Video Shows Itamar Ben-Gvir Taunting Pro-Palestinian Activists


Israel’s far-right national security minister posted a video of himself Wednesday taunting detained pro-Palestinian activists while they were handcuffed and pinned down to the deck of a ship, drawing outrage both abroad and at home — including from his ally Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In the minute-long video released by the minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, at least one of the detainees can be seen being manhandled by police officers on Tuesday while the Israeli national anthem is heard playing. It brought swift and rare criticism from Mr. Netanyahu.

The caption of the video read: “This is how we receive terror supporters. Welcome to Israel.”

The activists were arrested at a port in southern Israel after the Israeli Navy intercepted a protest flotilla attempting to reach the Gaza Strip. The 430 people detained included Italian, Spanish, and French nationals, and those countries all condemned Mr. Ben-Gvir’s actions. They said they would summon Israel’s ambassadors to express their outrage.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy demanded an apology from Israel for the treatment of the activists, which she called a “violation of human dignity.”

Mr. Netanyahu, whose government has relied heavily on Mr. Ben-Gvir’s support, also took issue.

“The way that minister Ben-Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement. He said he had ordered the authorities to “deport the provocateurs as soon as possible.”

Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said on the social media platform X that Mr. Ben-Gvir had “knowingly damaged the state with this disgraceful spectacle.”

Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel known for his support of Israel’s far-right settlement movement, called Mr. Ben-Gvir’s actions “despicable,” saying he had “betrayed the dignity of his nation.”

Mr. Ben-Gvir was unrepentant.

Asked to comment on the international outcry, a spokesman for the minister shared a speech in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in which Mr. Ben-Gvir said that Mr. Sa’ar, the foreign minister, was the one damaging the country by bowing to terrorists.

“The days of our country being a punching bag are over,” Mr. Ben Gvir said in the speech. “The days where terrorists want to hurt us and we had to be apologetic, nice and understating are over.”

Legal experts say the treatment of the international activists shown in Mr. Ben-Gvir’s video likely violates international law. Janina Dill, a scholar of the laws of war at Oxford University, said the Geneva Conventions prohibit humiliating or degrading treatment of anyone detained in the context of an armed conflict.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the protest group behind the campaign, said its aim had been to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. But Israel intercepted their vessels in the Mediterranean Sea, about 140 miles away.

Activist groups have challenged Israel’s control over what enters and leaves Gaza for many years. They stepped up those efforts after Israel tightened the restrictions and drove Gaza into a humanitarian crisis during the war that began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.

While flotilla participants have complained about Israel’s treatment in the past, it is highly unusual for an Israeli government official to flaunt the mistreatment of activists.

In the video, as Mr. Ben-Gvir walks past activists forced to kneel, he remarks, “Don’t get excited by their screaming.” A woman calling out “Free Palestine” is violently shoved to the ground by masked men.

Mr. Ben-Gvir, speaking into the camera, says he asked Mr. Netanyahu to allow him to detain the activists “for a very very long time” in “prisons for terrorists.”

Mr. Ben-Gvir, whose portfolio includes the Israeli prison system, has repeatedly boasted of making conditions harder for Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

A number of Palestinians released from Israeli jails over the past two years have emerged emaciated, and reports suggest many were subjected to physical abuse.

On Wednesday, the Knesset voted to begin dissolving the government, a move that could push elections up by as much as a month from their scheduled October date.

Mr. Ben-Gvir, whose political base includes Israel’s most ardently nationalist voters, has a long record of attention-grabbing antics.

Last year, he brought a television crew into an Israeli prison and appeared on camera hectoring a prisoner, Marwan Barghouti, who is enormously popular among Palestinians.

The Israeli Supreme Court is weighing a demand by the attorney general that Mr. Netanyahu be compelled to fire Mr. Ben-Gvir as national security minister on the grounds that he has misused his authority to pursue a right-wing agenda, including by politicizing the Israeli police force.

David M. Halbfinger and Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting.



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