Italy's Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, requested this Thursday that the European Union study the imposition of sanctions against Israel's National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, following the "kidnapping" and "vexations" suffered by activists of a humanitarian flotilla intercepted by Israel while heading to deliver aid to Gaza.
In a message disseminated on social media, Tajani explained that he has asked the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Kaja Kallas, to include in the agenda of the bloc's foreign ministers the option of sanctioning Ben Gvir, after the strong controversy generated by the video in which he is seen reprimanding and humiliating the members of the latest flotilla.
The head of Italian diplomacy maintains that restrictive measures should be adopted against Ben Gvir for "the unacceptable acts committed against the flotilla," emphasizing that its members were "kidnapped in international waters" and subsequently subjected to "vexations and humiliations" while remaining under police custody. In Tajani's opinion, all of this "violates the most elementary Human Rights."
Rome's initiative is added to that of Spain, whose Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, announced this Wednesday that he will propose to the EU sanctions against the National Security Minister for his "unacceptable" images "humiliating the members of the international flotilla."
"We are going to push in Brussels for these sanctions to be urgently raised to a European scale," Sánchez stated, also recalling that Ben Gvir has been banned from entering Spanish territory since September.
The video of the ultra minister, in which he appears with an Israeli flag while walking among international activists handcuffed and kneeling in the port of Ashdod, where they were taken by the Israeli Navy, has provoked a wave of criticism both outside and inside the country. Several government members have distanced themselves from the recording and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself has disavowed Ben Gvir.
The images show dozens of activists on their knees with their heads pressed to the ground, surrounded by armed officers, while the Israeli anthem plays through loudspeakers. The transfer of several of them, handcuffed and with their heads bowed, is also seen, which has intensified international condemnation.