Some 137 activists who Israel detained for taking part in a flotilla seeking to break through the Gaza blockade arrived in Turkey on Saturday after being deported, with two alleging that Swedish Greta Thunberg was mistreated during her detention.
Thunberg herself remains in Israeli custody.
The Foreign Ministry described reports that detainees had been mistreated as “complete lies,” adding yesterday that 29 activists – citizens of Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands – were deported to Spain.
“Israel is keen to have all the participants of this provocation deported as quickly as possible, but some of them deliberately chose to prolong the legal deportation process, preferring to linger in Israel,” the Foreign Ministry said.
More than 450 activists detained
Other activists who had landed earlier at Istanbul Airport included 36 Turkish nationals, as well as citizens from the US, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Morocco, Italy, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Switzerland, Tunisia, and Jordan, according to Turkish Foreign Ministry sources.
Two of them, Hazwani Helmi, a Malaysian citizen, and Windfield Beaver, an American citizen, told Reuters at the airport that they had witnessed Thunberg being mistreated, saying she was shoved and forced to wear an Israeli flag.
“It was a disaster. They treated us like animals,” said Helmi, 28, adding that detainees were not provided with clean food or water and that medication and belongings were confiscated.
Beaver, 43, said Thunberg was “treated terribly” and “used as propaganda,” describing how she was pushed into a room as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived.
In a statement he made on Sunday, October 5, Ben-Gvir said that Thunberg and other flotilla activists detained by Israel deserved to be treated in the same manner as terrorists in prison because “anyone who supports terror is a terrorist.”
“If any of them thought that they would come here and be greeted with a red carpet and fanfare, they were mistaken,” he added.
Ben-Gvir visited the Ketziot Prison in the Negev near Beersheba, where many of the activists were being detained.
While there, Ben-Gvir said he “took pride in the fact that we are treating these flotilla activists as terror supporters.”
“They should feel what the conditions in Ketziot Prison are like, and think twice before approaching Israel again. That’s how it works,” he said.
“I am proud of the officers of the Israel Prison Service (IPS) who acted in accordance with the policy set by [IPS Chief Commissioner] Kobi Yaakobi and myself,” Ben-Gvir went on to say.
He added that he had seen the flotilla but could not find “humanitarian aid or compassion” on board its vessels.
“I saw one can of baby formula and a whole gang of people pretending to be human rights activists, who in fact came to support terrorism and celebrate at our expense,” he said.
Shortly after Ben-Gvir’s Sunday statement, the Foreign Ministry said that the claims regarding the mistreatment of Thunberg and other detainees from the flotilla were “brazen falsehoods.”
The ministry later added, “All the legal rights of the participants in this PR stunt are being fully upheld. Do not believe the fake news they are spreading.”
“Greta herself did not complain to the Israeli authorities about any of these ludicrous and baseless allegations, because they never occurred,” the statement added.
The Foreign Ministry also wrote on X/Twitter that all detained activists were “safe and in good health,” adding that it was keen to complete the remaining deportations “as quickly as possible.”
In a separate X post, the ministry accused some flotilla members of “deliberately obstructing” the deportation process, without providing evidence. Reuters was unable to verify the allegation independently.
An official who visited Thunberg in prison said that Thunberg was being held in a cell infested with bedbugs, with little food and water, according to a Saturday report by The Guardian.
Adalah, a center that is offering legal assistance to flotilla members, said that Ben-Gvir’s statements “represent a blatant endorsement of inhumane treatment, abuse, and intimidation of the flotilla participants as state policy.
It added, “Israel is applying tactics normally reserved for Palestinians in its custody, who are routinely subjected to systemic torture and horrific abuse.”
“The treatment of flotilla participants has been unlawful from the very outset, beginning with the interception of the ships, preventing them from breaking the blockade and delivering humanitarian aid amid an ongoing genocide in Gaza, continuing with Israeli authorities treating them as having ‘illegally entered’ the country despite being abducted from international waters, and culminating in their detention under harsh and degrading conditions that violate international law,” Adalah said.
It further noted, “This conduct, explicitly endorsed by [Ben-Gvir] with his authority over the IPS, demonstrates a deliberate use of repression against peaceful activists, human rights defenders, and individuals who seek to confront Israel’s ongoing crimes against Palestinians.”
Italy’s Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, said that apart from 26 Italians en route to his country on board a Turkish Airlines flight, another 15 are still being held in Israel and are set to be expelled over the next few days – along with activists from other nations.
“I have once again given instructions to the Italian embassy in Tel Aviv to ensure that the remaining compatriots are treated with respect for their rights,” Tajani wrote on X.
A first group of Italians from the flotilla, comprising four parliamentarians, arrived in Rome on Friday.
“Those who were acting legally were the people aboard those boats; those who acted illegally were those who prevented them from reaching Gaza,” Arturo Scotto, one of the Italian lawmakers who took part in the mission, told a press conference in Rome.
Flotilla group alleges rights abuse
“We were brutally stopped... brutally taken hostage,” said Benedetta Scuderi, another Italian parliamentarian.
According to Adalah, some detainees were denied access to lawyers, water, medications, and toilets.
They were also “forced to kneel with their hands zip-tied for at least five hours, after some participants chanted ‘free Palestine,’” Adalah said.
Israel denied the allegations. “All of Adalah’s claims are complete lies. Of course, all detainees... were given access to water, food, and restrooms, and they were not denied access to legal counsel,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson told Reuters.
The flotilla, which set sail in late August, marked the latest attempt by activists to challenge the Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
Israeli officials repeatedly denounced the mission as a stunt and warned its participants against violating a “lawful naval blockade.”