Foreign Ministry accuses detained flotilla activists of faking their injuries
Ministry mockingly hails ‘miracle’ recovery of German activist filmed lying on a stretcher with a neck brace when deported to Turkey, standing upright two days later in Germany
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The Foreign Ministry has accused activists from an intercepted Gaza-bound flotilla of faking their injuries, after the activists alleged they were assaulted and sexually abused in custody last week, which Israel denies.
The ministry’s dismissal of the allegations continued its bid to counter the diplomatic fallout from a video that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir posted of himself taunting activists detained from the Global Sumud Flotilla on May 20.
On Monday, the ministry posted on X pictures of German activist Nesrin Zeaiter smiling at a soldier in Israel; lying on a stretcher with a neck brace upon arrival in Turkey on a deportation flight; and flashing a victory sign, on her feet and without the neck brace, upon return to Germany.
The ministry respectively captioned the three photos, “standing healthy in Israel,” “posing ‘injured’ for the cameras” and “healthy again in Germany.”
“The miraculous ‘recovery’ of the flotilla participants. All in no time,” the ministry wrote.
The ministry had on Saturday posted the same photos of Zeaiter in Turkey and in Germany, similarly mocking her injury claims, but without claiming that other participants had also faked their injuries.
“It’s a miracle!” the ministry wrote Saturday. “Thank God, the flotilla anarchist made a full recovery in no time.”
The miraculous “recovery” of the flotilla participants. All in no time. pic.twitter.com/55zDJvB442
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) May 25, 2026
The Global Sumud Flotilla responded at the time that Zeaiter suffered “a concussion and over 40 bruises” from Israeli forces, and that the neck brace was a “standard precautionary protocol for suspected cervical injury.”
“Any competent physician would know this,” the group said. “The fact that she was not permanently paralyzed is not the defense you think it is.”
Israel detained 430 people aboard the flotilla’s 50 ships last week. The activists sought to break Israel’s naval blockade on the Gaza Strip. All of them have been deported.
Organizers of the flotilla have said several returning activists were hospitalized with injuries and at least 15 reported sexual assault, including rape.
Zeaiter herself claimed she was beaten, stabbed and attacked by dogs, and Germany has said, without elaborating, that some of its nationals were injured and that some accusations were “serious.”
The Israel Prison Service has pushed back on the allegations, saying all detainees received medical attention and were held “in accordance to law, with full regard for their basic rights.”
Israel imposed a naval blockade on Gaza after Hamas violently seized power in the Strip in 2007. The IDF has intercepted several Gaza-bound flotillas since then.
The flotillas have come more frequently since the Hamas-led onslaught of October 7, 2023, which sparked an Israeli offensive that has devastated the Strip. Israel has dismissed the flotillas as publicity stunts.
Agencies contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.