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Eleven Australians were among pro-Palestine activists detained by Israel from the Global Sumud flotilla. Follow today’s news live

Plibersek says behaviour by Ben-Gvir ‘disgraceful’ as Greens call for stronger federal response

Tanya Plibersek, the minister for social services, said the behaviour by Itamar Ben-Gvir was “shameful” and “disgraceful”.

I think it was absolutely disgraceful behaviour and I’m very pleased to say that the foreign minister has said that in the strongest terms to the Israeli government. Our Australian ambassador in Israel has made the position of the Australian government very clear that this behaviour is acceptable, completely unacceptable.

That is abhorrent treatment of people by a senior figure in the Israeli government. People are being degraded. They’re having their human rights abused. It is effectively a form of torture. And the simple fact is that Israel is now a rogue state. They’re kidnapping people, including Australian citizens, from international waters on the high seas. It’s basically an act of piracy …

I mean, this demands the strongest possible response from our prime minister and our foreign minister. A far, far stronger response than they’ve delivered to date.

And as she said to me – the beatings were not bad compared to what happened to men of colour that she saw, and she heard the screams.

She said she was kneed in the face.

She was punched in the ribs.

She was dragged across the outdoor area.

The psychological torture she had was being in a stress position for many hours.

They were sprayed with water and were subject to hypothermic conditions overnight, because it was very cold in the containers.

So no, I absolutely reject that.

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