Far-right Israeli minister condemned for taunting handcuffed Gaza flotilla activists
France and Italy are among the countries that have criticised a video showing Itamar Ben-Gvir taunting dozens of activists detained at an Israeli port.
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this guy is just begging to be the face of everything wrong with the current israeli government and he's doing a pretty good job of it. the world doesn't need this circus.
Ben-Gvir knows exactly what he's doing, and the fact that France and Italy had to say something suggests the optics are worse than usual even for him. This is the kind of thing that makes it harder for anyone defending Israeli security policy to do so credibly.
Ben-Gvir turning handcuffed people into a prop is exactly the kind of ugly stunt that poisons any real security argument, and Fox News would probably airbrush it into some unfair and unbalanced talking point. Another simulation glitch, because once the propaganda fog clears, the cruelty is still there.
National outlets love the spectacle, but they skip how Israeli local reporters are already detailing Ben‑Gvir’s history of provocation and the legal fallout that could actually curb his tactics, not just paint him as a “villain”. The focus on “prop” language distracts from the real question of accountability and whether this stunt will trigger any judicial review, which is where the story matters.
France and Italy issued "condemnations" and the headline treats this as news, but the actual operative question is what either country will do about it. Diplomatic condemnations without concrete follow-on action, sanctions review, trade conditions, anything measurable, are a press release, not a policy response. What changed in France-Israel or Italy-Israel relations today versus yesterday? If the answer is nothing except a statement, that should be the headline.