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‘Kind of humiliating’: trans community responds to EHRC’s new code of practice

Stephen Whittle was visiting the Chelsea flower show as a birthday treat with his wife on Thursday afternoon. At around the same time, the updated code of practice from the Equality and Human Rights Commission was published. It confirmed, among myriad updates, that single-sex spaces such as toilets and changing rooms must be used on the basis of biological sex, and that transgender people may not access those that accord with their lived gender. Among the floral displays, 70-year-old Whittle did not stray from habit. “Of course I used the male facilities, as I have done for the last 50 years. Can you imagine what the guy on security would have said if I’d gone to the ladies?” Whittle, who spearheaded the campaign for gender recognition across the UK in the 1990s, has witnessed the significant advances, both legal and social, in the intervening years, and on Friday his focus was “trying to calm people down and say: ‘Stay cool; we’ll get through this’”. For many in the trans and wider LGBTQ+ community, as well as those running businesses and services, there has been a sense of limbo since the supreme court ruling on biological sex in April 2025, as they looked to the equalities watchdog to provide practical guidance on how to implement the judgment. For gender-critical groups who have campaigned specifically for the exclusion of trans women from women-only services, yesterday’s updated code was welcomed as a consolidation of last year’s court victory. But for others it prompted more questions, and for some, the guidance confirmed their worst fears. “Just watching the evening news was kind of humiliating,” says Blake, a data analyst based near Liverpool. “Having this frame of ‘where are people going to pee?’ It’s such a reduction of the problems we have in our lives, like access to healthcare, and also a real day-to-day struggle.” While still examining the 340-page code on Friday morning, Katie Russell, the chief executive and co-founder of Support After Rape and Sexual Violence Leeds, says neither it nor the court ruling have been “super-clear” on how to remain trans inclusive. But since April last year, her service has taken bespoke legal advice and consulted with service users, and is making changes to governing documents. “In practical terms, we understand we have lost the right to call ourselves women-only, and we’re gradually changing our language to make it clear we are still women-centred but for us that includes trans women. We want to operate within the law but continue to model our intersectional feminist values,” she said. Russell emphasises that trans women and non-binary clients make up a tiny percentage of the 1,700 individuals SARSVL supported last year, mainly through one-to-one work in person, online or through the helpline. “For us that’s absolutely a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim – because where else would they have to go?” Many businesses contacted by the Guardian said they wanted more time to examine the detail of the updates. But the cosmetics brand Lush, which has been consistently pro-inclusion, said the guidance was “a significant setback for human rights in the UK”. The brand’s campaign lead, Andrew Butler, said: “It puts frontline service providers, retail workers and many others in the position of policing people’s gender based on perception, with their organisations’ liability on the line for their judgment. The guidance is a mess because the legislation is a mess. Government needs to legislate to fix equalities law and include trans voices to do so equitably.” Kate Nicholls, the chair of UKHospitality – and representing a sector that has expressed concern about the logistics of toilet provision and its capacity to remain trans inclusive – was cautiously optimistic. “The shift to make clear that gender-neutral toilets and facilities are acceptable is a particularly positive step,” she said. Alice, an anaesthetist working in England, says she has been coordinating with similarly affected colleagues since April last year, to ensure that the hospital she works in has gender-neutral facilities “at strategic intervals”. “But the building I work in is very old and limited in what facilities it can offer,” she said. Alice, who also needs to change clothes at work, can find herself at some distance from a toilet she is allowed to use and facing the choice of leaving her patient for an extended period, which she would never do, or dehydrating herself. Like many transgender individuals the Guardian has interviewed in recent years, Alice is making plans to move out of the UK. “It’s been made abundantly clear that I’m not welcome. I love my job and my family have a happy life here, but I will not be a second-class citizen in my own country.”

