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.”
The reaction from other countries has not been quite so explicit. Australian activists on the GSF were less than impressed by the efforts of their diplomats, given the relative lateness of their release and complaints of mistreatment. US activists also received a cold response from their consular officials. Adler recalls being told by the US general consul that, “We are not your babysitters. You’d have no food, no water, no money, no phones, no planes.” US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who gleefully accepts the distorted offerings of information from the Israeli foreign affairs ministry, had a personal observation on Adler’s conduct, calling him a “self-absorbed tool of Hamas”.
Israel, for its part, aggressively sought to denude and denigrate the merits of the flotilla, both in terms of its mission and the integrity of its participants. Customary libels were offered: Thunberg and her fellow activists were useful idiots, and various organisers behind the effort to break the blockade were terrorist sympathisers with links to Hamas. No mention needed of the humanitarian crisis taking place in the hellish enclave of Gaza as, apparently, there is nothing to mention.
As for allegations of mistreatment, the Israeli foreign ministry was brusque and dismissive: “The lies they are spreading are part of their pre-planned fake news campaign.” Ben-Gvir, however, spoke on October 5 of how “proud” he was of the harsh conditions that the detainees were being kept in. “These are the terrorists of the flotilla,” he declared. “Supporters of murderers.” On his visit to Ketziot prison, he reasoned that the flotilla members, being “terror supporters”, deserved “the conditions of terrorists”.
Israeli authorities also claimed that the flotilla carried little humanitarian aid to speak of. In a sharp statement, the GSF called such accusations by Ben-Gvir and other officials “verifiably false” and “obscene. The boats were meticulously documented, loaded with medical supplies, food, and other life-saving goods for people in Gaza being systematically starved by Israel.”
On arriving in Athens after being deported, Thunberg praised the “global, international solidarity” of the GSF where hypocritical, mealymouthed governments had failed. “This is a last resort. That this mission has to exist is a shame.” At this writing, negotiations on the US proposed peace plan continues, as does slaughter and starvation in the Strip. As, it would seem, the estranged reality that permits mendacity to flourish.
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