The Italians of the Global Sumud Flotilla have now returned home. In their words the story of the violence suffered after the arrest by Israel (here the testimonies) and which the whole world saw, at least in part, due to the video released by the Israeli minister Ben Gvir. Their repatriation does not end the controversy. Now the game is split into two parts: there is an investigation into the violence and there is the political part. The Meloni government, through Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, asked for European sanctions but only against Ben Gvir. A move that the opposition brands as weak. The request for sanctions, however, arises with a flaw: without the unanimous agreement of the entire EU it is an idea dead in the bud.
The position of Italy
For Minister Tajani, Ben Gvir has “crossed the red line” with “unacceptable acts committed against the Flotilla, taking activists in international waters and subjecting them to harassment and humiliation, violating the most basic human rights”. Tajani has announced that he will ask the EU for sanctions against the Israeli minister.
So far, Italy, together with Germany, has said “no” to generalized sanctions against Israel by Brussels. The request made now therefore marks a change of pace, even if partial precisely because it does not concern Israel as a whole but only one of its ministers. It is not certain, Tajani further clarified, “that it is the last proposal of the Italian government, after the summoning of the Israeli ambassador to the Farnesina, we have now decided to intervene in Brussels”.
The issue could already be addressed at community level next week at the foreign ministerial scheduled in Cyprus (informal though, therefore a context in which decisions cannot be taken). It’s too early to say how it will end. Sanctions against Ben Gvir alone would not be impossible from a technical point of view. But there must be unanimity among the 27 members of the EU and this is no small limit. Suffice it to say that so far the same request to act against Ben Gvir has been made only by the Spanish prime minister.
El Anouni, spokesperson for the European Commission, called the treatment of the activists “degrading and wrong”, and the conduct of Minister Ben-Gvir “unworthy of anyone holding office in a democracy”. However, he recalled that unanimity is required for such sanctions and that discussions on the matter at the moment “are confidential and entirely in the hands of the member states”.
“It’s not enough”
The government’s reaction, however, is not sufficient for the opposition, which has not yet formalized the request to the government to report to the Chamber. Ben Gvir, also pointed out by the 5 Star Movement, “is not an isolated case”, as the group leader in the Chamber Riccardo Ricciardi says, or “a crazy ultras”, as the vice-president of the Movement Vittoria Baldino ironically says, but “a minister of Netanyahu”, who is therefore also responsible. While Avs also asks the executive to make public the letter of suspension of the Italy-Israel memorandum.