In call with Herzog, Canada’s Carney says treatment of Gaza flotilla activists ‘unacceptable’

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has denounced the “appalling treatment” of activists aboard the Gaza-bound aid flotilla as “unacceptable,” in a call with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, according to a statement.

Last week, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked widespread condemnation and a diplomatic backlash by posting a video mocking the activists after they were seized in international waters by Israeli soldiers. In the video, dozens of activists, including 12 Canadian citizens, were forced to kneel with their foreheads to the ground and their hands tied.

In the call, Carney called for an independent investigation and “strongly condemned” remarks by Ben Gvir, according to the statement.

According to a readout from Herzog’s office, the president in turn “expressed his condemnation of the pro-Hamas flotilla,” which sought to challenge Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza, saying it “directly aimed to undermine” the US-backed plan for the disarmament of Hamas and the establishment of a new government in postwar Gaza.

Last week, Canada said it was summoning the Israeli ambassador over the incident.

After the activists were deported from Israel last week, videos circulated online purporting to show security forces in countries including Spain, Australia and Austria forcing several of them to the ground upon their return during rowdy confrontations, leading the Foreign Ministry to push back against what it viewed as hypocritical criticism of Israel’s handling of the flotilla.

Herzog adds he expressed his “deep alarm over the rise in antisemitic violence in Canada,” saying, “I called on Prime Minister Carney and his government to address the fear and sense of abandonment felt by…the Canadian Jewish community before it’s too late.”