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Italy asked the European Union on Thursday to sanction a far-right Israeli minister who posted a video showing detained activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla kneeling with their hands tied and foreheads on the ground.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on X he had requested sanctions against National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir “for the unacceptable acts committed against the flotilla, seizing the activists in international waters and subjecting them to harassment and humiliation, in violation of the most basic human rights.”
Ireland and Spain have also joined the calls for EU sanctions on Ben Gvir.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called for the immediate release of detained Italian activists and demanded an apology from Israel after Ben Gvir posted the video on Wednesday.
“It is intolerable that these protesters, among whom there are many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment, which violates human dignity,” Meloni said in a statement.
That criticism was echoed across much of Europe.
France summoned the Israeli ambassador to protest against the posting of the video.
“I have requested that the Israeli ambassador to France be summoned to express our indignation and obtain an explanation,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot wrote on X.
Germany’s ambassador to Israel Steffen Seibert said the treatment of the activists was “wholly unacceptable.”
“It is good to hear many Israeli voices – including the foreign minister – call out in all clarity Minister Ben Gvir’s treatment of the detainees for what it is: wholly unacceptable and incompatible with the basic values of our countries,” Seibert wrote on X.
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said the Israeli envoy in Madrid had been summoned.
“That treatment is monstrous, disgraceful and inhumane,” Albares said.
Criticism from within Israel
The video even drew a sharp rebuke from senior politicians within Israel’s government.
“The way minister Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms. I have instructed the relevant authorities to deport the provocateurs (activists) as soon as possible,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
And Ben Gvir was also criticised by Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.
“You knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display and not for the first time. You have undone tremendous, professional, and successful efforts made by so many people from IDF soldiers to Foreign Ministry staff and many others. No, you are not the face of Israel,” Sa’ar said in a post on X.
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 last month.
Israeli authorities said 430 activists aboard the flotilla were en route to Israel, while the Adalah rights group said some had already arrived at Ashdod port and were being held there.
Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.
During the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, the territory has suffered severe shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies, with Israel at times halting aid deliveries entirely.
Additional sources • AFP
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