Aysu Bicer
20 May 2026•Update: 20 May 2026
The Slovenian foreign minister on Wednesday strongly criticized the treatment of activists on board the Global Sumud Flotilla, describing it as “appalling, shocking and utterly unacceptable.”
In a post on the US social media company X, Tanja Fajon said no country should be “welcoming people with torture," adding that the "humiliating behaviour" by Israel’s National Security Minister and Premier Netanyahu's coalition partner Itamar Ben-Gvir and Israeli authorities towards participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla has “no place in a democratic society.”
The top diplomat's statement came after Ben-Gvir posted a video with the caption, 'Welcome to Israel,' showing detained activists, abducted by Israeli forces in international waters, being zip-tied and forced to kneel.
The Global Sumud humanitarian aid flotilla said Tuesday that all 50 vessels in its aid convoy had been seized by Israel. Together, they were carrying 428 people from 44 countries after departing from Marmaris, Türkiye, in a new attempt to break the illegal Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007.