US concerned Russian campaign against Baltics could ‘spark into something bigger’, says Rubio – as it happened

Marco Rubio: Trump ‘disappointment’ with Nato will be discussed at summit

Donald Trump is disappointed that Nato allies refused to become more actively involved in attacking Iran, the US secretary of state has said, setting up what could become a fraught summit of the alliance in July. Marco Rubio, meeting with foreign ministers of the military alliance, emphasised that he expected the rift would be discussed at the July meeting in Ankara, making the summit “one of the more important” in Nato’s 77-year history. “The president’s views – frankly, disappointment – at some of our Nato allies and their response to our operations in the Middle East, they are well documented,” Rubio said as he arrived for the start of the meeting in Helsingborg. “That will have to be addressed. That won’t be solved or addressed today. That’s something for the leaders level to discuss,” he said, amid fresh US demands for help in forcing open the strait of Hormuz if peace talks with Iran fail to progress. After the meeting, Rubio said he discussed the possibility with his counterparts of Nato countries helping militarily. “We have to have a plan B for if someone is shooting, then how do you reopen the straits?” Rubio said. “I don’t know if that would be a Nato mission necessarily, but it would certainly be Nato countries that can contribute to it.” The UK and France have offered to lead a multinational air and naval force to maintain security for merchant shipping in the strait of Hormuz once the US and Iran have reached a peace deal, or there is a well-established ceasefire. US troop numbers in Europe are also expected to drop from 80,000 after a review reflecting wider commitments, Rubio emphasised, although the exact cut remains unclear amid contradictory statements from the White House. “I think it’s well understood in the alliance that the United States’ troop presence in Europe is going to be adjusted,” Rubio said after the foreign ministers’ meeting, stressing that the US had been talking to European Nato members about it. “I’m not saying they’re going to be thrilled about it, but they certainly are aware of it, and you know, we have obligations in the Indo-Pacific, we have obligations in the Middle East, we have obligations in the western hemisphere,” he added. At the beginning of the month, the US said it would withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, as Trump reacted angrily to comments from the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, who had said Iran was humiliating the US in the peace talks. Last week, the Pentagon added that it would halt the rotation of 4,000 more into Poland, only for Trump to apparently reverse that on Thursday night on social media, in a hasty announcement that appeared to catch the Pentagon by surprise. Trump posted: “Based on the successful Election of the now President of Poland, Karol Nawrocki, who I was proud to Endorse, and our relationship with him, I am pleased to announce that the United States will be sending an additional 5,000 Troops to Poland.” Other Nato allies admitted erratic White House policy changes left them struggling to keep up. Maria Malmer Stenergard, Sweden’s foreign minister, admitted the situation was “confusing indeed, and not always easy to navigate”. The US secretary of state said after the meeting that while he had “long been an advocate for Nato”, one of the arguments he had made was that US “bases in the region” had provided the country’s military with “logistical options that we wouldn’t otherwise have”. “When some of those bases are denied to you during a conflict that we’re involved in, then you question whether that value is still there,” a topic Rubio said would be discussed at Ankara. No other Nato member joined in the 38-day attack on Iran or has so far proved prepared to force open the strait of Hormuz, closed by an Iranian blockade, though some countries did provide a degree of assistance. Spain refused to allow US bases in the country or its airspace to be used for the attack on Iran, while France only allowed air tankers and other support aircraft to be used from the Istres air base in the south. The UK permitted the US air force to bomb Iranian missile launchers and any other military assets obstructing the strait from Fairford in Gloucestershire, the furthest any European country was willing to go in enabling US bombing. Earlier this year, Trump also demanded Greenland from Denmark, another Nato member, though he dropped the proposal after international lobbying and an agreement to create an Arctic air patrol mission to deter any Russian military activity.

Qatar sends mediators to Tehran in sign talks to reopen strait of Hormuz are reaching climax

