They forced us to keep our heads down, our knees on the ground, on hard surfaces or in dirty water. They stuffed us into unventilated containers for hours at a time. They literally flooded our sleeping space with seawater in the middle of the night. They physically beat anyone who did not immediately follow their directions. On 18 and 19 May, Israel illegally intercepted dozens of boats in international waters and detained 430 passengers. They included doctors, nurses, engineers, lawyers, economists, teachers and journalists from more than forty countries, who were trying to take humanitarian aid to Gaza. They were released on 21 May and described what they had undergone to their colleagues in organisations such as Doctors against Genocide . For those who claim that the immense popularity in Israel of the security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, rests on ignorance of what he is or what he represents , he couldn’t be more spectacular or more explicit than he has been in recent days.…