Political motivations behind the viral video

This is the Guardian If you're looking for something predictable and low friction over the long term, public markets may be a suitable option The moment you want different investment characteristics, it may be time to consider the private markets. See how your wealth can work smarter at creativeplanning d. com slash access Rubber bullets were used against them during the interception, tasers were used, they were held in stress positions. videoide is shocking in and of itself, but it's also what it says about the Israeli political spectrum at the moment. Why is Israel so afraid of these small boats? What's interesting is that Bengovir is not concerned about what the rest of the world would think about this. The far right Israeli Minister Imar Ben Gavir has sparked diplomatic outrage after sharing footage of security forces abusing detained flatilla activists who are trying to deliver aid into Gaza From the Guardians Today and Focus, this is the latest with me Gucy Hart. Well're join me from Jerusalem is our Chief Middle East C correspondent Em Graham Harrison, Emma. Thankk you so much for joining us. We're speaking in the wake of the release of this video by National Security Minister of Israel Itmar Bengevir the detention of a number of international activists who were traveling or attempting to travel to Gaza on a massive flatilla that were taken onto Israeli shores and are very publicly submitted to this terrible treatment. It is a horrifying watch. What can we see in the video about the treatment of these detainees? So it opens with an activist who's shouting free free Palestine being sort of forced down by Israeli security forces then it's a sort of series of clips. we see dozens of activists who are kneeling with their hands bound behind their back with zip ties and their foreheads to the floor in rows. There's so many of them they're laid out in rows. Bengavvir is walking past them. he's smiling, At one point he waves the Israeli flag and says something like, we are the owners sort of referring to the land. And he sort of mocks them. He says, you came here as heroes, look at you now as they're there being humiliated on camera. So it continues in that vein. And then at the end There's footage of Venggevir shouting very sort of into the face of another man who has his hands bound. he's not bent over, he's sitting up but he shouts at him, I'm Israel Chai, which means the people of Israel live. I mean, it is an unbelievably incendary thing to release, presumably by design to appeal domestically to Bengoavir's far right audience, which will come to, but there has been huge international condemnation of this given that The fllatilla was carrying people of forty different nationalities. so there's been condemnation from Almost all of the governments with nationals on board, including the UK, Italy, New Zealand Do you think Ben Gaveere was expecting this level of international condemnation So you know you rightly said he's sort of doing it to appeal to his own base. and I think that's one of the things that's shocking. the video is shocking in and of itself, but it's also what it says about Israeli political spectrum at the moment that you know a prominent politician is releasing something that's provoked pretty universal outrage among countries who number some of Israel's very staunch allies in Europe, we had Germany. And in America, we had the American ammbassador Hakaby, who's been really close to Israel. And yet in the domestic Israeli political context Bengavir sees this video, this mistreatment As an advantage. And you after he was criticized publicly by the Prime Minister and the foreign Minister of Israel, he doubled down on his video and in response to a post on by the foreign minister, he sort of quote tweeted him and said something like the foreign minister should realize that Israel's not going to be pushed around anymore. That's a paraphrase, but something completely defiant, abbsolutely. He didn't even just leave it there. He sort of came back at his domestic critics And what was the criticism of Netanyahu? Is it unusual for Netanyahu to put out a statement the Israeli Prime Minister criticising a member of his own cabinet? becausecause there is obviously this far right section of his cabinet that includes Bengavir. It's a coalition government, so byy its very nature, all Israel's governments since it was founded have been Kalitionian governments. you're going to be making a political pack with parties who see things differently from you. So there's an aspect of navigating that. Netnanyyah, who's said nothing about previous behaviour by Bengavir, which has drawn international condemnation, not on this scale, but you know he's got a record of making videos like this humiliating and mocking Palestinian detainees while they're being abused But you know, for him to come out with this very public statement and so rapidly, yes, that is unusual. and I think reflects the scale of international disgust and opprobrium at this video One of the things that Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, was calling for was that the detainees be sent back to their home countries. It sounds like that is now happening and that people have been released and are being sent home. What do we know about the circumstances of the way the conditions in which they've been held in the last few days There's over four hundred of them. They left Turkey a week ago in these boats, they sailed towards Israel. They were intercepted in international waters, which had already drawn condemnations. South Korea had already questioned the legality of this decision to inter setcept them in international waters. they were then brought to Israel. They were always going to be deported Netanyah who's call for them to be deported wasn't in itself a new thing. He was basically saying they need to be taken out of Israeli custody as a way to end this mistreatment And you know, that video outrageous as it was was followed up by perhaps even more disturbing reports from lawyers who'd been to visit the detainees. They said they had not been able to speak to all of them because of severe restrictions on access, but they did speak to hundreds of them. They said that three had been hospitalized because of