Qatar has rushed a team of mediators to Tehran in a sign that talks to open the strait of Hormuz, in return for the lifting of US sanctions and asset freezes, are reaching a climax. The aim would be to sign a memorandum of understanding on the strait that would lead to 30 days of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme – so deferring discussion of the US demand that Iran hand over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Until now, Qatar, often seen as the most skilled mediator in the Middle East, has not been directly acting as a go-between in the US-Iran conflict, leaving the task initially to Oman and more recently to Pakistan. The head of the Pakistan army, Field Marshal Asim Munir, was also expected in Tehran, but Iran was playing down reports of a breakthrough. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said that while there had been “a little progress”, the US would not accept Iran being given a power to impose tolls on commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz. He said Pakistan remained the main interlocutor for the US. Iran has set up a Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) that would impose tolls, as well as direct shipping on to specific waterways. The US insists tolls cannot be an option. Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomatic adviser to the United Arab Emirates, warned Iran might be over-negotiating, saying they “have a tendency to overestimate their cards”. Pakistan’s interior minister, Mohsen Naqvi, met the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, for the second time in two days on Friday morning. It is thought Pakistan might try to bring in China as a guarantor of any deal. Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, is due in Beijing on Saturday. Iran has emphasised that it is seeking to postpone all talks on its nuclear programme and focus instead on a permanent cessation of hostilities, which it hopes will include a phased lifting of US sanctions, the unfreezing of frozen Iranian assets, compensation for US-Israeli war damage, and commitments not to resort to force in future. The future management of the strait of Hormuz is a key point of dispute, with Pakistan floating plans for joint control under UN auspices. Five Gulf states have written a letter to the International Maritime Authority, a global shipping watchdog, urging merchant and commercial ships not to engage with the PGSA. Thesignatories are Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The list does not include Oman, but Oman, which under the proposal would be the authority on the south side of the strait, is wary of Tehran’s proposal. In their letter, the five states warn: “Iran’s purported route should be seen for what it is, an attempt to control traffic through the strait by forcing vessels to use a route within its territorial waters, which can be exploited for monetary gain through the imposition of toll fees. “Any understanding or recognition of Iran’s proposed route and PGSA as an alternative would set a dangerous precedent.” At a Nato foreign ministers meeting in Sweden, Rubio said: “Iran is trying to create a tolling system. They’re trying to convince Oman … to join them in a tolling system in an international waterway. There is not a country in the world that should accept that.” He again expressed his disappointment at Europe’s refusal to do more to keep the strait open. Meanwhile, analysts argue that much of what US administration officials say about the status of the talks has to be filtered through Washington’s need to massage the global price of oil down. Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for the Iranian ministry of foreign affairs, told state media: “At this stage, the focus of the negotiations is on ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, and the claims made in the media about nuclear issues, including the issue of enriched material or the enrichment debate, are merely media speculation and lack credibility.” Baghaei was referring to speculation that has arisen after Trump’s statements on Thursday when he spoke about Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium. He said: “We will get it. We don’t need it, we don’t want it. We will probably even destroy it after we get it, but we will not let them get it.” Russia has offered to receive the stockpile, but Iran says it will downblend the stockpile inside Iran itself.

