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Washington, DC – US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has become the first President Donald Trump to join criticism around the world Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s right-wing minister of national security.
But after several countries summoned Israeli ambassadors after Ben-Gvir posted a video mocking foreign fighters who had been kidnapped from an aid group heading to Gaza, Huckabee’s response was futile, coming on the day the US Treasury Department approved the flotilla’s organizers.
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This was the latest event that showed that the US and Israel, the Palestinians and their supporters, and that showed that the US and Israel are very different from each other.
“We see a big difference between the US and other Western countries…
Huckabee made the comments on Wednesday after Italy, France, the Netherlands and Canada subpoenaed Israeli ambassadors over Ben-Gvir’s video, which showed the attackers kneeling on the ground with their hands tied, and in some cases being pushed to the ground.
Ben-Gvir is seen waving an Israeli flag, shouting and pointing at the detainees.
In a post on X, Huckabee also referred to Israeli officials who criticized Ben-Gvir for the video, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar.
Huckabee also spoke of “international outrage from all Israeli officials”, writing Netanyahu, Saar, the office of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter.
“The flotilla was stupid, but Ben Gvir gave his country credit,” Huckabee wrote.
Liberals have been around for a long time Israel’s brutal documentation against Palestinian prisoners and their foreign supporters, including to be arrested flotilla activists. Israeli officials have dismissed such reports.
Critics question whether criticism of Netanyahu’s administration, which has fueled far-right activists like Ben-Gvir, was motivated by the violence or Ben-Gvir’s decision to post it online.
“I believe that they are focusing on the aspect of human cooperation,” Omer-Man told Al Jazeera, “everything related to the international community…
Annelle Sheline, a researcher at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said Ben-Gvir’s actions should not be seen as a distraction, but as part of a reflection of US policy that has long encouraged impunity and strengthened Israel’s right.
“Israel knows that as long as it has the unconditional support of the US, it will not face any real consequences,” Sheline told Al Jazeera.
One-sided sanctions
Former US President Joe Biden’s administration ruled that Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich could expire in 2024, despite calling on US lawmakers to do so.
In a letter written that year, about 80 members of Congress said that Mr. Ben-Gvir was involved in “inciting violence against Palestinian civilians, encouraging the construction of illegal settlements, and prohibiting the imposition of violence against people” in the Palestinian territories.
This includes using his position “to prevent the police from protecting people’s journeys to Gaza, allowing refugees to attack and stopping aid”.
Shortly after taking office, the Trump administration lifted US sanctions against Israel’s violent accomplices. Soon, managers were given punishments For several Palestinian organizations and rights groups to support the investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Israeli authorities.
The government has also imposed sanctions and travel restrictions on ICC prosecutors and Palestinian Authority officials.
The latest round of US sanctions targeted the four organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which aims to break the siege of Gaza, provide aid and show solidarity with the Palestinian people. Two of the organizers were from the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), and the other two were from the Palestinian prisoners’ union group Samidoun.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the activists were part of a “pro-terror flotilla”, saying that humanitarian work “is supporting Hamas”.
Organizers rejected the statement, while Samidoun criticized the sanctions against the flotilla activists and Palestinian organizations as “aiding and abetting genocide”.
DAWN’s Omer-Man said the latest sanctions also confirm that the Trump administration is “accepting (Israel’s) contradictions – that attempts to end the blockade are not allowed in any other way – in the face”.
“I think we can say that the United States, legally, will not criticize Israel under the Trump administration,” he said.
The Quincy Institute’s Sheline said that some of the criticism of the Trump administration, including Huckabee in November of last year., writing organized violence as “terrorism”, means little against the billions of dollars in military aid that Washington continues to provide to Israel.
“Idle hands … are worthless in terms of billions of dollars a year,” he said.
