{"id":865,"date":"2026-05-20T18:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/05\/20\/italy-demands-answers-from-israel-over-treatment-of-flotilla-activists\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T18:45:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T18:45:20","slug":"italy-demands-answers-from-israel-over-treatment-of-flotilla-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=865","title":{"rendered":"Italy demands answers from Israel over treatment of flotilla activists"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Italian prime minister has condemned as \u201cunacceptable\u201d the footage in which Itamar Ben-Gvir taunts activists<\/strong><\/p>\n

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has summoned Israel\u2019s ambassador in Rome after condemning the treatment of pro-Palestinian activists detained during Israel\u2019s interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.<\/p>\n

In a sharply worded statement on Wednesday, Meloni described footage showing Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting the detainees as \u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is inadmissible that these demonstrators, including many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment that violates human dignity,\u201d<\/em> she wrote.<\/p>\n

While Meloni was among Israel\u2019s strongest EU supporters after the October 2023 Hamas attacks, she has become increasingly critical of its actions in Gaza, describing the humanitarian situation as \u201cunacceptable\u201d<\/em> and warning that Israel has gone beyond \u201cthe principle of proportionality.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Israeli ambassador will be asked to provide \u201cformal clarifications,\u201d<\/em> while Rome demands the immediate release of Italian citizens arrested by Israel, according to the statement. Meloni also demanded an apology over the treatment of the demonstrators and \u201cfor the total contempt shown toward the explicit requests of the Italian Government.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The diplomatic row erupted after Israeli forces intercepted a convoy of vessels that departed from T\u00fcrkiye carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza. Around 430 activists from more than 40 countries were detained, some for days.<\/p>\n

Ben-Gvir posted a video on X on Wednesday showing detainees kneeling with their hands bound. In the footage, the far-right minister appears to mock the activists while urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow them to remain imprisoned \u201cfor a long, long time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Netanyahu later sought to distance himself from the incident, saying Ben-Gvir\u2019s conduct toward the activists \u201cis not consistent with the values and norms of the State of Israel.\u201d<\/em> Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Ben Gvir \u201ccaused harm\u201d<\/em> to Israel with his \u201cdisgraceful display.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Israeli officials defended the interception, describing the flotilla as a \u201cPR stunt at the service of Hamas.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n READ MORE: <\/span>Israeli MPs cheer death penalty for Palestinians accused of terrorism (VIDEO)
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The incident comes amid reports of rising settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Human rights groups have warned of growing lawlessness and impunity, accusing the Israeli authorities of enabling attacks by failing to prosecute perpetrators.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Italian prime minister has condemned as \u201cunacceptable\u201d the footage in which Itamar Ben-Gvir taunts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}