Pentagon releases second batch of UFO videos and first-hand testimony

The Pentagon on Friday released a second tranche of videos and documents of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) – or UFOs – answering few questions about the existence of alien life but fueling what has quickly become a ratings winner for the White House. The first reveal earlier this month of 162 files of previously secret or rarely seen accounts of UAP sightings received more than a billion hits on the government website set up to house them, according to a press release from the war department, the Trump administration’s preferred term for the Department of Defense. Friday’s release, also stretching back decades, features a further 50 videos and documents, including first-hand testimony from civilians and military members. In one video from the Middle East in 2019, taken “likely from an infrared sensor aboard a US military platform operating within the US Central Command area of responsibility”, according to the Pentagon, three UAP are captured flying in formation over the Persian Gulf. Another formation of four unidentified objects is seen flying past vessels on the water off Iran in a video from 2022. Footage taken over Syria in 2021 shows a mysterious object racing away at speed akin to instantaneous warp-speed acceleration from science fiction movies. Few of the objects seem to resemble flying saucers, discs or other traditionally perceived forms for UAP, although one October 2022 clip taken at an undisclosed location shows a cigar-shaped entity racing over what appears to be a residential area. None of the videos are accompanied by explanations, and the Pentagon’s all-domain anomaly resolution office (AARO) has previously stated it has no evidence to suggest any of the thousands of objects seen on video, or described in written testimony, is of extraterrestrial origin. In its 8 May release, a statement from the defense department said the public “can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files”. Additionally, the information is collated from a diverse range of sources, including government agencies including several military branches, the FBI, the state department and Nasa. “Many of these materials lack a substantiated chain-of-custody,” the Pentagon notes. Even so, Friday’s release is likely to provoke further debate about a subject that has fascinated humankind for generations, and prompted decades of conspiracy theories about government cover-ups and secrecy about what it knows. In February, Donald Trump directed the release of government files related to UAP and the possibility of extraterrestrial life, citing “tremendous interest” in the topic but adding he did not know personally if aliens were real or not. Polling suggests most Americans believe aliens exist, and half think they have visited Earth. The Pentagon on Friday said it was working on a third release of UAP files, which it said would announce “in the near future”. New Nasa recordings are included in the second batch, including astronaut descriptions of mysterious objects and bright lights similar to those reported by the Apollo 11 crew member Buzz Aldrin in the first release this month. In one clip, Wally Schirra, the sole astronaut on Mercury-Atlas 8 that orbited the Earth six times in October 1962, told mission control he saw “little white objects that seem to come from the capsule itself and drift off”. He also spoke of a burst of light in the window, whose source he said he could not identify, although he noted it appeared just as the sun passed below the horizon. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, on his YouTube channel StarTalk, said it was “a little misleading” for Nasa files to be included in the Pentagon releases. “Nasa spends time in space, and if an alien is going to come from anywhere, it’s probably going to be from space, I get that,” he said. “But those Nasa documents were never classified, and what the astronauts were seeing would have a complete, full, rational explanation. The fact they are released juxtaposed with other files where people see unidentified anomalous phenomena, and don’t know what it is, then it’s almost guilt by association.” Tyson said aliens were “kind of low on my list” as an explanation for UAP. “In the history of science, the correct explanation has never been magic, or aliens, ever,” he said. “I’m just sitting back waiting for you to walk out the alien – that’s kind of what I need right now, and then we’re good.”

‘Venice is beautiful, but inside there is a struggle’: Bangladeshi candidates eye historic breakthrough

