Gaza flotilla. Reluctance to protest Israel’s cruelties enabled the abuse

Failure of Australian and Western governments to hold Israel to account led to abuse of detainees in the Jerusalem Peace Prize-winning Gaza flotilla Stuart Rees he argues.

If bullies notice that no one is intervening to stop their behavior, they may interpret this lack of intervention as permission to continue bullying.

The same process has been going on for years regarding the thuggery of the Israeli Netanyahu government, and in this context, Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s mistreatment of detainees in the Gaza international aid fleet did not come as a surprise.

Suddenly, even the Australian government condemned the abuse of hundreds of humanitarian activists, but this condemnation came too late.

Australian activists detained by Israel came to Türkiye

Too little too late

The first measure concerns the reluctance of politicians and journalists to question Israeli spokesmen’s claims that they and their military act according to the highest moral standards. The second is about Israel’s inability to be held responsible under international law.

This culture of non-accountability, coupled with the acceptance of Israel’s false claims, emerged again when 430 sailors from 40 different countries were detained by Israel and forced to kneel with their hands zipped behind their backs while the Israeli national anthem played and Ben-Gvir mocked them.

In ABC television’s news dated 7:30, Israel’s Ambassador to Australia repeated that Israeli forces boarded the flotilla with great precision. He assured the audience that detainees would not be mistreated. His allegations came after a series of lies.

In the Gaza massacre, Israeli military spokesmen insisted they would not harm civilians, it was claimed that Palestinians were not short of food, and the bombing of hospitals, schools, and so-called safe houses was justified by claims that these were all sites of Hamas operations.

The adjective ‘Hamas’ is used to stigmatize anyone who opposes Israel’s actions.

Ben-Gvir and others labeled those who joined the humanitarian flotilla as ‘terrorist supporters of Hamas’. This all-purpose label apparently explains terrorism, but even regarding the slaughter of innocents in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon, few politicians ask ‘whose terrorism are you talking about?’ he asked.

Government sanctioned brutality

Israeli officials claimed that no squadron detainees were harmed, but a video showed detainees being mistreated in Israeli captivity, and returning Australian detainees reported experiences of violence and sexual abuse.

Adalah, the Israeli legal rights center, reported that ‘there have been systematic violations of legal processes and widespread physical and psychological harassment by Israeli authorities.’ The same organization stated that ‘at least three people in the flotilla had to be hospitalized due to injuries such as rib fractures and breathing difficulties.’ Each incident raised questions about the Israeli Australian Ambassador’s claim that Israeli forces showed ‘great sensitivity’.

It is predictable that governments will be reluctant to ask whether Israel’s attacks on the international aid fleet can be justified under international law.

Regarding Israel’s other killing sprees, governments pay no attention to international law.

The 1948 Genocide Convention defined genocide as a crime and obliged governments that signed the convention to prevent such acts and punish the perpetrators. These obligations were ignored. Nor have any steps been taken to comply with the International Court of Justice’s January 2024 ruling that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and must end immediately.

Israel insists there is a legal blockade of Gaza, but Western governments, which have never used their navies to escort fleets of small boats to Gaza’s shores, have accepted that claim.

In what cases might a country that illegally occupies another’s waters have the right to impose a blockade?

The UN described Israel’s blockade of Gaza as a ‘direct violation of international human rights and humanitarian law’. Don Rothwell, professor of international law at ANU, concludes: ‘There is no legal basis for Israel to impose a blockade of the coast of Cyprus (within 200 miles of Gaza), although under international law there is an exception to the blockade for the provision of humanitarian aid to civilian populations.’

Western facilitators

Ben-Gvir’s tyranny had been practiced for years, but who cared if it was implemented at the expense of Palestinians? But now international human rights activists are being abused. In response, previously silent commentators rediscovered their principles and expressed their outrage.

The chances that this anger will lead to a revival of respect for international law appear to depend on governments accepting it.

Abuse of Ben-Gvir was a feature of the Israeli state’s general violence against Palestinians.

A policy facilitated by Western democracies.

Ben-Gvir’s treatment of the fleet’s prisoners was the tip of the iceberg. The UN’s February 2026 Report concluded that the Israeli prison system has become a laboratory of calculated cruelty. Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem published its 2026 article titled ‘Welcome to Hell: The Israeli prison system as a network of torture camps’.

Mistreatment of Palestinians had been reported, mostly covertly, but nothing like the anger expressed over the treatment of the flotilla crews emerged.

The UN reported that as Minister in charge of Israeli prisons, Ben-Gvir institutionalized torture, collective punishment and inhumane conditions. Mistreatment of detainees included rape with bottles, metal rods and knives, starvation, broken bones and teeth, burning, being spat on, being attacked by dogs and urinated on.

Chart the Euro-Med Report! Otherwise politicians and media are complicit in oppression

Courage betrayed

In stark contrast to this brutality, motivated by the ongoing genocide in Gaza and feeling betrayed by governments that did not intervene in the genocide in Palestine, 430 brave individuals sailed to Gaza and remained silent when Israeli forces boarded the fleet.

Parents of detainees condemned governments for not intervening.

But the failure to stop ethnic cleansing, the theft of land, and eventually a genocide had been going on for years, long before October 2023. During these decades, the victims were a stigmatized other, so international humanitarian law could be ignored, and Israel and the United States were assured that the murder and mayhem in Palestine and Lebanon would continue.

Ben-Gvir recognized the governments’ collusion with the massacre in Gaza and would accept silence on boarding the flotilla, similar to the West’s collusion with the death and destruction in Gaza, and silence on the extent of atrocities in Israeli prisons.

The mistreatment of the brave fleet crew sparked outrage, but the protest was too little, too late.

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