gvir\u2019s visit to the port of Ashdod.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They called for the end of two-decade blockade of Gaza<\/a> and the release of all 9,500 Palestinians \u201cheld in Israeli torture dungeons\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u2018disgraceful display\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The footage caused a row within the Israeli government, prompting denunciations from Mr Netanyahu and Gideon Sa\u2019ar, the foreign minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli prime minister said: \u201cIsrael has every right to prevent provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters from entering our territorial waters and reaching Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, the way that minister Ben-Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel\u2019s values and norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have instructed the relevant authorities to deport the provocateurs as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Sa\u2019ar released a statement directed at Mr Ben-Gvir, saying: \u201cYou knowingly caused harm to our state in this disgraceful display \u2013 and not for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have undone tremendous, professional, and successful efforts made by so many people \u2013 from IDF soldiers to foreign ministry staff and many others. No, you are not the face of Israel<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Itamar
The Israeli foreign minister has said that Itamar Ben-Gvir \u2018knowingly caused harm\u2019 to Israel after the video came to light<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last week, The New York Times published a report on alleged widespread sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees. The Israeli government denounced the piece as a \u201cblood libel<\/a>\u201d and pledged to sue the newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli prison service denied the claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Ben-Gvir, who runs Israel\u2019s prisons, has led efforts to make conditions tougher for Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli military has also been accused of using drones to disable larger vessels intended to take part in the flotilla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel has not yet commented on the accusations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights, or Adalah, a legal advocacy group based in Israel, accused the Israeli authorities of \u201cemploying a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said in a statement that this followed similar patterns of ill-treatment by Israeli authorities against activists in previous flotilla missions<\/a> \u201cfor which Israel faced zero accountability\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel has called the flotilla \u201ca PR stunt at the service of Hamas\u201d with no real intent to deliver aid to Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boats carry aid supplies such as tinned food and sanitary products in a symbolic attempt to break the maritime blockade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politicians around the world criticise Israel after footage emerges showing government minister mocking handcuffed detainees Nick Squires in Rome. Henry Bodkin Jerusalem Correspondent Published 20 May 2026 9:14pm BST Israel was widely condemned for the \u201cmonstrous\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d humiliation of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2701"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2702,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2701\/revisions\/2702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfawbn.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}