Netanyahu Scolds Israeli Security Minister For Releasing Videos Taunting Detained Flotilla Activists

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s national security minister faces harsh rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and triggered a backlash abroad on Wednesday. publish videos The mocker was detained Fleet activists trying to break the Israeli blockade He told Gazans that they had to stay in prison for a long time.

Netanyahu said Israel had the right to stop “provocative squadrons of Hamas terrorist supporters”, the Minister of National Security said. Itamar Ben Gvir It was stated that the treatment of activists “does not comply with Israel’s values ​​and norms”.

Ben-Gvir released videos Wednesday showing him walking among about 430 detainees. In one, activists kneel with their hands tied behind their backs, their heads touching the ground in what appears to be a temporary detention area and on the deck of a ship.

“Welcome to Israel, we are landlords,” Ben-Gvir says, waving the large Israeli flag. As Ben-Gvir passes by, a handcuffed activist shouts “Free Palestine” and is immediately pushed to the ground by security personnel.

In another video, Ben-Gvir says the activists “came here proudly, like great heroes” and calls on Netanyahu to allow them to be imprisoned.

“I say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, give them to me for a long time, give them to us for terrorist prisons,” Ben-Gvir said.

Netanyahu said he had been ordered to deport the activists “as soon as possible.”

Ben-Gvir drew the ire of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who openly rebuked his fellow minister over X, saying, “You knowingly harmed our State with this shameful display.”

“No, you are not the face of Israel,” Saar wrote.

Ben-Gvir hit back at Saar in the Israeli parliament, accusing him of “caving in to terrorists” and saying Israel’s apology to activists would send a message of “weakness”, “capitulation” and “capitulation”.

The Arab Minority Rights Legal Center in Israel, or Adalah, an Israel-based legal advocacy group, accused Israeli authorities of “implementing a criminal policy of harassment and humiliation against activists.”

Adalah’s statement said this follows similar patterns of mistreatment of activists on previous fleet missions by Israeli authorities “for which Israel faced zero accountability.”

Adalah lawyer Suhad Bishara told The Associated Press that a group of 11 lawyers who visited detainees knew that at least two activists had been hospitalized after being shot with rubber bullets “for no reason, no justification.” Bishara said the activists will appear before a judge on Thursday, who will decide when their deportation will begin.

Squadron spokeswoman Rania Batrice said Ben-Gvir publishes such videos because the world does not hold Israel accountable.

“If they’re doing this to Europeans, to Americans, to people from South Africa and all over the world, think about what they’re doing to the Palestinian people,” Batrice told the AP in an online interview.

Batrice called on governments to step up their response. “What we need right now is not strongly worded letters. We need more action.”

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the video “violates the most basic standards of respect and dignity” about how people should be treated and demanded an explanation from Israeli officials.

Italy condemned the treatment of detained activists as a violation of human dignity and called Ben-Gvir’s videos “unacceptable”. He also summoned Israel’s ambassador in Rome to protest the treatment of Italian detainees and demand their immediate release. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she had instructed her officials to summon Israel’s ambassador to Ottawa.

Both Türkiye and Greece condemned Israel’s treatment of activists. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that this behavior “clearly demonstrates to the world the violent and barbaric mentality” of the Israeli government. The Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Ben-Gvir’s actions “unacceptable and completely condemnable” and said it had lodged a formal protest.

Palestinian militant group Hamas called out Ben-Gvir for the activists’ “scenes of harassment and humiliation”, saying they showed Israel’s “moral decline and sadism”.

Israeli forces boarded the ship on Tuesday the last of the fleet boats It sought to defy the blockade, the latest effort to highlight the dire conditions experienced by nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.

Flotilla organizers claimed that Israeli soldiers opened fire on five boats during the interdicts, causing some damage. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said no live ammunition was fired and that “non-lethal means” were aimed at the ships as a warning without targeting or injuring protesters.

Israeli forces began intercepting the flotilla, which left Türkiye last week, about 268 kilometers (167 miles) from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla’s website.

Israel described the flotilla as a “public relations stunt in the service of Hamas” with no real intention of bringing aid to Gaza. The boats are carrying a symbolic amount of aid.

On Monday, the Israeli navy stopped 41 boats. The fleet is in international waters off Cyprus and detained those on board.

More than a dozen Irish citizens were in the flotilla, including the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin said Israel’s interference with boats in international waters was “absolutely unacceptable”.

However, the US Treasury imposed sanctions against numerous European activists in the flotilla, which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as “pro-terrorist”.

Israel has maintained a naval blockade of Gaza since Hamas seized control of the region in 2007. Israeli authorities intensified this following attacks on southern Israel by Hamas-led militants on October 7, 2023, which killed nearly 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages.

Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment. Israel says its aim is to prevent Hamas from arming itself. Egypt, which has the only border crossing with Gaza that is not controlled by Israel, has also greatly restricted entry and exit movements.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the Oct. 7 attacks that started the war has killed more than 72,700 people, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health. The ministry, which is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Its staff consists of medical professionals who keep and publish detailed records that are generally considered reliable by the international community.

Hacicostis reported from Nicosia, Cyprus. Associated Press journalists Areej Hazboun, Isaac Scharf and Ibrahim Hazboun in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Giada Zampano in Rome; Andrew Wilks in Ankara, Türkiye and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece contributed to this report.