Arab and Islamic FMs call Ben Gvir’s taunting of flotilla activists ‘disgraceful assault on human dignity’

The foreign ministers of the Group of Eight Arab-Islamic states strongly condemn the actions of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir towards participants in the Gaza-bound flotilla while they were in Israeli detention.

Governments have expressed outrage after Ben Gvir posted a video in which he taunted activists who were pinned to the ground. Some of the detainees, who had intended to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, later alleged that they were physically assaulted in detention, which the Israeli Prison Service denied.

The eight nations — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan — say in a statement: “Ben Gvir’s deliberate public humiliation of detainees is a disgraceful assault on human dignity and a clear violation of Israel’s obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, and international human rights law.”