Iran's Executive has branded as "deeply shocking" this Thursday the scenes from the video released the previous day by Israel's Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, in which dozens of activists from the last intercepted flotilla are seen being humiliated. Tehran maintains that these images are a direct consequence of the "complicit silence" and "institutionalized inaction" of Western countries in the face of Israeli policies.
"The real danger extends far beyond certain behaviors of an official of the Israeli regime. The deeper problem lies in the complicit silence, passive acceptance, and institutionalized inaction in the face of occupation, 'apartheid,' and genocide," stated the spokesman for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Esmaeil Baqaei, in a social media post.
The Foreign Ministry representative pointed out that this Western tolerance towards Israel's actions against the Palestinian population has given these types of behaviors "an appearance of normality" and brings to mind "darker echoes of history," in which "a regime" protected "for a long time" and without accountability ends up seeing "itself as exceptional, untouchable, and above the law."
"In the 1930s, Europe consoled itself with the illusion that it could remain silent, and safe, in the face of the systematic degradation of human dignity, International Law, and the most basic moral principles, without ever paying a price. History taught a brutal lesson; normalizing illegality and atrocity never remains confined to its original target," he explained, in what appears to be a parallel with the silence in the face of Nazi Germany's crimes.
"If the West continues to widen the gap between its proclaimed core values and its actual conduct, it will once again have to learn the hard lesson of history: endless impunity does not moderate illegality, it normalizes atrocity and emboldens its perpetrators," the Iranian spokesman remarked.
In parallel, several European governments have reacted in a chain, summoning the ambassadors of Israel accredited in their capitals, before whom they have expressed their rejection of what happened and have demanded dignified treatment for those arrested, as well as the immediate release of their citizens.
Ben Gvir disseminated a video in which he appears waving an Israeli flag and walking among handcuffed and kneeling international activists at the port of Ashdod, where they were taken by the Israeli Navy. "This is how we receive those who support terrorism. Welcome to Israel," said the ultra minister, in a staging that has provoked criticism even within his own government and from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.