\n<\/p>\n
A video posted by Israel\u2019s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in which he is seen taunting abducted flotilla activists who sought to break the siege on Gaza, has triggered a backlash and dealt a huge blow to Israel\u2019s multimillion-dollar public relations campaign, known as \u201cHasbara\u201d.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The footage, posted on the social media platform X, showed Ben-Gvir gloating as activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla knelt on the floor, blindfolded, with their hands bound at the Port of Ashdod.<\/p>\n Israeli naval forces had intercepted the flotilla\u2019s vessels in international waters off the coast of Cyprus, illegally abducting 430 participants. Among them, at least 87 have launched a hunger strike in solidarity with the more than 9,500 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.<\/p>\n The images of activists being dragged across the floor prompted several countries<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 including Italy, France, the Netherlands, Canada, and Spain \u2013 to summon Israeli ambassadors, condemning the \u201cunacceptable\u201d treatment and violation of human dignity.<\/p>\n Experts argue that the frantic damage control by Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who ordered the rapid deportation of the activists, stems not from moral outrage over the abuses, but from the catastrophic damage done to Israel\u2019s global image.<\/p>\n For decades, Israel has relied on \u201cHasbara\u201d \u2013 a Hebrew term translating to \u201cexplanation\u201d \u2013 a propaganda campaign to justify its policies and military actions against Palestinians to the international community.<\/p>\n Fathi Nimer, a Palestine policy fellow at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network, told Al Jazeera that Hasbara is essentially state propaganda designed to \u201cbeautify the image of the occupation\u201d by tailoring specific narratives to different global audiences.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fundamental assumption of Hasbara is that Israel is always right, but the world simply doesn\u2019t understand,\u201d Nimer said. He noted that due to Israel\u2019s deepening isolation following its war on Gaza, the state\u2019s Hasbara budget is projected to leap from roughly $15m in 2023 to an unprecedented $700m by 2026.<\/p>\n Yet, Ben-Gvir\u2019s brazen video dismantled this heavily funded narrative in an instant.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Israeli leadership is treating this as a public relations crisis, not a moral one,\u201d Nimer explained. \u201cFor Netanyahu, the sin was not the torture or humiliation of the activists; the sin was broadcasting it to the world. Ben-Gvir, however, does not care about Israel\u2019s external image; he performs these abuses for his domestic right-wing base, confident that Israel will face no material consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n Mtanes Shehadeh, an academic and expert on Israeli affairs, echoed this assessment. \u201cThe core problem for Israel is that this video transmitted its true reality to the entire world,\u201d he told Al Jazeera. \u201cIt provided the globe with live, irrefutable evidence that structural violence and a disregard for human rights are foundational to the current Israeli establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n The diplomatic fallout also laid bare the glaring contradictions in United States policy.<\/p>\n Following the video\u2019s release, US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee criticised<\/a> Ben-Gvir, stating the minister had \u201cbetrayed the dignity of his nation\u201d. However, critics were quick to point out that Huckabee\u2019s condemnation rang hollow, as it focused entirely on the indignity of the broadcast rather than the human rights violations committed.<\/p>\n Furthermore, Huckabee\u2019s remarks came just a day after the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions<\/a> on four organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla, labelling the humanitarian mission a \u201cpro-terror flotilla\u201d in support of the Palestinian group Hamas. The US sanctions targeted activists from the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad and the Palestinian prisoners\u2019 solidarity network, Samidoun.<\/p>\n Analysts highlight this as a stark double standard. While the US administration quickly moved to sanction humanitarian flotilla organisers, Palestinian civil society groups and International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors, it has consistently shielded far-right Israeli ministers like Ben-Gvir from accountability, even lifting prior sanctions on violent Israeli settlers.<\/p>\n For Palestinians, the humiliation endured by the European and international activists is merely a glimpse into a much darker, systemic reality.<\/p>\n Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, said the bound and blindfolded activists represent a \u201cmicrocosm\u201d of what Palestinian prisoners endure daily.<\/p>\n \u201cThis scene expresses the fascism of the entire Israeli government, not just Ben-Gvir,\u201d Barghouti said. \u201cIf the government genuinely opposed these practices, they would have fired him immediately. Instead, their audacity has reached the point of pirating ships in international waters.\u201d<\/p>\n Human rights groups estimate that nearly 100 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, amid widespread reports of starvation, severe beatings and medical neglect.<\/p>\n Luisa Morgantini, former vice president of the European Parliament, said the standard diplomatic response of summoning ambassadors is woefully inadequate.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a shame how our governments have behaved. They are complicit,\u201d Morgantini said, calling on European nations to suspend their association agreements with Israel, halt arms sales, and actively back the ICC\u2019s arrest warrants against Israeli leaders.<\/p>\n Despite the military interceptions and the US sanctions, activists and analysts agree that the flotilla campaigns, which began in 2009 in response to Israeli land, sea and air blockades, have succeeded in exposing the limits of Israeli force.<\/p>\n Nimer cited the American psychologist Abraham Maslow: \u201cIf the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the only way the Israeli military knows how to act \u2013 through brute force and piracy,\u201d Nimer said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe role of Hasbara was to rationalise this brutality for global consumption. But as the flotillas continue to challenge the blockade, they accumulate small victories and deeply accelerate Israel\u2019s popular global isolation, proving that the multimillion-dollar propaganda machine can no longer hide the reality on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A video posted by Israel\u2019s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in which he is seen taunting abducted flotilla activists<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":87799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aktualitet"],"aioseo_notices":[],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-300x225.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-768x576.jpg","large":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-1024x768.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-1536x1152.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-16x12.jpg","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-392x272.jpg","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-390x205.jpg","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-130x90.jpg","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-800x445.jpg","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-150x150.jpg","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-1400x600.jpg","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-1155x480.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-600x417.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-285x450.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/bisedoshqip.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/13116742-1750325281-575x198.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"Ioni","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4de7d1024908d847fc21ef50fe01465508cd6bac2b59b1c21485c2342bf8bf44?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"A video posted by Israel\u2019s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, in which he is seen taunting abducted flotilla 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Stories <\/h2>\n
The collapse of the \u2018Hasbara\u2019 illusion<\/h2>\n
US double standards and \u2018pro-terror\u2019 sanctions<\/h2>\n
A microcosm of Palestinian suffering<\/h2>\n
The \u2018hammer\u2019 and the flotillas<\/h2>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"