Israel deports some 430 foreign flotilla activists, holds one Israeli participant |
Israel on Thursday deported some 430 activists from countries around the world, who were detained at sea in the latest flotilla attempt to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, the Foreign Ministry said, a day after the country’s police minister caused widespread outrage after filming himself taunting the bound, kneeling activists.
“Israel will not permit any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza,” the ministry said. Turkey sent charter flights to collect the detainees from the Ramon airport near Eilat.
One participant, an Israeli citizen, was still being held in custody pending a hearing at the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court the Adalah legal rights group said, naming her as Zohar Regev.
Adalal said the charges against Regev were “absurd,” noting that she was being held on for offenses including “‘illegal entry into Israel,’ ‘unlawful stay,’ and for an attempt to break the blockade on Gaza.”
The legal group called the accusations “unfounded and contradictory” and noted Regev was “forcefully abducted” in international waters and “brought into Israeli territory entirely against her will.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he instructed that the flotilla activists be deported “as soon as possible,” after rebuking National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for a provocative video showing the minister taunting dozens of detainees who had their hands bound and were forced to kneel.
ככה אנחנו מקבלים את תומכי הטרור Welcome to Israel ???????? pic.twitter.com/7Hf8cAg7fC Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#Article_Incontent1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){ tude.setDeviceType("mobile"); } tude.refreshAdsViaDivMappings([ { divId: 'Article_Incontent1', baseDivId: 'Article_Incontent1', } ]); }); } — איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 20, 2026
ככה אנחנו מקבלים את תומכי הטרור
Welcome to Israel ???????? pic.twitter.com/7Hf8cAg7fC
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Netanyahu said that although Israel has every right to stop “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,” the way Ben Gvir dealt with the activists was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”
The video caused an international uproar, with 30 countries issuing sharp condemnations, including many European countries whose citizens were among those detained, and eight countries summoning Israel’s ambassadors for reprimand and explanation following the incident, including........