[Salon] Israeli officials decry Ben-Gvir, invoke 'values' amid daily massacres

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/israeli-officials-decry-ben-gvir--invoke--values--amid-daily

5/22/26

Israeli officials decry Ben-Gvir, invoke 'values' amid daily massacres

The public humiliation of pro-Palestine activists detained aboard the
Gaza-bound flotilla has triggered a widening diplomatic crisis for
"Israel", exposing the hypocrisy of Israeli leaders invoking "values"
and "norms" while overseeing the devastation of Gaza and continuing
military assaults across the region.

The controversy erupted after Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir released
a video showing detained flotilla activists kneeling with their hands
bound following the interception of aid vessels in international
waters. The footage drew international condemnation, with European
governments and rights groups accusing Israeli authorities of
degrading and humiliating civilians attempting to challenge the
blockade imposed on Gaza.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the treatment of
activists as "intolerable'', while Spain summoned the Israeli chargé
d’affaires and accused Israeli authorities of violating international
law. Britain, France, Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, and Greece also
condemned the treatment of detainees, with several governments
demanding apologies, investigations, or sanctions against Ben-Gvir
himself, and even summoning ambassadors and so on.

The flotilla operation reportedly involved the interception of more
than 50 boats carrying over 400 activists from dozens of countries
seeking to deliver aid and protest the siege on Gaza.

According to Israeli authorities, around 430 activists were
transferred to Israeli ports following the interception. Israeli
officials later said most detainees had either been deported or
released pending deportation proceedings amid mounting international
backlash, while rights groups reported allegations of physical abuse
and degrading treatment during detention.

Image management

The backlash additionally triggered rare public criticism from within
the Israeli leadership itself, not because of the abuse inflicted on
activists, but over fears that Ben-Gvir’s conduct was further damaging
"Israel’s" international image at a moment of mounting diplomatic
isolation and growing accusations of war crimes.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attempted to distance himself from
his own minister’s conduct, claiming the treatment of detainees
contradicted "Israeli values and norms."

“The way minister Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in
line with Israel's values and norms. I have instructed the relevant
authorities to deport the provocateurs (activists) as soon as
possible,” Netanyahu said.

The remarks came as Netanyahu himself remains the subject of an
International Criminal Court arrest warrant tied to war crimes and
crimes against humanity committed during the Gaza genocide.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar likewise condemned Ben-Gvir’s
conduct, accusing him of inflicting diplomatic damage on the Israeli
regime.

“You knowingly caused harm to our State in this disgraceful display
and not for the first time. You have undone tremendous, professional,
and successful efforts made by so many people from IDF soldiers to
Foreign Ministry staff and many others. No, you are not the face of
Israel,” Sa’ar wrote on X.

The myth of 'moderate Israel'

The timing of the condemnations drew particular attention as "Israel"
moves closer to elections amid mounting domestic and international
pressure on Netanyahu’s government, fueling perceptions that
distancing the broader Israeli leadership from Ben-Gvir had become
politically necessary ahead of a highly contested electoral period.

Analysts noted that figures such as Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett
previously built coalitions aimed at removing Netanyahu from power
while presenting themselves internationally as more "pragmatic" or
"moderate" alternatives to the Israeli far right.

Their governments and political alliances were frequently portrayed
abroad as more "centrist, institutionally stable, and diplomatically
acceptable" than openly inflammatory figures such as Itamar Ben-Gvir,
particularly through softer rhetoric, closer engagement with European
governments, and efforts to project a more liberal or democratic image
internationally.

Yet despite differences in rhetoric and international branding, the
Israeli political establishment continues to support the broader
structures of occupation, siege policies, and settlement expansion
imposed on Palestinians.

Netanyahu’s public distancing from Ben-Gvir therefore appeared to
reflect less a rejection of the underlying policies themselves than
growing concern that the minister’s overtly inflammatory rhetoric and
internationally damaging conduct were becoming a diplomatic and
electoral liability ahead of elections.

Israeli 'norms' and 'values'

Although framed as a defense of “Israeli values and norms,”
Netanyahu’s remarks exposed what is viewed as the central
contradiction of Israeli leaders invoking “morality” and “human
dignity” in response to the humiliation of foreign activists while
continuing to oversee the destruction of Gaza, repeated attacks on
Lebanon, the displacement of Palestinians, and a blockade that has
fueled catastrophic humanitarian conditions.

Since the start of the Israeli aggression across the region, Gaza has
witnessed mass civilian killings, the destruction of entire
residential districts, repeated displacement campaigns, starvation
conditions, and the collapse of much of its healthcare system. Israeli
strikes have also killed more than 3,000 people in Lebanon, thousands
more in Iran during the recent US-Israeli war, and hundreds of
civilians in Yemen.

Documented atrocities

In a landmark report published in December 2024, Amnesty International
concluded that "Israel", led by the government of Netanyahu himself,
had committed and was continuing to commit genocide against
Palestinians in Gaza, citing mass killings, starvation, forced
displacement, the obstruction of humanitarian aid, and the widespread
destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, and civilian infrastructure.

The organization stated that Israeli actions had created “conditions
of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction,” while
accusing Israeli authorities of deliberately restricting access to
food, water, fuel, medicine, and humanitarian assistance during the
assault on Gaza.

Human Rights Watch has also documented Israeli use of white phosphorus
in Gaza and Lebanon, warning that its deployment in densely populated
civilian areas places residents at risk of severe burns, respiratory
injuries, and long-term harm. The organization verified multiple white
phosphorus strikes over Gaza City and municipalities in southern
Lebanon, arguing that such attacks violate international humanitarian
law because of their indiscriminate effects on civilians.

