Humiliation and abuse: Flotilla activists speak out about treatment in Israeli prison, reiterate demand to end genocide

Members of the Global Sumud Flotilla faced physical and psychological violence and intimidation by Israeli forces while in prison.

Mobilization in Greece in solidarity with Palestine and the Global Sumud Flotilla. Photo: Sotiria Georgiadou/March to Gaza Greece

Over a hundred volunteers from the Global Sumud Flotilla remain captive in Israel after being kidnapped in international waters by occupation forces during their attempt to break the illegal sea blockade of Gaza. Those who have been released report escalating abuse by Israeli authorities, particularly targeting women and activists of Arab backgrounds, in what is likely to be a campaign to intimidate and prevent others from joining future flotillas.

“From the moment of interception, all activists were held incommunicado, with communication systems having been jammed, some of them subjected to degrading treatment and water cannons,” the Global Sumud Flotilla wrote in a statement. The legal center Adalah, which is providing legal counsel to the flotilla’s crew, echoed these concerns, saying its lawyers were initially prevented from reaching the detainees. As a result, several activists were processed without even having spoken to legal representatives.

Tactics reserved for Palestinian prisoners

Once Adalah’s lawyers finally gained access to activists, they witnessed attempts to degrade them. “During the lawyers’ visits, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived in what was clearly intended as an act of humiliation and intimidation,” Adalah wrote. “The flotilla participants were filmed and exploited in a degrading display of control.”

Ben-Gvir again tried to smear the flotilla’s mission, saying crew members were terrorists, attempting to use their imprisonment for Israeli propaganda. Some activists, blindfolded and forced to kneel during his inspection, reported that a man they believed to be Ben-Gvir whispered to them that they were “terrorists” responsible for the pain Israel has been inflicting on Gaza for two years.

Testimonies from those detained describe a long list of violent acts: denial of essential medication and medical care, lack of clean water and food, and sleep deprivation while imprisoned in the Negev Desert. Activists said soldiers deliberately made noise to prevent rest and held them at gunpoint in overcrowded cells as they tried to sleep. “Israel is applying tactics normally reserved for Palestinians in its custody, who are routinely subjected to systemic torture and horrific abuse,” Adalah stated.

Genoa dockworker describes abuse

Among those deported over the weekend was Italian dockworker José Nivoi, whose collective CALP and union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) led an unprecedented wave of mobilization – including two general strikes – in support of the flotilla and Palestinian liberation. In his testimony, Nivoi described both the abuse inflicted by Israeli forces and the weak response of some European diplomats to what was a terrorist attack and abduction of their own citizens. The Italian consul, he said, was “obviously pressured by Israeli authorities.” That pressure went so far that not all detained Italians were allowed to sign repatriation papers, despite being ready to do so, Nivoi suggested. Additionally, he learned about the mass mobilizations in Italy not from his own representatives but from members of the Brazilian members of the crew, who were informed by their diplomats.

“When we disembarked, they put us in this sort of square in Ashdod port,” Nivoi recalled. “There were more than 200 of us, all forced to kneel and look at the ground. If you lifted your eyes, they pushed your face down.”

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Some activists were specifically singled out for humiliation. “Greta [Thunberg] was about five meters away from me, she was literally humiliated,” Nivoi said. “They put an Israeli flag on her, but she kept a facial expression that didn’t sit well with them, so they insulted her and spat on the ground around her.”

After hours of this treatment, the detainees were moved to a warehouse filled with checkpoints, where they were stripped of personal belongings and interrogated repeatedly. “They handcuffed me tightly and blindfolded me with a cloth in the colors of the Israeli flag,” Nivoi said, recalling that he was tied so hard he began to lose feeling in his hands. This overlapped with Ben-Gvir’s inspection and was followed by a transfer to the Negev, where volunteers were held in a “sort of cage” in the open for hours before being crammed into cells far too small for their number. Inside, soldiers repeatedly threatened them with guns and dogs, especially as they demanded medical care for a senior crew member. Despite the intimidation, the activists did not back down, unsettling the guards and soldiers, Nivoi said.

In a statement on social media, USB said Nivoi’s testimony serves as a reminder that the mistreatment of the Global Sumud Flotilla crew is only “a fraction of everyday life for Palestinians.” “Nivoi knows that as a European, he could count on international protection that allowed him to return home and describe what happened, while over 11,100 Palestinians remain imprisoned without protection or voice in a system of arbitrary detention that for decades has affected the entire population,” the union said.

According to the Global Sumud Flotilla, dozens of crew members have begun a hunger strike, demanding the release of all activists and an end to the genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile, deportations of crew members continue, with approximately 170 transferred to Greece and Slovakia on Monday, October 6.