Israel’s arrogance is becoming the evidence in the case against it

On Wednesday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video showing Israeli security officers abusing Sumud flotilla activists who were attempting to break Israel’s siege of Gaza.

In the footage, Ben-Gvir is heard taunting activists, who are forced to kneel with their foreheads to the floor and their hands tied behind their backs. At one point, a female activist who tried to speak up was grabbed by the back of the neck and forced violently to the ground.

Disturbing as it is, the video will not surprise anyone who has followed Israel’s treatment of either Palestinian detainees or foreign activists and aid workers.

The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published, in August 2024, “Welcome to Hell”, a comprehensive report on the abuse of Palestinian detainees “as a matter of [state] policy”. According to B’Tselem, Palestinians held without charge are routinely subjected to sexual abuse, beatings, attack dogs, sleep deprivation and humiliation.

Earlier this month, veteran New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof published a detailed account of Israeli abuses, including allegations that dogs are used to sexually abuse Palestinian detainees.

These reports follow an August 2024 video leak showing Israeli officers gang-raping a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention facility, as well as a 2024 United Nations Special Commission report, which found that sexual abuse had become part of Israel’s “standard operating procedures”.

Israeli soldiers and officers have also targeted foreign nationals. Activists, journalists, aid workers, medics and humanitarian personnel have routinely been killed, attacked or abused without consequence.

In 2003, 23-year-old American activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home.

In May 2010, Israeli commandos intercepted a Gaza-bound flotilla in international waters and killed nine activists on board the Mavi Marmara. Autopsies found that the victims had been shot at close range.