I was Canada’s ambassador to Israel. Its reaction to the flotilla is undermining its own case -- Jon Allen, former Canadian ambassador to Israel
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Sid Shniad
May 25, 2026, 6:48:16 PM (5 days ago) May 25
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Toronto Star May 23, 2026
I was Canada’s ambassador to Israel. Its reaction to the flotilla is undermining its own case
Activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla disembark a plane
Activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla disembark a plane
upon arriving at Istanbul Airport, in Istanbul, Turkey,
Thursday, May 21, 2026. AP Photo/Emrah Gurel
By Jon Allen, Contributor
Jon Allen is the former Canadian ambassador to Israel and a Senior Fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History.
I was Canada’s ambassador to Israel when the first major flotilla of protestors tried to reach Gaza following a different Israel-Hamas war in 2009. It was 2010 and Israeli Turkish relations were at their apex.
A few months later, a flotilla of some 400 foreign nationals on various boats headed to Gaza in an effort to breach Israel’s Gaza blockade. The largest vessel was the Turkish-flagged Marvi Marmara. When Israeli naval commandos tried to board the ship, they encountered push back. Inquiries subsequently found a kitchen knife, metal rods and other similar objects that had been used by the protestors. Ten protestors were killed, most of them Turkish, and Israeli-Turkish relations went into a nosedive from which they have never recovered.
Flash forward to this week and the latest flotilla incident when Israeli forces prevented 68 protest vessels from reaching Gaza’s shores. They arrested approximately 430 activists from some 40 different countries. This time, the Israeli forces used only rubber bullets but nonetheless still violated international law by arresting these protesters in international waters.
In the normal course, this incident, like many recent protests against Israeli actions in Gaza, the West Bank, and now the war in Lebanon, would have received only minimal media coverage. However, in this case, Israel’s far right Minister of Public Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a man previously convicted 12 times in Israel before running for elected office, chose to visit the detention centre where the protesters were being held and to video himself there. Waving an Israeli flag, he berated the protestors who were on their knees with their hands zip-tied behind their backs or were being dragged across the floor by masked Israeli officials. Two protesters ended up in hospital, others were assaulted and tasered. All have now been deported.
The video and the treatment of the protesters provoked justifiable outrage by the leaders of the many countries whose nationals were detained. Most, like Canada, have called in their respective Israeli ambassadors and are no doubt protesting in Israel. In a social media post, Prime Minister Carney called Ben Gvir’s actions “abominable”. To note, both Ben-Gvir and his far right counterpart, Bezalel Smotrich have been sanctioned by Canada and prohibited from travelling here.
Israel’s prime minister, foreign minister and president have all condemned Ben Gvir suggesting that his behaviour was contrary to Israeli values and did not reflect the views of the government. Ben-Gvir pushed back and suggested that his critics were “bowing to the terrorists”.
This incident follows closely on another recent controversy involving competing narratives over allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in an op-ed by the New York Time’s Nicolas Kristof, on the one hand, and an Israeli commission of inquiry report that found multiple incidents of rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas militants against Israeli hostages on and after Oct. 7, 2023.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Bezalel Smotrich added to the country’s woes when he ordered the expulsion (ethnic cleansing by another name) of a Palestinian village of 700 people. He claimed that it was in response to a decision by the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for him.
These events are unfortunately consistent with a pattern of activity whereby the Israeli government is also facilitating increasing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and large-scale settlement expansion there, both of which are contrary to international and, in many cases, Israeli law.
This has been a disastrous few days for a country that claims to be a liberal democracy which shares Western values. Unfortunately, actions like these belie that claim.
By Jon Allen, Contributor
Jon Allen is the former Canadian ambassador to Israel and a Senior Fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History.
I was Canada’s ambassador to Israel when the first major flotilla of protestors tried to reach Gaza following a different Israel-Hamas war in 2009. It was 2010 and Israeli Turkish relations were at their apex.
A few months later, a flotilla of some 400 foreign nationals on various boats headed to Gaza in an effort to breach Israel’s Gaza blockade. The largest vessel was the Turkish-flagged Marvi Marmara. When Israeli naval commandos tried to board the ship, they encountered push back. Inquiries subsequently found a kitchen knife, metal rods and other similar objects that had been used by the protestors. Ten protestors were killed, most of them Turkish, and Israeli-Turkish relations went into a nosedive from which they have never recovered.
Flash forward to this week and the latest flotilla incident when Israeli forces prevented 68 protest vessels from reaching Gaza’s shores. They arrested approximately 430 activists from some 40 different countries. This time, the Israeli forces used only rubber bullets but nonetheless still violated international law by arresting these protesters in international waters.
In the normal course, this incident, like many recent protests against Israeli actions in Gaza, the West Bank, and now the war in Lebanon, would have received only minimal media coverage. However, in this case, Israel’s far right Minister of Public Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a man previously convicted 12 times in Israel before running for elected office, chose to visit the detention centre where the protesters were being held and to video himself there. Waving an Israeli flag, he berated the protestors who were on their knees with their hands zip-tied behind their backs or were being dragged across the floor by masked Israeli officials. Two protesters ended up in hospital, others were assaulted and tasered. All have now been deported.
The video and the treatment of the protesters provoked justifiable outrage by the leaders of the many countries whose nationals were detained. Most, like Canada, have called in their respective Israeli ambassadors and are no doubt protesting in Israel. In a social media post, Prime Minister Carney called Ben Gvir’s actions “abominable”. To note, both Ben-Gvir and his far right counterpart, Bezalel Smotrich have been sanctioned by Canada and prohibited from travelling here.
Israel’s prime minister, foreign minister and president have all condemned Ben Gvir suggesting that his behaviour was contrary to Israeli values and did not reflect the views of the government. Ben-Gvir pushed back and suggested that his critics were “bowing to the terrorists”.
This incident follows closely on another recent controversy involving competing narratives over allegations of abuse of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in an op-ed by the New York Time’s Nicolas Kristof, on the one hand, and an Israeli commission of inquiry report that found multiple incidents of rape and sexual violence committed by Hamas militants against Israeli hostages on and after Oct. 7, 2023.
Meanwhile, the aforementioned Bezalel Smotrich added to the country’s woes when he ordered the expulsion (ethnic cleansing by another name) of a Palestinian village of 700 people. He claimed that it was in response to a decision by the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for him.
These events are unfortunately consistent with a pattern of activity whereby the Israeli government is also facilitating increasing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and large-scale settlement expansion there, both of which are contrary to international and, in many cases, Israeli law.
This has been a disastrous few days for a country that claims to be a liberal democracy which shares Western values. Unfortunately, actions like these belie that claim.
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