extreme violence. They were subsequently released from hospital. and they said dozens of people were reporting injuries that they believed to be broken ribs which were causing breathing difficulties. They did not have doctors with them. These were just the lawyers. but they also reported a range of violence, Rubber bullets were used against them, during the interception, tasers were used, they were held in stress positions. And they also reported sexual humiliation And some of the women said that they'd had their hijabs ripped off by Israeli security forces. And the legal center, the NGO whose lawyers are representing them atdah said that this represented a new pattern of abuse against international activists not new in terms of what Palestinians have been subjected to in Israeli prisons and detention centers, but new in that level of violence and mistreatment of foreigners arrested on these fertillas. because there have been several of them. Yeah, I was going to say, Emma, this isn't the first flatilla, is it that we've known about? Perhaps the most high profile one was the one on which Greta Tunberg, the activist was travelling amongst a number of other international activists. They are always intercepted by Israeli forces. But the reason those flatillas are tralling is to attempt to deliver aid to Gaza where the situation remains extremely dire in the seven months since the so called ceasefire. There's an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe. There's nominalally a ceasefire in place. That came into force in October. Hundreds of people have been killed by Israeli attacks since then. Hunger is still widespread. there are high levels of malnutrition, there's shortages of medical supplies. There's a lack really serious lack of access to clean water and sanitation, which exacerbates all the other problems. Doctors describe a revolving door of people coming to hospitals with intestinal problems, they're cured, dischargeed, go back to places where they can't find clean water and are back again everything that you could possibly need, food, water, medicines is in short supply. So really the situation is horrific. and I think it's worth when you consider these forert tillers, of course the amount of aid that they're going to take in or attempting to take in would be symbolic when you look at the scale of the needs in Gaza where there's over two million people. as a form of activism and protest to remind the world that Gaza is cut off, that its people are still suffering an extreme level of deprivation It's actually very effective. And there was a really interesting article in the Israeli newewspaper Hart this morning saying, whyy is Israel so afraid of these small boats? And this article made the point that the Israeli government isn't afraid of large amounts of aid reaching Gaza. There's not even large amounts of aid on the ship. What they're concerned about really is that these activists draw the attention of the world back to a humanitarian catastrophe that They would be happy to see slide slide out of the headlines and, you know pererhaps many of their allies as well mean that is horrifying Emma. And it sounds like from what you're saying, it is something that the Israeli government want to keep out of the headlines at a time when The world is looking elsewhere, but who is Ben Gavir speaking to here, is this a domestic audience? becausecause there are elections coming up in Israel aren't there later this year. Sounds like as per you're reporting there elections that are being brought forward, but is this about provoking a reaction amongst far right base and is this something that they would support and agree with? That is one of the very disturbing things about this video that, you know, what has horrified people around the world will be received with enthusiasm by some of the voters who Ben Gavir is trying to appeal to, or at least that's his view of it. He's made celebrating the abuse and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners often on camera, a sort of trademark. He goes to prisons and then know these videos have come out, not always released by him. He's reopened, for instance, an underground prison where prisoners never see daylight. starvation is widespread. And you know this is happening in a culture of sort of widespread dehumanization of Palestinians. And what' shocked some people is not the abuse or the mistreatment because much more serious abuse is now systemic in Israeli prisons, which the rights group at Sellam says should now be considered torture camps, Israeli prisons and detention centres What's interesting is that Bengavir is not concerned about what the rest of the world would think about this and not concerned about targeting foreign citizens who have, in many cases, quite powerful governments, who are now trying to stand up for their rights behind them. It's almost like they've been dehumanized by association with this broader dehumanisation of Palestinians Extremely disturbing Emma, than you so much Thank you, Lucy That's it for today. My huge thanks again to Ema Graham Harrison, our Chief Middle East correspondent You can keep up with all of her reporting over at theguardian. com Thanks foristening to this episode of The the latest. Today andm fooccused will be back in your feeds as usual tomorrow morning, The latest we willll be back tomorr. This episode was presented by me, Lucy Harf. It was produced by Brianing Moore, and the senior producer was Ryan Ram Goben H Kiright. I'm Karr Sherman. and we are here to tell you about our new show, which is rooted in this feeling that at least I have, I know you have where you know, it's kind of like when you wake up in the morning Pick up your phone And you're just hit in the face with a fire hose of news, right? Like There's war, there's authoritarianism, ourur planet is burnting. I could go on and on and on and on and on. but like we're trying to figure out how to manage it, right? Like how do you manage it I manage it by leaning in and trying to learn more and trying to figure out, okay, how can I be smarter about this particular topic? And who can I talk to that's going to make me feel better about it can tell me who's responsible for the messs that I'm reading about. 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