A growing number of EU members are calling for Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to be sanctioned for his treatment of flotilla activists detained while attempting to break the country’s naval blockade of Gaza, Politico reports.

The far-right Israeli minister came under fire Wednesday after posting a video on X appearing to taunt flotilla activists while they were being forced to kneel with their hands tied behind their backs. “Welcome to Israel,” Ben-Gvir said in the footage, triggering condemnation across several European capitals. “We’re the landlords.”

In Poland, Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski asked that Ben-Gvir be banned from entering the country. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the video “showed why it is important that we sanction these extremist ministers.”

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X that he had asked EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to put the adoption of sanctions on the agenda of the next meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers. He accused Ben-Gvir of committing “unacceptable acts” and of subjecting the activists to “harassment and humiliation, in violation of the most basic human rights.”

But Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka on Wednesday vowed to block sanctions on Israeli government ministers, with Prague insisting it will not support “any more trade sanctions” against Israel—even if it has to stand alone.

Two anonymous EU officials told Politico that the sanctions could be politicized by Ben-Gvir himself ahead of Israel’s October elections. They said the minister was seeking just such a reaction with his video because it was a pre-election move.

Source: https://news.am/en/news/1037452