The Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis has condemned Itamar Ben-Gvir after the Israeli security minister appeared in a video mocking Gaza flotilla activists.
In a post on X, Mirvis said: “I have rarely seen the Jewish world so united in revulsion than in its response to this shameful display.
"Such conduct is the very antithesis of our core Jewish values and an awful Chillul Hashem.”
The UK government, as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, also criticised Ben-Gvir over the video.
The far-right minister was filmed mocking pro-Palestine activists who had been detained in Israel following their arrival on a flotilla aimed for Gaza.
In the clip, one woman whose hands were tied was shoved to the floor by a security guard.
In another section of the video, a group of detainees can be seen restrained on the floor with their hands tied behind their back while Ben-Gvir waves an Israeli flag next to them. In another frame of the video, he was seen shouting “Am Yisrael Chai” at a detainee.
The Foreign Office summoned Israel’s most senior representative to the United Kingdom, Chargé d’Affaires Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, to voice its condemnation of the video.
The Foreign Office said the move “reflects the UK’s strong condemnation of his conduct in taunting those involved in the Global Sumud Flotilla. This behaviour violates the most basic standards of respect and dignity for people.
“We are also deeply concerned by the detention conditions depicted and have demanded an explanation from the Israeli authorities. We made clear their obligations to protect the rights of all those involved.”
On Wednesday, Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary said she was “truly appalled” by the video in which Ben-Gvir was seen “taunting those involved in the Global Sumud Flotilla”.
“This violates the most basic standards of respect and dignity in the way people should be treated. We are in touch with the families of a number of British nationals involved to provide them with consular support. We have demanded an explanation from the Israeli authorities and made clear their obligations to protect the rights of our citizens and all those involved”, she said in a post on X.
The Israeli opposition attacked Netanyahu for inviting the Otzma Yehudit (“Jewish Might”) party leader to join his coalition.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid said in a post on X that Ben-Gvir’s actions were the PR-equivalent of a “terror attack” on the state of Israel but blamed the prime minister for bringing “a convicted criminal into the government”.
The Democrats Party leader Yair Golan accused Ben Gvir of being a “criminal and a strategic liability to the State of Israel.
“While Israel is fighting for its security and its standing in the world, Ben Gvir is producing another election video, another provocation, another embarrassment—and crushing Israel from within.”
Ben-Gvir, a far-right former supporter of the now-banned Kach movement – led by Rabbi Meir Kahane – is already sanctioned by the British government for his support of “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the West Bank.
Netanyahu’s coalition partner has previously been convicted of incitement to racism, and support for a terrorist organisation.
An Israeli Embassy spokesman said: “The video published by Minister Ben-Gvir was publicly condemned across Israel’s political leadership, including by President Herzog, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Sa’ar, and does not represent the policy of the Government of Israel.”
The spokesman added the flotilla was “lawfully intercepted under international law” also saying: “This was not a humanitarian mission, but a propaganda stunt designed to challenge the Israeli Navy and serve Hamas’s interests.”
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