This screen grab taken from footage released on Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s X account on May 20, 2026 shows dozens of detained activists from the Gaza-bound aid flotilla kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs and their foreheads on the ground on the deck of a military boat in Israel.
Lior Soroka
A woman shouts “Free, free Palestine” before an Israeli security officer grabs her head and forces her to the ground. The camera pans over to the smiling face of Israel’s security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
In a video he posted to X on Wednesday, Ben-Gvir, clearly in his element, waves an Israeli flag and offers taunts as rows of detained international activists - participants in an aid flotilla meant to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza - receive rough treatment at the hands of Israeli forces. The detainees are arrayed face down, hands bound, as the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, plays from speakers.
The footage, filmed at Israel’s Port of Ashdod, drew quick and loud condemnation, internationally and in Israel.
