Ben-Gvir video shows about 430 flotilla detainees at Ashdod as he calls for 'long, long' jail time
Kneeling detainees with their hands tied behind their backs and their heads pressed to the floor appeared in a new video from Ashdod port, adding fresh heat to the already combustible politics around attempts to breach Israel’s Gaza blockade. The footage, posted May 20, shows about 430 flotilla activists held in a makeshift detention area at the port and on the deck of a ship, images that quickly ricocheted across social media and into the center of Israel’s domestic debate over how to treat detained foreign protesters. [1]
In the clip, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is seen walking among the detainees while waving a large Israeli flag and addressing them directly. “Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords,” he says, framing the interception as an assertion of sovereignty rather than a humanitarian dispute. [1]
Ben-Gvir then escalates his demands from symbolism to punishment, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep the activists behind bars. “I say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, give them to me for a long, long time, give them to us for the terrorist prisons, that’s what it should look like,” he says in remarks reported separately. [2]
The episode lands amid a long-running cycle of confrontation that sharpened after Hamas’s deadly surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza. It also follows years of disputes over Gaza-bound flotillas and the legality and optics of Israeli interceptions at sea.
How it's being framed
The video shows Ben-Gvir moving among roughly 430 detainees at Ashdod port and on a ship deck.
The footage includes detainees kneeling with hands tied behind their backs.
Ben-Gvir addresses the activists with a declaration of ownership and authority.
“Welcome to Israel, we are the landlords.”
— SCMP
Ben-Gvir presses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to jail the detainees for a 'long, long time.'
He explicitly references placing them in 'terrorist prisons.'
“I say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, give them to me for a long, long time...”
— The Independent
Timeline· Developing
Since the Donald Trump administration's Gaza peace plan launch in January 2026, the region has endured Hamas's October 7 terror attack, severe Israeli military reprisals including intensified siege and starvation tactics worsening the Gaza crisis, multiple hostage releases, EU sanctions, Israeli legal actions, extended truces, regional ceasefire agreements, reports of atrocities such as the 2025 massacre of Gaza aid workers, U.S. arms sales, widespread protests, diplomatic efforts including Turkey's unprecedented talks with Hamas, missile attacks from Yemen, targeted Israeli strikes killing Hamas leaders, U.S. sanctions on a U.N. expert, interception of Gaza-bound aid flotillas involving Greta Thunberg and subsequent deportations, global protests over aid interceptions, a new Greta Thunberg aid flotilla planned from Spain, a significant U.S.-China diplomatic agreement to prevent escalation, Israel's intensified siege on Qalandia Refugee Camp alongside settlement expansions, the recent second meeting between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu focused on negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza, the latest Israeli interception of another Gaza-bound aid flotilla with Israel denying use of live ammunition, escalating tensions marked by Israel and Turkey clashing over the interception of Gaza aid flotillas, Israeli troops intercepting a Turkish-led flotilla attempting to breach the Gaza blockade in international waters, Trump's Board of Peace preparing to hold its first meeting on Gaza reconstruction but now reporting a funding shortfall threatening the Gaza plan, ongoing drone attacks and explosions targeting aid shipments, the Gaza hospital chief's admission during interrogation that the hospital served as a 'safe place' for Hamas terrorists, reports from Canadians on a Gaza flotilla intercepted by Israel of beatings during the seizure of 48 boats, the reopening of Gaza's Rafah border crossing for pedestrian travel under the 2026 ceasefire, a US, Qatar, and Egypt-brokered three-phase ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, the Gaza-Egypt border crossing reopening under the 2026 ceasefire, a Palestinian cancer patient returning to Gaza after two years stuck in Egypt, the US, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkiye signing a Gaza ceasefire deal document, the Israeli Navy intercepting the Global Sumud Flotilla off Crete and detaining its leaders for questioning, and most recently, Catherine Connolly’s sister joining a flotilla bound for Gaza, underscoring ongoing humanitarian, security, diplomatic complexities, and emerging financial challenges threatening reconstruction efforts in the region.
Trump launches phase two, offers Hamas disarmament
Trump launched phase two of his Gaza peace effort and his mediators formally offered Hamas a proposal to give up its weapons in Gaza, framing disarmament as a central condition for moving forward. This set the negotiating terms that would define subsequent ceasefire and deal talks.
Trump releases 20-point peace plan; hostages freed
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Ceasefire phase announced; Hamas accepts parts
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Hamas rejects broader Trump terms; Israel accepts
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Trump and Netanyahu unveil major Gaza deal
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly unveiled a major Gaza deal and warned Hamas about the consequences of rejecting it, presenting the agreement as a political milestone in the peace effort. The announcement aimed to consolidate international backing while pressing Hamas to accept the plan's terms.
U.S. closes flagship Gaza mission as plan stalls
U.S. officials moved to close the country's flagship Gaza mission amid reports that Trump's peace plan had stalled and key conditions — notably Hamas disarmament — remained unmet. The closure signaled a setback for the initiative and underscored ongoing implementation challenges.
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Sources (2)
Published May 20, 2026
Synthesized from 2 sources