Italy and Spain have called on the European Union to impose sanctions against Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir over what both governments have described as “unacceptable” treatment of detained activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.
Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani has formally asked EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to put the matter on the agenda of the bloc’s foreign ministers, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said he will push Brussels to elevate national-level sanctions to the European scale “on an urgent basis”.
Both requests have followed a video published by Ben-Gvir on Wednesday in which dozens of activists are seen forced to kneel on the ground, with their hands tied, at an Ashdod port facility in southern Israel. The footage shows the minister waving an Israeli flag and walking among the detainees while the Israeli national anthem plays over loudspeakers.
In a post on X, Tajani said he had requested sanctions “for the unacceptable acts committed against the flotilla, seizing the activists in international waters and subjecting them to harassment and humiliation, in violation of the most basic human rights”.
Sánchez, who announced the Spanish push yesterday, has said: “We will not tolerate anyone mistreating our citizens.” The prime minister recalled that Spain banned Ben-Gvir from its territory in September and added that Madrid would now work to have European sanctions imposed “on an urgent basis”.
The activists had been aboard a humanitarian flotilla intercepted by the Israeli navy in international waters earlier this week as it sought to deliver aid to Gaza.
The publication has triggered condemnation across Europe and rare public criticism within Israel itself. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Ben-Gvir’s conduct was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms” and has instructed authorities to deport the detained activists as soon as possible. Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar addressed the minister directly on X: “You are not the face of Israel.”
Italy, France and Spain have all summoned Israeli envoys over the treatment of their nationals. The United Kingdom, Poland, New Zealand and Australia have done the same. Ireland’s deputy prime minister Simon Harris has called for a “strong, unambiguous EU response”, while European Council President António Costa said he was appalled by the minister’s behaviour and demanded the immediate release of those detained.
Despite mounting pressure, EU-level action against Ben-Gvir has been repeatedly blocked. Several member states, including Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, have moved unilaterally to ban Ben-Gvir and Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich from their territories. Outside the EU, the UK, Norway, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have issued similar bans.
A separate European Commission proposal to suspend preferential trade tariffs with Israel requires a qualified majority among member states and currently faces opposition from Italy and Germany. EU foreign ministers have so far agreed only to impose sanctions on a small number of Israeli settlers accused of harassing Palestinians, none of whom has yet been named.
