Israel Deports Gaza Flotilla Activists

Abuse Allegations Spark International Condemnation

Activists from the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla, detained by Israeli forces after their vessels were intercepted in international waters in the Mediterranean, disembark a plane at Istanbul Airport, Turkey, 21 May. Photo credit: Murad Sezer

Approximately 430 activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla and Freedom Flotilla Coalition have been deported to their countries of origin, days after being illegally intercepted, attacked, and kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces in international waters. The news comes only a day after videos showing Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir engaging in abuse of imprisoned activists were published, leading to statements of condemnation even from European countries.

During a press conference on Thursday, 21 May, Bader Alnoaimi of the Global Sumud Flotilla’s legal team reiterated that the attacks on this flotilla—just like previous missions—were in complete opposition to international law. Together with Miriam Azem from Adalah Center, Alnoaimi pointed out that recent testimonies indicated an escalation of violence against international activists.

“Our team received a large number of complaints of extreme violence, revealing a new pattern of physical abuse deliberately used by Israeli authorities,” Adalah pointed out in an earlier statement. “While being moved around the port, they [activists] were forced to walk bent completely forward while guards violently held their backs down.”

To this, Azem added reports about the hospitalization of at least three activists due to injuries incurred during abduction, along with testimonies describing the use of rubber bullets, acts of humiliation, and sexual harassment. One activist, she emphasized, was forced to strip naked and run while Israeli guards laughed.

Materials showing Itamar Ben-Gvir engaging in abuse of imprisoned activists led to another layer of reactions. In the video, Ben-Gvir is shown walking around and waving the Israeli flag among flotilla participants, mostly bound and forced to kneel on the pavement. One crew member, identified by the Global Sumud Flotilla as Catriona Graham from Ireland, is heard shouting “Free, free Palestine!” in response to Ben-Gvir’s presence, after which she is violently brought to the ground by surrounding guards.

The Global Sumud humanitarian aid flotilla said on Tuesday that all 50 vessels in its convoy had been seized by Israel. Image credit: Global Sumud Flotilla

“A regime carrying out a livestreamed genocide has become so drunk on impunity that its ministers now openly post humiliation rituals online like campaign content,” the Global Sumud Flotilla stated on Wednesday. “Almost immediately following came panic from other israeli officials, not because human beings were abused, blindfolded, and degraded, but because the machinery of violence was exposed too nakedly, too publicly, too honestly and threatened their ability to continue their abuse and occupation of the Palestinian people.”

“The truth is simple: if israeli ministers feel comfortable publicly posting videos of blindfolded international civilians kneeling on concrete while mocking them with nationalist chants, then the world should be outraged over what Palestinians endure every single day when the cameras are gone.”

The video of Ben-Gvir proved too much for even Global North leaders to ignore, with many summoning Israeli ambassadors to their countries for reprimand. The Global Sumud Flotilla counted two dozen official condemnations from governments and ministries of foreign affairs, including from Poland and Italy—whose administrations have hardly been critical of Israel in the past.

“Poland expects an urgent explanation of all the circumstances of the Israeli military operation in international waters,” the Polish Ministry’s official statement read, with Minister Radosław Sikorski addressing Ben-Gvir on social media: “You may not treat Polish citizens who have committed no crime in this way. In the democratic world we do not abuse and gloat over people in custody. We demand justice for our citizens and consequences for you.”

“I believe we must make it absolutely clear to our Israeli counterparts that incidents like this only serve to deepen Israel’s isolation, even among its closest allies,” Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani said in an interview. “Even those who disagree with the flotilla campaigns and view them as provocative cannot tolerate this kind of mistreatment of unarmed civilians.”

According to Palestine solidarity activists, these official condemnations should be taken with a lot of caution. In most cases, governments that issued them continue avoiding concrete measures to hold Israel accountable for the genocide it has been conducting for over two and a half years. Many of them remain complicit in the occupation’s infringement of international law through sale and transport of arms to the Zionist regime or by avoiding to back sanctions at the European Union level.

Activists also point to the role that local and national mobilizations in support of the flotilla—approximately 350 of them over the past three days, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla—have played in pushing governments to take a slightly more firm stand toward Israel. Popular mobilization leads to results, the organization’s Sümeyra Akdeniz Ordu emphasized during the press conference on Thursday, urging people to stay alert and focused on what is happening in Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestine—where over 9,600 political prisoners remain exposed to daily abuse and torture by occupation forces.