(Adnkronos) – Anti-establishment Five-Star Movement MP Dario Carotenuto and investigative daily Il Fatto Quotidiano’s correspondent Alessandro Mantovani are the first of 29 Italians from the Global Sumud Gaza aid flotilla set to fly home late on Wednesday after they were detained by Israeli forces overnight in international waters and taken to the port of Ashdod.
“MP Carotenuto and journalist Mantovani are expected to leave tonight,” Tajani told reporters at Italy’s lower house of parliament in Rome on Wednesday.
“Based on the assurances I have received, all the other Italians involved will also be returning as soon as possible,” Tajani added.
Tajani said Israel’s ambassador had been summoned on Wednesday after the country’s far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video on social media in which he is seen mocking blindfolded detained activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla, who were forced to kneel on the floor and bend down with their hands tied behind their backs.
What emerges from Minister Ben-Gvir’s video is absolutely unacceptable and contrary to every basic safeguard of human dignity,” Tajani wrote on X.
“In agreement with the prime minister, I have had the Israeli ambassador to Italy summoned immediately to the foreign ministry,” Tajani continued.
Tajani and premier Giorgia Meloni earlier issued a joint statement expressing their outrage that “protesters, including many Italian citizens, should be subjected to treatment that violates human dignity.”