Rhitu Miah, one of seven candidates from the Bangladeshi-Italian community standing in Venice’s local election, is used to brushing off racist or sexist comments. But she was taken aback by the virulence of the negative comments online when she announced she would run for the council – potentially making her one of the first people of Bangladeshi origin ever elected in the lagoon city’s administration. “There were hateful messages – one person told me to get on a camel and go back to my own country,” says Miah, an Italian citizen who moved to Venice with her family at three years old, through her father’s job at the Fincantieri shipyard, a huge importer of labour from Bangladesh. “I tried to let it be and reply with a smile … but it was difficult not to cry. This is also a reason why I’m running [to combat these prejudices].” Miah, an architect whose social media accounts focusing on integration have more than 200,000 followers, is one of seven Bangladeshi candidates standing for election on Sunday and Monday on a centre-left Democratic party (PD) list. The contingent is aiming for seats in Venice council, comprising Mestre on the mainland, and in various other municipalities, led by the mayoral candidate Andrea Martella, a PD senator. For Venice’s Bangladeshi community, which numbers roughly 20,000 people, predominantly living in Mestre, the ballot could mark a historic political breakthrough. “It’s important – we’re an established, growing community with skills to help contribute to the city,” says Miah. Furthermore, a win for the centre-left would end 11 years of conservative rule in Venice, sending a further sign to Giorgia Meloni’s far-right national government, already rattled by a failed referendum on judicial reform in March, of an opposition regaining momentum. After a decade shaped by overtourism, Venice’s election campaign has focused on familiar themes: from the deepening housing crisis, strained social services and security concerns, to the perennial challenge of curbing mass tourism, repopulating the historic centre and protecting the fragile lagoon. But the Bangladeshi participation also provoked debate, while unleashing an onslaught of inflammatory rhetoric from far-right politicians. Pouncing on proposals for a mosque – which were, in fact, first mooted by the outgoing mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, a millionaire businessman – leaflets appeared around the city warning that “Allah” was on the verge of taking over. “They ignited a campaign of fear against us, saying that we will change the rules and ruin Venice,” says Miah. “We’ve not even mentioned the mosque because there are more serious problems – housing, schools, health and security.” Final polls in early May pointed to the centre-left having the edge over the conservative camp, whose mayoral candidate is Simone Venturini, the current councillor for tourism and proponent of the controversial entrance fee for day-trippers, which he has pledged to increase if he wins. Martella is supported by the broad leftwing alliance that is preparing for general elections next year. During one of his closing rallies, Martella said the city needed a total reset, after a leadership that focused on filling Venice with tourists while emptying its main island of inhabitants (there are now about 47,000, down from about 170,000 in the 1950s). One of his objectives would be to abolish the tourist entrance levy, which critics say has had little or no impact on tourist numbers. “We must work to ensure our city is governed,” he says, on the sidelines of the rally. The primary focus should be the needs of its citizens, which is why he says it’s important to have the Bangladeshi community onboard. “These are Italian citizens, who live here, work here, study here … we must integrate them as much as possible.” Venturini, whose policies include obtaining a special law for Venice that would grant the council unique powers to preserve it, did not respond to the Guardian’s request for an interview. In the days before the vote, many people were undecided, even if the general consensus is that Venice under Brugnaro’s administration was “disastrous”, says Gabriele Brunelli, a hotel manager. “It’s a close race, although I think Martella has more support,” he adds. “People view Venturini as being an extension of Brugnaro, who didn’t do anything. Those in the historic centre have felt ignored.” Farrah Sopradassi, 35, a restaurant worker who was born in Venice and lives in the Castello district, says: “I haven’t made my mind up yet but I do know that we want and need change. The new mayor needs to have the capacity to incentivise Venice – it’s not a theme park but an ancient city where people live and work.” Her friend, Alessandra Cappon, 37, says she has been concerned about security, especially after reading local news report last week about brawls between machete-wielding Tunisian clans in Mestre. “Venice has all these events like the biennale, which show off the city, but the reality is, those who live here deal with a lot of issues.” Matteo Secchi, who set up the local activists’ group, Venessia, and is running for councillor with a small leftwing force, says that while Brugnaro can be credited for having balanced the books, he “went to the extremes” with tourism – the number of hotel beds on the main island now outnumber residents. “He took away from housing and social services – there was no focus on our needs,” says Secchi, who believes the conservatives “will be sent packing”. If she succeeds in entering Venice’s council, Miah, whose main remit would be integration, says she will “talk to everyone” to truly understand their feelings and needs. “Venice is beautiful from the outside, but inside there is a struggle,” she says. “I would like my daughter to grow up in a more united Venice, and for it to become even more beautiful, from the point of view of the people who live here, not the tourists.”

‘We will not survive’: jailing of Daria Egereva highlights plight of Russia’s Indigenous people

