The Rome Prosecutor’s Office, in the context of the Flotilla affair, has entered the Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir into the register of suspects, who last May addressed derisive words towards the activists while they were kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs in the port of Ashdod. For the targeting of activists – including Italians – by the Israeli authorities, an investigation file has been open for a few weeks in Piazzale Clodio in which the crimes of torture and kidnapping are also hypothesized.
Other investigative files are already open on previous Flotilla missions. The latest was initiated after the complaints received following the boarding by the Israeli authorities against the boats that left Sicily on April 26th and stopped on the night of April 29th in international waters near the island of Crete. Another proceeding was opened after last October Italian activists and parliamentarians who were on board the ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla were stopped near the coast of Gaza by Israeli forces and then repatriated. In that context, the magistrates had asked the Ministry of Justice to forward a letter rogatory to Israel requesting information on the procedures used and the chain of command that managed the arrests.