Israeli minister posts video showing detained flotilla activists bound, forced to kneel

JERUSALEM - Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted a video on May 20 showing detained activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs and foreheads on the ground.

The footage, published on Mr Ben Gvir’s X account and captioned “Welcome to Israel”, shows dozens of activists on the deck of a military boat with the Israeli national anthem blaring, and in detention in Israel, where the minister is seen waving an Israeli flag.

The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail from Turkey last week in the latest attempt by activists to breach Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory, after Israeli forces intercepted a previous convoy in April.

In the video shared by Mr Ben Gvir, he is seen encouraging staff at the detention centre as they push down an activist who had stood up to say “free free Palestine” as he walked by.

Israel’s Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Saar condemned Mr Ben Gvir after the release of the video.

“You knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display - and not for the first time”, Mr Saar said on X, adding Mr Ben Gvir was “not the face of Israel”.

“Israel is employing a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists seeking to confront Israel’s ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people”, legal rights centre Adalah said in a statement reacting to the footage.

Adalah’s lawyers went to the detention centre in southern Israel to meet the more than 430 detained activists, it said.

Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls under half of Gaza and whose attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023 sparked the war in the Palestinian territory, also condemned the video.

In a statement, it called Mr Ben Gvir’s actions “an expression of the moral depravity and sadism that govern the mentality of the leaders of the criminal enemy entity” (Israel). AFP