Israel Minister Ben-Gvir's Video Showing Humiliation of Flotilla Activists Triggers Global Outrage |
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New Delhi: Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s decision to release videos taunting detained flotilla activists who tried to take aid to Gaza by breaching Israel’s blockade has triggered backlash globally.
Among those who responded critically is Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who demanded an apology from Israel over its treatment of Italian activists on the flotilla. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a much-publicised visit to Italy. He has not commented on the situation or the video.
However, the broader diplomatic fallout is likely to have been such that Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to also have jumped on the criticism train.
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.” Israel has carried out a genocide in Gaza in the last two years that has killed upwards of 73,000 people and shut off essential food and aid supply to its people.
Ben-Gvir released videos Wednesday showing him walking among some of the approximately 430 detainees of the Global Sumud Flotilla. 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.
ככה אנחנו מקבלים את תומכי הטרור Welcome to Israel 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/7Hf8cAg7fC — איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) May 20, 2026
ככה אנחנו מקבלים את תומכי הטרור
Welcome to Israel 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/7Hf8cAg7fC
— איתמר בן גביר........