The Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has published a video on his social networks in which he can be seen mocking the more than 400 activists of the last ships of the flotilla to Gaza that Israel illegally assaulted these days in international waters. “Welcome to Israel,” said Benjamin Netanyahu’s minister ironically while addressing the hundreds of activists, kneeling and handcuffed behind their backs.
In the video, Ben-Gvir walks among the detained activists and, amidst the cries of complaint from some of them, tells the Israeli Army soldiers not to “be affected” by these cries. In the images you can also see how one of the detainees utters a “free, free Palestine” before several soldiers grab her by the head and lay her, handcuffed, on the ground. “Well done,” Ben-Gvir tells them.
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has called the images “unacceptable”. Meloni has denounced that the protesters, “among whom are many Italian citizens, are subjected to this harmful treatment.” “The Italian Government is immediately taking, and at the highest institutional levels, all necessary measures to achieve the release of the Italian citizens involved. Italy also demands an apology for the treatment reserved for these protesters and for the total contempt shown towards the explicit requests of the Government of Italy”, continued Meloni, who also reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned the Israeli ambassador “to request formal clarifications on what happened”.
The content of the video is such that even The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office has been forced to transmit statements by Netanyahu regretting what happened. “The way in which Minister Ben-Gvir treated the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms,” he said in advance that he has ordered that the provocateurs be “deported as soon as possible.” This is not, however, the first time that the ultra minister of his Cabinet acts like this towards flotilla activists. What’s more, Many activists have reported torture upon their return after being detained by Israel.
Activists from 45 countries
This week, and as reported by Rumbo a Gaza and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, “more than 400 unarmed civilian participants from 45 countries have been kidnapped in international waters by Israeli military forces”. The ships, furthermore, “have been deliberately damaged by the Israeli army and left adrift, which poses a danger to international navigation and constitutes another violation of international law by the Israeli Government.”
As reported by Heading to Gaza, the flotilla was made up of 54 vessels from the Global Sumud Flotilla, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition and many other organizations from Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia. All ships were intercepted this Monday. The ships’ crew were taken to the port of Ashdod, from where They will be transferred to Ketziot prisonas reported by the Spanish consul in Tel Aviv to Heading to Gaza. Among those arrested there are several Spaniards.
