The activists knelt in rows, foreheads pressed to the ground, hands zip-tied behind their backs. Israel’s national security minister stood among them, waving an Israeli flag.

“Welcome to Israel,” Itamar Ben-Gvir told the detainees in Hebrew. “We are the masters.”

The video, which Ben-Gvir himself posted to social media on Wednesday, has detonated a diplomatic crisis. Within hours, at least a dozen countries had summoned their Israeli ambassadors or issued formal condemnations — including several of Israel’s closest allies.

The footage that crossed a line

The clip shows scenes from the port of Ashdod, where 430 activists from more than 40 countries were taken after Israeli naval commandos intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters west of Cyprus.

The flotilla’s 50-plus vessels had set sail from Turkey last Thursday carrying food, baby formula and medical supplies — a token amount, Israel noted, designed more to highlight conditions in Gaza than to solve them. Organisers said Israeli forces opened fire at six boats, used water cannon and rammed one vessel. Israel’s foreign ministry said no live ammunition was used. Only one vessel managed to get within 80 nautical miles of Gaza before being intercepted.

In the footage, Ben-Gvir encourages security personnel as they push down a female activist shouting “Free, Free, Palestine.” He shouts “The people of Israel live” into the face of one bound man. Other detainees kneel on a ship’s deck as the Israeli national anthem plays.

The display was too much even for figures normally sympathetic to Israel. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee called Ben-Gvir’s actions “despicable” and said the minister had “betrayed the dignity of his nation.”

A cascade of condemnations

The UK’s Yvette Cooper said she was “truly appalled” and summoned the Israeli embassy. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni demanded the release of all Italian citizens and an apology for the display of what she called “total contempt” toward her government.

France, Germany, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland all summoned their Israeli ambassadors or issued formal protests. South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, questioned the legal basis for arrests in international waters. European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib wrote: “These are not convicted criminals. These are activists trying to get bread to the hungry.”

Turkey’s foreign ministry said Ben-Gvir had “demonstrated to the world the violent and barbaric mentality of the Netanyahu government.”

Unusual internal backlash

The outrage reached inside Israel’s own cabinet. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a rare rebuke, saying Ben-Gvir’s conduct was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms” and ordered the activists deported “as soon as possible.” Foreign Minister Gideon Saar went further, telling Ben-Gvir: “You knowingly caused harm to our state in this disgraceful display — and not for the first time. You are not the face of Israel.”

Ben-Gvir was defiant. “The foreign minister is expected to understand that Israel has stopped being a pushover,” he said.

What the video reveals

Rights groups say the footage reflects a broader pattern. Sari Bashi of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel said Ben-Gvir was signalling that mistreatment of detainees “is welcomed and encouraged at the highest level.” The legal rights group Adalah said it had documented similar abuse in previous flotilla missions “for which Israel faced zero accountability.”

The UN Human Rights Office called for the release of detained flotilla activists, saying “it is not a crime to show solidarity and attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza.” Adalah demanded the immediate release of all flotilla participants.

Seven months after a ceasefire took hold in Gaza, the UN says most of the territory’s 2.1 million people remain displaced, living in tents or damaged buildings with limited clean water and failing sanitation. Israel’s foreign ministry describes Gaza as “flooded with aid.” The gap between those descriptions is, in part, what put the flotilla on the water — and what made Ben-Gvir’s taunts so politically volatile.

Sources