By Alexandra Sharp
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at an Israeli minister’s treatment of detained foreign activists, joint Russian-Belarusian nuclear drills, and Pakistan sending one of its top mediators to Iran.
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Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir is seen at the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem on May 20.Amir Levy/Getty Images
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ignited widespread outrage this week when he posted a video to social media showing himself taunting detained activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The incident sparked rare condemnation from within Israel and prompted several foreign governments to demand punitive measures.
Earlier this week, the Israeli Navy intercepted more than 40 aid-carrying vessels bound for Gaza. The Israeli Foreign Ministry accused the Global Sumud Flotilla of being a publicity stunt that aims to “serve Hamas” and said that seizing the vessels was necessary to uphold Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, which has been in place since 2007.
The seizures alone triggered heavy condemnation, with foreign leaders arguing that Israel has no jurisdiction in international waters; the Global Sumud Flotilla was in the eastern Mediterranean Sea (roughly 250 nautical miles from Gaza) when it was apprehended. But Ben-Gvir’s actions on Wednesday spurred further outrage, with even some of Israel’s closest allies expressing shock at his behavior.
In the video, detained activists are seen kneeling on the floor with their hands tied and their foreheads pressed to the ground. Ben-Gvir stands above them, waving an Israeli flag and taunting the individuals, shouting, “Welcome to Israel! We are the landlords!” He later wrote on X, “This is how we welcome terror supporters.”
Since then, several people on the flotilla have detailed their treatment by Israeli soldiers. “They kicked me in the legs and punched me in the face,” said Alessandro Mantovani, an Italian journalist who was one of the roughly 430 people detained. A spokesperson for Israel’s prison service denied these allegations as “false and entirely without factual basis.”
Following the video’s release, Belgium, Canada, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom—all of which had citizens among the flotilla’s participants—summoned their respective Israeli ambassadors and top diplomats.
“The images of Israeli Minister Ben Gvir are unacceptable,” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X. “It is impermissible for these protesters, including many Italian citizens, to be subjected to this treatment, which violates human dignity.”
Several other nations, from Germany to Turkey to Indonesia, issued strong condemnation of how the activists were treated. Among the most notable critiques was from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Despite being a staunch pro-Israel ally, Huckabee called Ben-Gvir’s actions “despicable,” adding that the “flotilla was [a] stupid stunt, but Ben Gvir betrayed dignity of his nation.”
Some foreign officials are also demanding that Ben-Gvir and the Israeli government be punished for the incident. “At the very least, this must include the banning of products from Israeli settlements and the suspension of parts if not all of the EU’s Association Agreement with Israel,” Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin wrote in a letter to European Council President António Costa.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said that Warsaw would seek to bar the minister from entering the country, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called on the European Union to sanction Ben-Gvir for “seizing the activists in international waters and subjecting them to harassment and humiliation, in violation of the most basic human rights.”
Anger over the video has become a domestic concern in Israel as well. In a rare denouncement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “the way that Minister Ben Gvir dealt with the flotilla activists is not in line with Israel’s values and norms,” though he said that Israel has every right to prevent flotillas from entering its territorial waters. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused Ben-Gvir of deliberately causing damage to the state, writing, “No, you are not the face of Israel.”
Ben-Gvir, though, does not appear to be remorseful. “There are those in the government who still haven’t figured out how to behave toward supporters of terrorism,” he wrote on X on Wednesday in response to Saar’s post. “Anyone who comes to our territory to support terrorism and identify with Hamas will get slapped, and we won’t turn the other cheek.”
Massive nuclear drills. Russia delivered nuclear munitions to field storage facilities in Belarus on Thursday as part of one of Moscow’s biggest nuclear drills in years. The three-day exercise aimed to train some 64,000 personnel in “the preparation and use of nuclear forces in the event of aggression.” Among the weaponry displayed during the drills was a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, an anti-submarine aircraft, and hypersonic and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Belarusian forces also received training in special munitions for the mobile Iskander-M tactical missile system.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the use of nuclear weapons as a “last resort,” many analysts see the drills—as well as repeated Russian drone incursions into Europe—as a thinly veiled threat to NATO members. Russia has previously used Belarus to launch attacks on Ukraine, and experts suspect that Moscow could be planning a new offensive that targets Kyiv.
NATO chief Mark Rutte told reporters on Wednesday that the alliance was monitoring the exercises, which concluded on Thursday, and he warned that the use of nuclear weapons on Ukraine would be “devastating.” Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed on Thursday that Ukrainian drones had damaged another Russian oil refinery more than 500 miles from the two countries’ shared border.
More diplomacy, more threats. Pakistan sent one of its top mediators, army chief Asim Munir, to Tehran on Thursday to advance negotiations to end the Iran war. The visit aimed to reduce gaps between the U.S. and Iranian peace proposals to reach a point of “officially announcing acceptance of the memorandum of understanding,” according to Iranian media. The details of the deal remain in contention but would likely include curbs on Iran’s nuclear program and the restoration of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
At the same time, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed on Thursday to strengthen the country’s military in the face of White House threats to restart active fighting if U.S. President Donald Trump does not receive what he considers to be the “right answers” from Tehran. Iran’s army is “fully prepared to provide a decisive, regrettable response” to any new attack, Pezeshkian’s office said.
These warnings have concerned mediators, who worry that the lack of a streamlined communication process is hampering negotiations. “Trump’s patience running thin is a concern, but we’re working on the pace at which messages are relayed from each side,” one source familiar with the talks told Reuters.
Castro indicted. A U.S. federal grand jury indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro on Wednesday on charges of murder and conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens in the fatal downing of two humanitarian planes in 1996. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, and they raise the possibility that U.S. troops could try to forcibly remove Castro from the country to be brought to trial in the United States.
The Trump administration has made no effort to conceal its desire for regime change in Cuba. Since the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, the White House has repeatedly threatened to carry out similar actions against the Cuban regime. Trump, however, stopped short on Wednesday of explicitly saying whether this week’s indictment would be used as justification to remove the 94-year-old Castro, who stepped down as president in 2018 but remains an influential figure in Havana’s politics.
Cuba condemned the charges and accused the United States of acting hypocritically, citing the U.S. military’s strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the region. “It is highly cynical for this accusation to be made by the very same government that has murdered nearly 200 people and destroyed 57 vessels in international waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific, far from United States territory, through the disproportionate use of military force,” the Cuban government wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
A record number of climbers summited Mount Everest in a single day on Wednesday. Approaching from the mountain’s Nepali side, 274 individuals made the ascent, exceeding the previous single-day record of 223 climbers set in 2019. But the athletic achievement was not without controversy. Experts have criticized Nepal for allowing large groups to scale the peak, which can lead to dangerous traffic jams or long lines in the so-called death zone. Kathmandu has sought to regulate this influx by introducing tighter controls and larger fees; a permit to climb Mount Everest costs about $15,000.
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