Ben-Gvir taunts flotilla activists in video; global backlash grows

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released a video Wednesday showing him taunting foreign activists who were seized from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and held in a makeshift detention area in the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

The activists, abducted by Israeli forces in international waters, appear in the video with cable ties and on their knees as Israel’s national anthem plays.

Several countries, including Italy and France, have summoned Israeli ambassadors to protest the incident.

The video drew sharp international condemnation and rare criticism from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.

Here is what we know so far.

Ben-Gvir, 50, is a lawyer and politician who has led the far-right Jewish Power (Otzma Yehudit) party since 2019 and was sworn into the cabinet after the 2022 elections.

He controls Israel’s Border Police division in the occupied West Bank.

A settler in Kiryat Arba, one of the most radical settlements in the occupied West Bank — all settlements are illegal under international law — Ben-Gvir has been convicted of incitement to racism, destroying property, possessing propaganda material from a terrorist organization and supporting a terrorist organization, specifically Meir Kahane’s outlawed Kach group, which advocates expelling non-Jews from Israel. Ben-Gvir joined Kach at age 16.

He frequently engages in anti-Palestinian acts, including storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest site, alongside settlers and under Israeli military protection.

He often performs Jewish prayers at the site, violating a status quo arrangement in place since 1967 that prohibits non-Muslim worship, and has expressed a desire to build a synagogue in place of the mosque.

The incident involves the Gaza aid flotillas, groups of boats carrying activists that have attempted to deliver aid and raise awareness since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 72,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

The modern flotilla movement dates to 2006 during Israel’s war on Lebanon and expanded after the 2007 blockade of Gaza.

Since then, hundreds of vessels organized by international solidarity groups have tried to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid and activists.

In 2008, two boats from the Free Gaza Movement became the first to successfully reach Gaza by sea despite the blockade.

But since 2010, Israeli forces have intercepted nearly every flotilla in international waters.

On Tuesday, at least 430 activists from more than 46 countries were abducted during Israeli interceptions of the latest flotilla.

In Wednesday’s video, a woman approaches Ben-Gvir and says in English, “Free Palestine!” before masked security officers push her head down and force her away.

“Good job,” Ben-Gvir tells the officers, adding, “Welcome to Israel. We are the landowners here; that is how it should be.”

Activists are shown on their knees with heads on the ground and arms tied behind their backs in stress positions as armed Israeli security officers stand atop shipping containers.

Ben-Gvir, waving an Israeli flag and heavily guarded, walks among the activists, appearing to relish the moment as he taunts them.

Several countries — including Italy, France, the Netherlands and Canada — have summoned Israeli ambassadors to express indignation over the treatment of the abducted activists and demand the release of their citizens.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot denounced Ben-Gvir’s actions as “unacceptable” and called for the release of French citizens “as soon as possible.”

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand called the incident “deeply troubling.”

U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the video showed “totally disgraceful scenes.”

“The images of Israeli Minister Ben Gvir are unacceptable. It is unacceptable that these protesters, including many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment that violates their human dignity,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement on X.

In May 2010, Israeli commandos stormed the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, killing 10 activists and wounding dozens.

Allegations of mistreatment by activists brought to Israel after naval interceptions are common, and organizers say they fear sanctions and accusations of Hamas links are used to justify further crackdowns.

Concerns stem from previous allegations of abuse, including sexual abuse, during interceptions by Israeli officials.

Organizers also accused Israeli naval forces of firing rubber bullets at activists during the latest interception in international waters.

Many activists who have been detained emphasize that the focus should be on Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who are subjected to torture and cannot be deported.

In 2025, activist Greta Thunberg, who was on a previous flotilla, told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that activists had been beaten, kicked and threatened with being gassed in cages.

However, she stressed that attention should not remain on the activists because “thousands of Palestinians, hundreds of whom are children, who are being held without trial right now, and many of them are most likely being tortured.”

Nearly 10,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons in Israel and the occupied territory, according to prisoners’ rights group Addameer.

Some 3,532 of them are administrative detainees — held without charge or trial — and 342 are children.

Israel is the only country in the world that tries children in military courts, often denying them basic rights.

Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons suffer near-constant dehumanizing treatment by guards and soldiers.

Under a new law passed this year, spearheaded by Ben-Gvir, military courts can impose the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis in acts of “terror.”

This law does not impose the same penalty on Jewish Israelis convicted of killing Palestinians, reinforcing legal inequalities that privilege Jewish citizens while targeting Palestinians.