TEHRAN — Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev has boasted about the mistreatment of activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla detained by Israel, saying that “prison is the place for terrorism supporters”.

These remarks are disgusting and indescribably insulting. What Regev and co-thinkers say or act is a blow to human wisdom and conscience. 

Is anybody who, out of his or her compassionate feelings, bears the difficult task of a maritime journey to Gaza from very long distances to show sympathy toward the besieged people of Gaza and symbolically bring a certain amount of humanitarian aid, a “terrorist”!!!

Contrary to what Regev claims, anybody who mistreats these philanthropists and designates them as terrorists must be held accountable for his or her callous behavior or acts. 

These activists’ hearts are full of empathy for more than two million people who have been subjected to the most heinous crimes since October 7, 2023. This is not a matter to be attributed to religion. It is just a matter of humanity.

Regev, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, posted a video from Ashdod port in southern Israel showing the arrival of a ship carrying dozens of detained flotilla activists under the title: “This is what will be done to terrorism supporters who came to break the blockade on Gaza.”

But imprisoning more than two million people in a tiny land and subjecting them to different types of inhumane behavior, ranging from massacring, starving, and depriving them of health services, are viewed as malicious and terrorist acts. 

In fact, these activists are human rights defenders that the world should be proud of.

For example, it is comical to call Margaret Connolly, the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly, one among 12 Irish citizens detained by Israel, a terrorist supporter.   She is a physician who probably feels more obligated toward the sufferings of the Gaza people. 

If, as Regev claims, anybody who seeks to break the Gaza deadlock is a terrorist supporter, then Swedish citizen Greta Thunberg, the world’s most prominent environmental and human rights activist, is also a terrorist supporter and should be kept in prison.

Israeli officials are biased and reckless to the extent that they don’t know what meaning their words carry. A great majority of people around the world sympathize with the downtrodden Palestinians, especially those in Gaza. This sense of sympathy toward Palestinians is supported by different opinion polls in various countries over the years. Based on the remarks of Regev, it should be concluded that all those people who back the Palestinians are supporters of terrorism as well.

Based on this filthy statement by the Israeli transport minister, all the countries, even European backers of Israel, who on different occasions have voted for the restoration of the basic rights of Palestinians and pushed for the formation of an independent Palestinian state in the UN, are backers of terrorism. Also, it should be concluded from Regev’s statement that only Israel and the U.S. stand for human rights and fight against terrorism. 

Regev claimed the activists had come “trying to harm Israel’s sovereignty and break the naval blockade on Gaza”.

Is any effort to defy the siege on Gazans really a breach of Israeli “sovereignty”? 

In fact, current Israeli officials—including Regev, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, National Security Minister Ben Gvir, as well as Netanyahu and other ultra-extremist Zionist leaders in the past—who have created severe hardships for Palestinians and denied them the right to a state as recognized by UN Security Council resolutions, are sponsors of terrorism and must be held accountable for their actions in international tribunals.

Israel not only has aborted all plans to allow Palestinians to have their own land or country, but it is also continuing to squeeze more than two million people in the tiny strip of Gaza based on the Yellow Line. Similarly, it is driving Palestinian from their homes and farms in the West Bank and Jerusalem by using different ploys.

“Prison is the place for supporters of terrorism, and of course, we will send them back to their home countries,” Regev said.

If the transport minister is correct, then these “supporters of terrorism” must be kept in jail and penalized for backing terrorism and should not be sent to their homelands.

The mad minister tramples human dignity

On Wednesday, a video published by Ben-Gvir showed scenes related to the mistreatment of Global Sumud Flotilla activists, who were depicted kneeling with their hands bound and foreheads to the ground, after being detained while attempting to sail towards the Gaza Strip. At the same time, Ben-Gvir, while taunting the detained activists, was waving an Israeli flag.

The video by Ben-Gvir, captioned "That's how we welcome the terrorism supporters. Welcome to Israel," shows the activists on the deck of a military boat while the Israeli national anthem plays. 

The scene of inhuman treatment even drew backlash from those Western countries, which were or may still be facilitating Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. 

"It is intolerable that these protesters, among whom there are many Italian citizens, are subjected to this treatment, which violates human dignity," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said in a statement.

Also, Steffen Seibert, Germany's ambassador to Israel, labelled Ben Gvir's treatment of detained activists as "wholly unacceptable and incompatible with the basic values of our countries."

Of course, Ambassador Seibert must be reminded that his country was the second enabler of Israel in its brutality against Gazans since October 2023, coming just after the United States.