Legal aid group says flotilla activists were roughed up, filmed in front of Israeli flags

The Adalah legal aid organization, which is representing activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla in legal proceedings in Israel, says that an activist who was able to speak with one of Adalah’s lawyers stated that both she and fellow activist Greta Thunberg were videotaped standing in front of Israeli flags after being detained.

The Guardian reported a similar story earlier today based on correspondence between associates of Thunberg and the Swedish foreign ministry. An Israel Prison Service spokesman said the agency was “unaware of such an incident.”

According to Adalah, numerous activists have reported to the organization’s lawyers that they have been mistreated since their flotilla was intercepted on its way to Gaza earlier this week by the Israeli Navy.

Some participants have reported not receiving enough food, and some said on Friday that they had not received any food at all since being brought to the port of Ashdod, an Adalah spokesperson said.

Thunberg herself has complained of receiving insufficient food and water during her detention, according to the correspondence with the Swedish foreign ministry.

Other activists have told Adalah’s lawyers that they have been shoved, roughly handled, shoved to the ground, and even punched at some stage during the interception and detention.

Many also stated they had been left in the sun sitting on their knees for hours during the course of Thursday, before being brought to a hearing in front of an immigration authority tribunal.

The pro-government news outlet Channel 14 reported that Ben Gvir visited Ketziot prison, where the flotilla activists are being detained on Thursday night, and said that they were being given the “minimum of the minimum” in accordance with the same protocols for security prisoners.

“We are in Ketziot prison, and as I promised, those flotilla members, supporters of terrorism, are here in a security prison,” Channel 14 reported Ben Gvir as saying.

“They receive conditions for terrorists here, for everything, terrorist sweatpants, terrorist conditions. This means, there is a minimum of the minimum, that’s what I promised and that’s how we are fulfilling it.”

Palestinian prisoners have repeatedly complained of being held in dire conditions since the outbreak of war following the Hamas atrocities on October 7, 2023, including receiving insufficient food; being kept in overcrowded cells with poor hygiene; outbreaks of scabies; being denied proper medical attention; and being subject to physical violence and psychological abuse, and humiliation.

Last month, the High Court of Justice ruled that the state, including the Israel Prison Service, which Ben Gvir has authority over, had failed to fulfill its legal obligations to adequately feed Palestinian security prisoners, and ordered it to take steps to provide such prisoners with enough food “to enable a basic existence.”