Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, is entitled to expect that detainees intercepted aboard the Gaza flotilla be treated appropriately and without unnecessary humiliation. Democracies should hold themselves to high standards, even in wartime. But Wong’s latest intervention against Israel drifts beyond measured diplomacy into selective outrage. In a conflict as complex and volatile as this one, selective outrage matters.

Wong condemned footage released by Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir showing detained activists being mocked after Israel intercepted the flotilla. She labelled the scenes “shocking and unacceptable”.

Yet what remains conspicuously absent is any criticism of the activists themselves, who knowingly embarked on a mission designed to provoke precisely this sort of confrontation.

These were not unsuspecting civilians wandering accidentally into a war zone. The organizers were fully aware that previous flotilla attempts to breach Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza had repeatedly been stopped. They understood Israel remained at war with Hamas after the October 7 massacres. They knew interception by Israeli forces was overwhelmingly likely.

So what exactly was the objective?

If the flotilla was intended as symbolism, then its real purpose was political spectacle: generate confrontation, produce viral imagery and pressure Western governments into publicly condemning Israel. Wong obliged almost immediately.

And had the activists somehow reached Gaza, what then?

Gaza is not a peaceful humanitarian enclave. It is governed by Hamas, a terrorist organization with a documented history of hostage-taking, repression and violence. Foreign activists entering Gaza during wartime would not have been entering a safe relief corridor. They would have been stepping into territory controlled by armed Islamist factions.

Best-case scenario: they become propaganda assets. Worst-case scenario: they become hostages, bargaining chips, human shields or victims themselves. Women, in particular, would face significant risks of sexual assault in an environment where extremist groups continue to operate openly. Israeli hostages taken into........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)