US condemns Israel’s Ben-Gvir while sanctioning Gaza flotilla organisers

Key points

• Mike Huckabee says Ben-Gvir ‘betrayed dignity’ in video taunting flotilla activists, a day after US sanctioned organisers.
• Washington, DC – US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has become the first official from the administration of President Donald Trump to join global criticism of Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir.
• But as several countries summoned Israel’s ambassadors after Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself taunting abducted foreign activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, Huckabee’s response rang largely hollow, coming a day after the US Department of the Treasury had sanctioned the flotilla organisers.
• It was the latest incident underscoring a US double standard towards Israel, Palestinians and their supporters, analysts said, and one that showed the US and Israel increasingly out of step with the international community.
• “We see a big difference between the US and other Western countries…