Ben-Gvir’s Flotilla Spectacle Exposes Israel’s Detention Violations

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has triggered a new international backlash after publishing footage that showed detained Global Sumud Flotilla activists kneeling on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs after Israeli forces intercepted Gaza-bound vessels in international waters.

The video, released after the activists were brought to Israel’s Ashdod port, showed Ben-Gvir walking among detainees while carrying an Israeli flag and mocking them as defeated “heroes.” In one scene, an activist shouting “Free Palestine” was pushed to the ground by security personnel.

The flotilla, which had sailed from Turkey, was attempting to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and deliver symbolic humanitarian aid to the enclave. It included around 430 activists from 40 countries aboard 50 vessels.

Italy, Canada, France, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands summoned or said they would summon Israeli diplomats over the treatment of the detainees. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called Ben-Gvir’s conduct “inadmissible,” while South Korean President Lee Jae Myung questioned the legal basis for detaining foreign citizens seized outside Israeli territorial waters. Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom also condemned the treatment of the activists or demanded explanations from Israel.

The episode also created an internal Israeli political dispute. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel’s right to stop the flotilla but said Ben-Gvir’s treatment of the activists was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms,” and ordered that the detainees be deported as soon as possible. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also rebuked Ben-Gvir, saying the minister had harmed Israel through a “disgraceful display.” Ben-Gvir, however, insisted that the activists should be held in “terrorist prisons” for a long period, portraying any apology as weakness.

Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, said Israeli authorities were pursuing a “criminal policy of abuse and humiliation” toward the activists, and said its lawyers were providing legal assistance while demanding their immediate release. A flotilla spokesperson told the Associated Press that if such treatment was being shown toward Europeans, Americans and South Africans, it raised deeper questions about what Palestinians face under Israeli control.

The outrage over Ben-Gvir’s footage comes against a darker background of allegations concerning Israeli detention practices. In February, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported that almost 60 Palestinian journalists detained since October 7, 2023, had been beaten, starved and subjected to sexual violence, including rape. The report said CPJ reviewed testimonies, photographs and medical records from 59 Palestinian journalists, 58 of whom reported treatment they described as torture. The Israeli prison service and the Israeli military rejected the allegations.

German journalist Anna Liedtke, who had been detained aboard a Gaza-bound flotilla, said that Israeli soldiers raped her while she was in custody. According to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, Liedtke was aboard the Conscience, a vessel carrying journalists and medics, and publicly disclosed on December 21, 2025, that she had been raped after resisting a forced strip search by female officers. The coalition said it had supported Liedtke after her disclosure and added that Italian journalist Vincenzo Fullone and Australian activist Surya McEwen had made similar allegations of sexual assault while detained.