A diplomatic firestorm has swept across Europe this week after Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir published shocking footage of detained Gaza-bound activists, prompting three key European Union countries to formally call for EU-level sanctions against the senior Israeli official.
The incident centers on the latest Global Sumud Flotilla, a convoy of roughly 50 vessels carrying international activists that set out from Turkey last week in an effort to break Israel’s long-running air, land and sea blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla at sea, detaining all on board and transferring them to the southern Israeli port of Ashdod to await deportation.
On Wednesday, Ben Gvir shared a video of the detained activists on his public social media accounts, captioned “Welcome to Israel”. The footage, which shows Ben Gvir waving an Israeli flag while heckling the bound detainees, has drawn widespread international condemnation. In the video, dozens of activists are forced to kneel with their foreheads pressed to the ground and their hands bound behind their backs.
By Thursday, Italy, Ireland and Spain had all joined together to push for formal punitive measures from the EU against Ben Gvir, with other European countries also registering sharp condemnation of the incident.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Thursday on the social platform X that he had requested sanctions against the minister, saying the interception of activists in international waters and their subsequent “harassment and humiliation” violated the most fundamental standards of human rights. Tajani’s statement followed a remark one day earlier from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who called the activists’ treatment “intolerable” and demanded a formal public apology from the Israeli government.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also took to X on Wednesday to condemn the footage, saying the images of Ben Gvir humiliating international activists who support Gaza were completely unacceptable. “We will not tolerate anyone mistreating our citizens,” Sanchez added, noting that Madrid had already implemented a national entry ban on Ben Gvir back in September. For the EU, he added, sanctions against the minister are “a matter of urgency” for the European leadership in Brussels.
In Ireland, a confidential letter from Prime Minister Micheal Martin to European Council President Antonio Costa was leaked to AFP Thursday by an anonymous government source, revealing Martin’s call for “further action” from the EU over the incident. In the letter dated Wednesday, Martin condemned what he called the “shocking treatment of EU citizens” and the “unacceptable behaviour” by Ben Gvir, and called for the incident to be added to the agenda for the next European Council meeting scheduled for June.
Martin went further than his Italian and Spanish counterparts, stating that the bloc should consider sweeping measures against Israel: “At the very least, this must include the banning of products from Israeli settlements and the suspension of parts if not all of the EU’s Association Agreement with Israel.” The 2000 association agreement, which forms the legal framework for EU-Israel cooperation, includes a binding clause that requires both parties to uphold fundamental human rights standards.
Beyond the EU, the United Kingdom also joined the international outcry Thursday, announcing it had summoned Israel’s most senior diplomatic representative in London over what UK officials called “the inflammatory video”.
This incident marks the latest escalation in tensions between Europe and Israel over the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, following months of growing friction over Israeli military operations and restrictions on aid access to the besieged enclave. This latest flotilla attempt was the second such action in as many months, after Israeli forces intercepted a smaller activist convoy last May.