France and Italy summoned Israeli ambassadors on Wednesday after videos circulated showing activists from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition being mistreated while detained by Israeli authorities.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the scenes involving handcuffed activists forced to kneel and mistreated by Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as “unacceptable,” particularly because several detainees were Italian citizens.
“It is unacceptable that these demonstrators should be subjected to treatment that violates human dignity,” Meloni said in a social media statement.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said he would convey France’s “outrage” to the Israeli ambassador and demand explanations regarding the footage.
Barrot stressed that the safety of French nationals remained a priority and called for the detained activists to be treated with respect and released promptly.
According to the Israeli outlet Yedioth Ahronoth, Ben-Gvir appeared in the footage walking among handcuffed and blindfolded activists while making remarks including: “Welcome to Israel, we are the owners of this house.”
Additional clips showed an activist being restrained by agents from the Shin Bet after approaching Ben-Gvir.
The National Security Minister is also seen telling one of the activists, “The people of Israel live,” with the words “Hatikvah” appearing in the background, adding, “they came with great pride, look at them now. They are not heroes or anything of the sort, but supporters of terrorism. I appeal to Netanyahu to hand them over to me for a long time in the terrorists’ prisons”.
