A diplomatic storm has erupted across Europe after a widely circulated video exposed Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir overseeing the mistreatment of detained activists from a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla, prompting France to issue an entry ban on the senior official and throw its support behind EU-level sanctions.\n\nFrench Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot announced the measure Saturday in a post on X, framing the entry ban as a direct response to Ben Gvir’s “unacceptable conduct towards French and European citizens” during last week’s Israeli raid on the aid flotilla, which took place in international waters. Barrot clarified that while Paris does not endorse the activists’ mission to deliver humanitarian aid to blockaded Gaza, the harsh treatment the detainees received crosses a fundamental line. “We cannot tolerate French nationals being threatened, intimidated or subjected to violence in this way, especially by a public official,” he wrote. He added that Ben Gvir’s actions during the raid are only the latest in “a long series of shocking statements and actions, as well as incitement to hatred and violence against Palestinians.” Barrot also confirmed France backs an Italian call for the European Union to impose formal sanctions on the minister.\n\nThe incident that triggered the international backlash stems from last week’s Israeli naval intercept of the flotilla, which was carrying hundreds of activists attempting to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid to Gaza. Ben Gvir personally released a video of his presence during the detention of the activists, a move that made the incident unavoidable on the global diplomatic stage. The footage shows Ben Gvir waving an Israeli flag and taunting the detainees while Israeli security forces force hundreds of handcuffed activists to kneel with their faces to the ground.\n\nThe video has sparked widespread global condemnation, with multiple European governments summoning Israeli ambassadors to protest the treatment of their citizens. British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called the captured scenes “totally disgraceful,” while Turkish officials accused Israel of demonstrating a “violent and barbaric mindset.”\n\nIn the aftermath of the raid, Israeli authorities detained more than 430 activists before deporting nearly all of them by Thursday, with only one Israeli citizen held. Multiple released activists have since come forward with detailed allegations of severe abuse, including torture and sexual assault, while in Israeli custody.\n\nItalian journalist Alessandro Mantovani, one of the deported activists, described his experience to reporters at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport: “We were taken to Ben Gurion airport in handcuffs and with chains on our feet and put on a flight to Athens.” He added that Israeli soldiers “beat us up… They kicked us and punched us and shouted ‘Welcome to Israel’.”\n\nMiriam Azem, a representative of the Israeli human rights organization Adalah, reported that one detainee “was forced to strip naked and run while guards were laughing.” Another female activist described being bound so tightly with handcuffs that she lost feeling in her hands, and recalled that Israeli soldiers “laughed all the time. Super sadistic. They took off my shirt, took pictures. Mistreated us all night long.”\n\nDr. Margaret Connolly, sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly and one of the detained activists, drew a sharp parallel while speaking to Ireland’s RTE Radio, saying the experience gave activists “a feeling of what the Jews felt like during the Second World War,” and that Israel was “now acting like a Nazi state.”