Showing that cloddishness that we have come to expect from them, Israel’s detention of the activists on the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) was a coarse and violent affair. Having been intercepted in international waters on route to Gaza to break the Israeli-imposed blockade, the 470 or so activists, hailing from some fifty countries travelling on 40 boats, were duly taken to the Ketziot prison complex in the Negev desert in southern Israel. According to GSF, the endeavour was intended to “break the illegal siege on Gaza by sea, open a humanitarian corridor, and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.”
US activist David Adler, who was released and deported to Jordan on October 7, issued an audio message shared with Al Jazeera through the advocacy group Progressive International describing the events: “We were kidnapped, stripped, zip-tied, blindfolded and sent to an internment camp on a police van without any access to food, to water, to legal support.” His Jewishness, along with that of a fellow activist, had been noted by the captors. “After interception, we were violently forced onto our knees into positions of submission, where the two Jews of the flotilla were taken by the ear and ripped from the group for a photo-op with [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir, staring at the flag of the State of Israel, taunted by his goons.”
Over the course of five days, Adler endured “serial and systematic violations” of basic human rights. At night, riot police accompanied by attack dogs would raid the prison to strike fear into the interned activists.
Adler’s accounts received solid corroboration from other members of the flotilla. Spanish lawyer Rafael Borrego, after arriving in Madrid, spoke of “repeated physical and mental abuse”. The authorities “beat us, dragged us along the ground, blindfolded us, tied our hands and feet, put us in cases and insulted us.” A statement to Reuters from nine Swiss nationals referred to “inhumane detention conditions and the humiliating and degrading treatment”.
Australians on the GSF referred to instances of kicking and slapping of detainees by prison guards, the use of sleep deprivation techniques, the confiscation of medication and instances of humiliation by being caged and bellowed at by “an Israeli government minister” (Ben-Gvir could hardly resist the opportunity). Surya McEwen recalls being “slapped, having his arm dislocated and having his head slammed into the ground.”
Much attention was also focused on the celebrity activist, Greta Thunberg, who was on her second outing. “I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment, trust me, but that is not the story.” A report from The Guardian noted her dehydration, the provision of “insufficient amounts of both food and water”, the outbreak of rashes caused by bed bugs. She had also been forced to hold and kiss the Israeli flag as images of her were taken.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said in a statement to Swedish news agency TT that she had “taken note of the reports of allegations of abusive treatment. If the reports are true, this is very serious.”
Excerpted: ‘Estranged Realities: Israel and the Global Sumud Flotilla’. Courtesy: Counterpunch.org