Israel’s national security minister faces international backlash over video taunting detained flotilla activists
Updated ,first published
Israel’s ambassador to Australia will be hauled before the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to reinforce the government’s displeasure with a video of Israel’s national security minister taunting detained flotilla activists, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has said.
In a Thursday morning statement, Wong said the provocative video of Itamar Ben-Gvir was “shocking and unacceptable” and that Australia’s ambassador to Israel had made Labor’s frustrations clear to the Israeli government.
“The images we have seen posted by Israeli Minister Ben-Gvir – who Australia has sanctioned – are shocking and unacceptable. We condemn his actions and the degrading actions of Israeli authorities towards those detained,” Wong said.
“Australia’s Ambassador to Israel has made representations to Israel, reiterating our call for the release of the detained Australians and for Israel to ensure no ill-treatment of any detainees and to act in line with international obligations.
“I have also directed DFAT to call in Israel’s Ambassador to Australia to reinforce this message.”
Israel’s ambassador to Australia was last called in by DFAT in July last year. Then-ambassador Amir Maimon was summoned amid accusations of starvation and famine-like conditions in Gaza.
It is the first time the current ambassador, Hillel Newman, has been called in. He started in the role in February this year.
The video was rebuked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and triggered an international backlash after Ben-Gvir published videos taunting detained flotilla activists who tried to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza and telling them they should be imprisoned for a long time.
Netanyahu said that although Israel has every right to stop “provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters”, the way National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir dealt with the activists was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms.”
Ben-Gvir released videos on Wednesday showing him walking among some of the approximately 430 detained activists, a group that includes 11 Australians. In one, activists with their hands tied behind their backs are kneeling, their heads touching the floor inside what appears to be a makeshift detention area and on the deck of a ship.
“Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords,” says Ben-Gvir, waving a large Israeli flag. One handcuffed activist shouts “free Palestine” as Ben-Gvir walks by and is immediately pushed to the ground by security personnel.
In another video, Ben-Gvir says the activists “came here all full of pride like big heroes. Look at them now”, while appealing to Netanyahu to grant him permission to imprison them.
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the footage “violates the most basic standards of respect and dignity” in how people should be treated and demanded an explanation from Israeli authorities.
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who is known for his support of Israel’s far-right settlement movement, called Ben-Gvir’s actions “despicable”, saying he had “betrayed the dignity of his nation”.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni demanded an apology from Israel, describing the treatment of the activists as a “violation of human dignity”. Italy also summoned Israel’s ambassador in Rome to protest at the treatment of Italian detainees and demand their immediate release.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the behaviour “openly demonstrated to the world the violent and barbaric mindset” of Israel’s government, while Greece’s Foreign Ministry called Ben-Gvir’s actions “unacceptable and entirely condemnable” and said it had lodged a formal protest.
Palestinian militant group Hamas called out Ben-Gvir for the “scenes of abuse and humiliation” of the activists, saying they show Israel’s “moral decadence and sadism”.
Australians Neve O’Connor, Sam Woripa Watson, Anny Mokotow, Isla Lamont, Juliet Lamont, Surya McEwen, Zack Schofield, Bianca Webb-Pullman, Gemma O’Toole, Violet Coco and Helen O’Sullivan were all confirmed to have been detained by Israel earlier this week.
Israeli forces on Tuesday boarded the last of the flotilla boats that tried to challenge the blockade – the latest effort to highlight the grim conditions for nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel’s leader calls for quick deportations
Addressing Netanyahu in one of the videos, Ben-Gvir says: “I say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, give them to me for a long, long time, give them to us for the terrorist prisons.”
Netanyahu said he has given instructions for the activists to be deported “as soon as possible”.
Ben-Gvir also drew the ire of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who publicly chastised his fellow minister on X, saying: “You knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display.”
“No, you are not the face of Israel,” Saar wrote.
Ben-Gvir shot back at Saar in the Israeli parliament, accusing him of “bowing to the terrorists” and that any Israeli apology to the activists would send a message of “weakness”, “submission”, and “surrender”.
An Israel-based legal advocacy group, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah, accused Israeli authorities of “employing a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists”.
Adalah’s statement said this followed similar patterns of ill-treatment by Israeli authorities against activists in previous flotilla missions “for which Israel faced zero accountability”.
Adalah lawyer Suhad Bishara said a group of 11 lawyers who visited the detainees was aware of at least two activists who were hospitalised after being shot with rubber bullets “for no reason, without any justification”. Bishara said the activists will be brought before a judge on Thursday, who will decide on when their deportation will begin.
Global Sumud Flotilla spokesperson Rania Batrice said Ben-Gvir posts such videos because the world hasn’t held Israel to account.
“If they’re doing that to Europeans and Americans and people from South Africa and all over the world, imagine what they’re doing to the Palestinian people,” Batrice said.
Flotilla organisers claimed Israeli soldiers fired on five boats during the interdictions, causing some damage. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said no live ammunition was fired and that “non-lethal means” were aimed at the vessels as a warning, but without targeting or injuring protesters.
Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla, which set off from Turkey last week, about 268 kilometres off the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla’s website.
Israel has called the flotilla “a PR stunt at the service of Hamas” with no real intent to deliver aid to Gaza. The boats carry a symbolic amount of aid.
Israel has maintained a sea blockade of Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007. Israeli authorities intensified it after the October 2023 Hamas-led militant attacks on southern Israel, during which 1200 people were killed and more than 250 others taken hostage.
Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment, while Israel says it’s intended to prevent Hamas from arming itself. Egypt, which has the only border crossing with Gaza not controlled by Israel, has also greatly restricted movement in and out.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the October 7 attacks has killed more than 72,700 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not give a breakdown between civilians and combatants.
AP
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Nick Newling is a federal politics reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
