National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir shared videos of himself harassing detained flotilla activists in Ashdod after Israeli forces intercepted their ships on Tuesday.
In the video, he can be seen forcing the head down of a flotilla activist after she yelled, “Free, free Palestine,” to which he responds in Hebrew, “Shut up!” and continues walking.
In a separate clip, he is depicted as waving an Israeli flag while shouting out in Hebrew: “Welcome to Israel! We own this place.”
In another clip, he can be heard speaking over Israel’s national anthem, Hatikvah, as the flotilla activists kneel on the floor with their heads down. He also included several clips of the activists being perp walked with their hands zip-tied together.
In response to Ben-Gvir’s video, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that while Israel has the right to respond to the flotilla, Ben-Gvir’s actions were unacceptable.
“Israel has every right to prevent provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters from entering our territorial waters and reaching Gaza. However, the way that Minister Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms,” the prime minister wrote in a statement. He added that he ordered the activists to be deported as soon as possible.
The European Jewish Congress strongly condemned Ben-Gvir for what it called his “disgraceful actions.”
“This shocking display by the minister runs counter to Israeli and Jewish values and the rule of law and only grants legitimacy to a group of Hamas-supporting activists who have shockingly been turned into heroes by his reprehensible and counter-productive actions.”