United Nations satellite analysis and humanitarian assessments have
meanwhile documented the scale of destruction across Gaza, with vast
portions of residential neighborhoods, refugee camps, hospitals,
universities, agricultural lands, and water infrastructure either
damaged or destroyed during the war.

The same goes for Lebanon.

Aid organizations and UN agencies have repeatedly warned that the
blockade and repeated displacement orders imposed on Gaza’s population
contributed to famine-like conditions, the collapse of much of the
healthcare system, and the forced displacement of the overwhelming
majority of the enclave’s residents.

Silenced prison suffering

The international backlash over the treatment of flotilla activists
also renewed attention to the conditions faced by thousands of
Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons, many of whom rights
groups say have long endured systematic abuse, administrative
detention without trial, medical neglect, marks of torture, rape,
starvation, and degrading treatment with far less international
scrutiny.

Palestinian rights organizations and international monitors have
repeatedly documented reports of beatings, prolonged isolation, denial
of medical care, and abuse inside Israeli detention facilities,
particularly following the outbreak of the war on Gaza. For many
observers, the swift diplomatic outrage over the humiliation of
foreign activists stood in sharp contrast to the comparatively muted
international response to the conditions endured by Palestinian
detainees for years under Israeli detention policies.

Selective European morality

The controversy unfolded amid growing European debate over sanctions
targeting Israeli settlers, far-right ministers, and aspects of
"Israel’s" relationship with the European Union. Earlier this month,
EU foreign ministers approved sanctions against whom they called
violent settlers and settler-linked groups accused of attacks on
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including asset freezes and
travel bans.

Public discussion surrounding sanctions against Israeli ministers
Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich has already intensified earlier
this year following mounting international criticism over settlement
expansion, incitement against Palestinians, and Israeli legislation
advancing the execution law for Palestinian detainees.

In March 2026, the European Union formally condemned the Israeli
parliament’s approval of the death penalty law, describing it as a
“grave regression” and warning of its discriminatory character toward
Palestinians. Human rights organizations and European advocacy groups
subsequently called for punitive measures and sanctions against
Israeli officials linked to the legislation.

Reports later indicated that Ben-Gvir and Smotrich were ultimately
droppedfrom an initial EU sanctions proposal during negotiations among
member states aimed at securing broader political backing for measures
targeting violent settlers and settler-linked groups.

Shielding Israeli establishment

For many, the episode exposed the contradiction at the center of the
European approach: publicly condemning the most openly inflammatory
Israeli figures while continuing to preserve military, economic, and
diplomatic ties with the broader Israeli political and military
establishment overseeing the destruction of Gaza and the continued
dispossession of Palestinians.

Critics argue that European governments increasingly frame figures
such as Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, and violent settlers as exceptional
deviations from an otherwise legitimate or “moderate” Israeli
political order, while the core policies of collective punishment and
settlement expansion remain deeply embedded across much of the Israeli
political spectrum and continue under governments routinely presented
internationally as centrist or liberal.

The condemnations of Ben-Gvir by Israeli officials likewise did not
reveal a genuine divide between moderation and extremism inside the
Israeli leadership, but rather disagreements over international image
management while the broader policies of occupation, settlement
expansion, and military violence remain deeply entrenched across the
Israeli political spectrum.

The pressure surrounding Ben-Gvir and Smotrich intensified further in
May after Israeli media reports indicated that the International
Criminal Court was considering additional arrest warrants targeting
senior Israeli political and military officials over war crimes
committed during the war on Gaza. Reports suggested the potential
warrants could include figures such as Ben-Gvir, Smotrich, and Israeli
War Minister Israel Katz, deepening concerns inside the Israeli
leadership over mounting international legal isolation.

Amid the reports, Smotrich announced plans to proceed with the
forcible displacement of the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan
al-Ahmar in the occupied West Bank, a move rights groups have long
warned would constitute a violation of international law.

Economic complicity

The controversy has also renewed scrutiny of the EU-"Israel"
Association Agreement, which grants "Israel" preferential access to
European markets and extensive economic cooperation with the bloc.
Article 2 of the agreement states that relations between the two sides
must be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles.

Countries including Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia have increasingly
pushed for reviewing or suspending aspects of the agreement over the
war on Gaza, settlement expansion, and worsening humanitarian
conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories. Ireland is also
preparing legislation restricting trade with Israeli settlements amid
growing pressure inside Europe to translate criticism of Israeli
policies into concrete economic measures.

Yet despite mounting accusations of war crimes, the European Union has
largely maintained normal economic relations with "Israel".

Sanitized barbarity

For many observers, the flotilla controversy ultimately exposed more
than the conduct of one far-right minister. It revealed a broader
effort by both Israeli and Western political actors to isolate the
most openly inflammatory figures from the wider structures of
occupation and violence that continue regardless of which coalition or
political faction holds power in "Israel".

In that sense, Ben-Gvir’s conduct became politically problematic not
because it fundamentally diverged from the broader trajectory of
Israeli policy, but because its overt brutality and inflammatory
nature increasingly risked stripping away the language of “democracy,”
“moderation,” and “shared values” long used by both the Israeli
leadership and its Western allies to preserve the international
legitimacy of the broader Israeli establishment despite the continuing
devastation inflicted on Palestinians and the wider region.