The operation began at 9am Moscow time, but took place across all of Russia’s 11 time zones. Almost simultaneously, agents of the federal security service (FSB) raided the homes and workplaces of 17 Indigenous rights activists. Officers carried out searches, confiscated laptops and phones, and arrested and interrogated activists about participation in international forums. Most were let go; many have since left the country. Others remain in Russia, but will no longer speak up. Six months later, one remains in jail. Daria Egereva, one of Russia’s foremost Indigenous rights activists, is accused of membership of a terror group. No trial date has been set. Her supporters say the charges are fabricated and she has been targeted for speaking out. Egereva was not just any activist. A member of the Selkup indigenous group, from western Siberia, she was a “bright star” of Russia’s indigenous rights movement. As a member of the UN’s Indigenous Peoples’ Coordinating Body, she had international status. Weeks before her arrest, she had played a key role at Cop30 in Brazil as co-chair of the Indigenous People’s Forum on Climate Change. Her jailing has shone a spotlight on the plight of Russia’s Indigenous people, threatened by authoritarianism, extractivism and climate breakdown. “They are really seeing the worst effects of climate change,” said Alicia Moncada, director of global advocacy at Cultural Survival, which campaigns for Indigenous rights. “They are on the frontline of the frontline – that’s why [Egereva’s] advocacy was super important.” The polar north is heating faster than any other part of the planet. In recent decades, temperatures in Arctic regions have risen three to four times faster than the global average. Communities based on permafrost are seeing their world collapse around them. “The elders are saying that nature has stopped trusting us,” said one exiled Indigenous leader, who requested that his name be withheld. “The traditional ways of predicting nature are not working any more.” Many settlements sit next to the banks of rivers and lakes. Due to the melting permafrost, those banks are beginning to crumble. “There is a real threat of destruction for a lot of those villages,” said the leader, who spoke through an interpreter. And the melting ice has brought a new source of tension: newly accessible critical mineral resources. “All these resources of the Russian Federation, a majority of them are located under the lands of Indigenous people: gold, diamonds, oil, gas, coal,” the leader said. “For some people it is a treasure, but for us it is a curse. “Because the companies are coming to our land for those resources and they are pushing us out. Even if they don’t push us out, the environmental situation in those places will become so bad that we are unable to hunt or fish. “One of the elders said that we can adapt to anything, but we will not be able to survive without our land.” Although Indigenous groups maintained their identities, by the end of the Soviet era they lacked independent organisation and relied on the state. Egereva had been part of a new generation of leaders who had encouraged community self-empowerment. But this assertiveness brought them into conflict with the authorities. Even before the war in Ukraine, the Russian state claimed that its enemies were exploiting environmental and indigenous issues. Now, with the war a pretext for a crackdown on civil society, Indigenous people are among those at the sharp end. To date, 830 organisations and 20,813 individuals have been put on the “list of terrorists and extremists”, according to the UN. Among them was Aborigen Forum, a network of Indigenous defenders designated an “extremist organisation” in July 2024. Russian authorities have based their charges against Egereva and her co-defendant, Natalia Leongardt, a civil rights activist, on their involvement with Aborigen. Authorities claim it is part of an anti-state “post-Russia free nations forum”. In a bail hearing on 29 April, Egereva and Leongardt denied being part of any anti-state conspiracy. “I am not familiar with and do not know this organisation,” Egereva told the court. “What we are being accused of is completely untrue … I ask to be allowed to return home and embrace my children.” The court refused to grant them bail, remanding them in custody until at least mid-June. The following day, Russia celebrated a new federal holiday: the “Day of Indigenous Small-Numbered Peoples”. The Russian embassy told the Guardian: “The investigation concerning Daria Egereva is an internal Russian legal matter, conducted in full accordance with Russian law. As proceedings are ongoing, we are not in a position to comment on the specifics of the case. “Russia firmly rejects any allegations of violations of Indigenous people’s rights. Unlike a number of western states – including Britain in its former colonies – Russia has no history of forced assimilation of Indigenous communities. Russian law affords Indigenous peoples special legal protections, guaranteeing their collective and individual rights, cultural identity, and linguistic heritage under the constitution and in line with international norms. “Russia is actively engaged in the international climate agenda, taking account of both the challenges and the economic opportunities emerging in its northern regions – including expanded access to the northern sea route and mineral resources in permafrost zones. All such projects are carried out with the aim of supporting regional development, creating jobs and attracting investment, including for the benefit of Indigenous communities in these areas.”

