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Protesters detained from the Gaza flotilla have been handcuffed behind their backs and left to kneel face down on the floor in rows, in shocking video released by Israel.
Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir can be seen smirking, taunting and telling detained activists they should be imprisoned for a very long time.
One handcuffed Irish woman named by activists as Caitriona Graham shouts ‘Free Palestine’ at Ben Gvir but is taken down quickly with her head forced to the floor as the minister is ushered away smiling.
‘The courage of Catriona Graham in the face of Israeli outrages, puts our leadership to shame’, Stephen Bowen, Executive Director, Amnesty International Ireland said.
Helen McEntee, Ireland’s foreign minister, also condemned the video.
She posted on X: ‘Utterly appalling and unacceptable behaviour by Minister Gvir and the Israeli government.
‘Our Embassy has formally raised this matter with the Israeli authorities and has demanded proper and humane treatment of Irish citizens. These actions cannot be allowed to continue.’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said although Israel has every right to stop ‘provocative flotillas of Hamas terrorist supporters,’ the way that Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists ‘is not in line with Israel’s values and norms.’
On Wednesday, Gvir released the videos of himself walking among some of the approximately 430 detainees, after their arrival on navy ships.
One video shows activists with their hands tied behind their backs kneeling with their heads touching the floor inside what appears to be a makeshift detention area at Ashdod port and on the deck of a ship.
Armed guards patrol the barbed wire perimeter, guarding the activists trying to bring supplies to Gaza.
Ben-Gvir waved a large Israeli flag and told the detainees: ‘Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords.’ One handcuffed activist, who was shown in the video shouting ‘Free Palestine’ as Ben-Gvir walked past, was immediately pushed to the ground by security personnel.
In a second 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.
‘I say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, give them to me for a long, long time, give them to us for the terrorist prisons, that’s what it should look like,’ Ben Gvir said.
Netanyahu said that he has given instructions that the activists be deported ‘as soon as possible.’
Gvir drew the ire of Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who publicly chastised his fellow minister on X, posting that ‘you knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display’ and that he had ‘undone tremendous, professional and successful efforts made by so many people.’
‘No, you are not the face of Israel,’ Sa’ar wrote.
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Ben-Gvir shot back at Sa’ar in the Israeli parliament, accusing him of ‘bowing to the terrorists’ which he called ‘a disgrace and a shame.’ He said that any Israeli apology to the activists would send a message of ‘weakness,’ ‘submission’ and ‘surrender.’
‘Is he worried about the images? I am worried about the security of the residents of the state of Israel, and I care about them,’ Gvir said.
Israel accused of humiliating activists
An Israel-based legal advocacy group, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah, accused Israeli authorities of ‘employing a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists.’
Adalah said in a statement that this followed similar patterns of ill-treatment by Israeli authorities against activists in previous flotilla missions ‘for which Israel faced zero accountability.’
The group said that its lawyers and other volunteers were providing legal advice to activists at Ashdod and were demanding their immediate release.
‘The international community must take urgent measures to protect the flotilla members against this brutal and illegal conduct by Israeli officials,’ the group said.
Flotilla organisers have said the activists from more than 40 different countries were ‘being subjected to violent abuse after being illegally abducted at sea’ while attempting to bypass the Gaza blockade. In a post on Telegram, they urged the international community to end the blockade and release all 9,500 Palestinians ‘held in Israeli torture dungeons.’