People worldwide are reacting to a video released on X by the man who so proudly oversees the system of torture in Israel. Security Minister Ben-Gvir posted himself strutting through a detention facility in Ashdod, where activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla were taken after their illegal abduction. We see him smiling as guards grab Irish activist Catriona Graham, push her to the ground, and drag her across the floor after she yells, “Free, Free Palestine!” Hundreds of others are shown on their knees with their heads down and their hands tied, while the Israeli national anthem is heard in the background.
“Welcome to Israel; we are the landlords,” Ben-Gvir boasts in Hebrew. “Look at how they look now,” he continues, waving the Israeli flag. “Not heroes. Not anything. Terror supporters. I tell Prime Minister Netanyahu ‘Give them to me for more time. Give them to us for the terrorist prisons. This is how it should look.”
World leaders and politicians reacted swiftly, but inadequately. Some condemned the brazen bravado on display in Ben-Gvir’s film, in which 428 kidnapped Global Sumud Flotilla volunteers form the backdrop. France banned him from entering their country. Thirty-seven out of 720 E.U. Parliament members demanded suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Meanwhile, Zionist politicians from the U.S. and Israel have attempted to distance themselves from this public relations disaster. American Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned the Minister for “betraying the dignity of his nation,” but only after calling the Flotilla “a stupid stunt.” Even Netanyahu himself complained that the video is “not in line with Israeli values.” In a post on X, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote: “You have deliberately damaged the state with this shameful display,” and in a cabinet meeting he told Ben-Gvir, “You are not the face of Israel.”
Activists aboard the Flotilla were four days into their nautical quest to reach Gaza in order to break the Israeli blockade, when they were attacked and kidnapped by the Israeli Navy in international waters. Their boats were loaded with food, baby formula, medical, sanitary, building, and educational supplies.
Under blockade since 2007, merely half of the humanitarian aid promised after the ridiculously named “ceasefire” has been allowed into Gaza. Three-quarters of the population face high levels of food insecurity and over 100,000 children are severely malnourished. Ninety percent of the population has been displaced, and most live in tents behind an Israeli-imposed “yellow line.”
As Flotilla activists return to their home countries, the world hears more and more harrowing accounts of their treatment. Australian filmmaker, Julie Lamont recounted: “I was cable tied with my hands behind my back and shackles to my ankles. I was thrown to the deck of the prison boat, where I was then stood upon. I was slapped with guns to the back of my head and a whole wash of water was thrown under my body to the point that I thought I was going to drown…I was thrown into a darkened shipping container. Five men beat me and sexually assaulted me in that container ship.”
Dr. Margaret Connolly, a general practitioner from Ireland and sister of the Irish president, called the warship on which they were held “a horror of a concentration camp.” Speaking in a radio interview from Turkey, where the activists had been deported, she described people screaming and howling all night long with no pain relief, hypothermia due to no clothes or drenched clothes, being denied water and having only “disgusting bread rolls” thrown at them when they asked for food.
The Global Sumud Flotilla website cites 15 sexual assaults, which include “anal rape and forcible penetration by handgun.” They also report that “IOF soldiers tased volunteers in the face, neck and body…Multiple volunteers report being photographed during strip searches and guards laughing throughout.” Most activists report being beaten, and there were at least 36 bone fractures and multiple broken ribs, collarbones, shoulders, and feet. Others had eye, ear, and back injuries. Sixty-seven volunteers were taken to the hospital in Turkey, and 12 were hospitalized.
Almost all participants interviewed point out that their torture was temporary and minimal compared to what the 9,600 Palestinians held in Israeli custody endure, sometimes for years and often without charge or trial. At the United Nations last Friday, the Permanent Observer of Palestine, Riyad Mansour, highlighted this double standard: “You were rightly outraged by how Ben-Gvir treated your nationals,” he said, “Now consider how he treats ours.”
Thanks to recent reports, we need not speculate about how he treats Palestinians. Systematic and widespread torture has been well-documented by B’Tselem, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, and the Committee to Protect Journalists, all of whom base their conclusions on testimony from released detainees. (See A Laboratory of Calculated Cruelty.) Even the Zionist-leaning New York Times published The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians by Nicholas Kristof on May 11, which details rapes by soldiers, objects, and dogs. Upon its publication, the Israeli Foreign Ministry reacted immediately, not with words of concern or promises to investigate the alleged incidents, but by attempting to flip the script, lambasting the article as “one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press”. Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to sue the newspaper.
Until now, the world has paid little attention to allegations of torture in Israeli prisons, and the recent reports have been largely ignored by the mainstream press. Surely, the addition of an article in a prestigious American newspaper; firsthand testimony by civilians from 56 countries, including many from Europe and the United States; and a damning video posted by the Israeli Security Minister himself should be more than sufficient to generate global outrage and spur real action. The monstrous face of Israel has been revealed, and their war crimes are undeniable.
Two questions remain: Will our leaders do anything to stop them? Will we?
By Jeannie Connerney
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Jeannie Connerney is an activist and writer. She is a member of Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment; Pax Christi; and Massachusetts Peace Action, where she serves on the editorial board of The Peace Advocate.