Flotilla video: Ben-Gvir’s template of televised abuse was honed on Palestinians

Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has made abuse of detained Palestinians something of a macabre calling card, celebrating cruelty publicly and often on video. During his time in office, violence including rape, extreme hunger and humiliation have been normalised in Israeli jails. Rights groups say detention centres have become “torture camps” for Palestinians. Ben-Gvir boasts of presiding over a “prison revolution”, telling lawmakers in 2024: “I am proud that we have changed all of the conditions”. He has repeatedly shared footage of visits where he showcases or participates in abuse. These displays have become normalised in Israel and were largely ignored internationally until this week, when he extended the template of televised mistreatment to foreign activists. More than 400 men and women from 44 countries were intercepted by the Israeli military in international waters as they tried to sail to Gaza with aid supplies. The next day Ben-Gvir posted a video of security forces abusing detainees. It included footage of him waving an Israeli flag and taunting rows of activists who had been forced to kneel with their hands bound and foreheads to the ground. Captioned “Welcome to Israel”, it prompted an immediate and overwhelming flood of condemnation from around the world, including from the leaders of Italy and Canada, foreign ministers across Europe and – perhaps most unusually – the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. The scale of global outrage pushed the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to issue a public rebuke. Ben-Gvir’s behaviour was “not in line with Israel’s values and norms”, Netanyahu said – although it fits the well-documented track record of his nearly four years in office. Yara Hawari, a co-director of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, said on social media: “Ben-Gvir’s video publicising the abuse of captured flotilla activists in Israeli detention should surprise no one – not if you’ve listened to Palestinians for even a fraction of a minute.” Israeli data shows at least 98 Palestinians have died in custody since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023 and the ensuing war. They include a 17-year-old probably killed by starvation. Israel’s supreme court has repeatedly ordered the government to end food deprivation. Documented abuse of detainees includes an assault and rape filmed on security cameras and reported to police by Israeli medics. Netanyahu described the alleged perpetrators as “heroic” and a failed attempt to prosecute them as “criminal”. The “harrowing and unjustifiable” forms of abuse captured in Ben-Gvir’s video were routinely used against Palestinian prisoners in Israel, from the stress positions to the derogatory filming, said Tal Steiner, the executive director of the Jerusalem-based human rights group HaMoked. “We welcome the international attention to [the abuse of activists] and to Ben-Gvir’s punitive policies generally but must not forget that this is what happens to Palestinians, as well as much worse forms of torture and abuse.” Netanyahu has never criticised extreme abuse of Palestinian detainees and denounced a recent New York Times investigation into rape of Palestinians, including in prisons, as a “blood libel” and threatened to sue the newspaper. His attempt to distance himself from Ben-Gvir’s video appeared designed to deflect global outrage by framing the abuse as an extremist aberration, said Guy Shalev, the executive director of Physicians for Human Rights–Israel. “Crimes are framed as the actions of rogue settlers, abusive prison guards, or soldiers acting outside orders. Systematic violations are thus detached from policymakers and from the Israeli state itself,” Shalev said. “Israel’s legitimacy remains intact, while performative condemnations allow the ‘international community’ to preserve its moral self-image without confronting the structural nature of the violence.” Many countries responded to the mistreatment of their citizens by summoning Israeli ambassadors for a formal dressing down. That measure is unlikely to worry Ben-Gvir, given he is already embroiled in a public slanging match with the Israeli diplomats’ ultimate boss, Gideon Saar. The Israeli foreign minister described the video as a “disgraceful display” that harmed the country. Ben-Gvir hit back by accusing Saar of being soft on “supporters of terror”, adding that Israel had “stopped being a pushover”. There have also been international calls for sanctions against Ben-Gvir over the video. Several countries had already targeted him in this way last year, including the UK, Canada and Australia, citing incitement to violence against Palestinians. Since then, surging attacks in the occupied West Bank have prompted the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert to call for the international criminal court to intervene “to save the Palestinians and us [Israelis]” from state-backed settler violence. As Israel prepares for elections this autumn, many see Ben-Gvir’s video as early campaign material, designed to appeal to the type of far-right voters who share grim jokes on social media about illegal starvation rations for prisoners, calling them the “Ben-Gvir weight-loss plan”. As polling day approaches, racist rhetoric and actions from Ben-Gvir and other extremist politicians are likely to escalate. Their more mainstream rivals rarely discuss Palestinian rights or the occupation of Palestine. Israel’s closest allies and trading partners have political and financial leverage that can exert real pressure for change inside the country. When Israeli soldiers vandalised a crucifix, and others desecrated a statue of the Virgin Mary in Lebanon, the international community mobilised. Four soldiers responsible for the incidents were jailed for several weeks, and Israel apologised. State-sanctioned abuse of Palestinians has not produced equivalent demands for action. The EU, Israel’s biggest trading partner, has spent more than a year considering proposals to suspend parts of its free trade agreement over violence in occupied Palestine, without progress. Suhad Bishara, the legal director of Adalah, the rights group which represented the flotilla activists, said: “It is deeply telling that strong international condemnations only came after Israeli officials publicly boasted about this abuse. “Statements are not enough: as long as Israel faces no concrete consequences for crossing one red line after another, abuses against Palestinians and international civilians alike will continue to escalate.”