In early September, the Global Sumud Flotilla set off from Barcelona with Greta Thunberg and around 500 other activists from around the world on board, with the intention of breaking Israel’s siege on Gaza and delivering much-needed humanitarian aid and food to the people of Palestine.
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The flotilla’s departure came shortly before a two-year United Nations investigation ruled that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. On Sept. 16, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry shared its findings that Israel has “flagrantly disregarded” international law and “orchestrated a genocidal campaign for almost two years.”
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Unfortunately, the Global Sumud Flotilla did not make it to Gaza, with the Israeli navy intercepting it on Oct. 1, boarding several vessels, and detaining many of the activists — including Greta.
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After Greta and other activists were taken by Israel, fellow flotilla participant Ersin Çelik told Anadolu news agency: “They dragged little Greta by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag. They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others.”
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Greta was deported from Israeli detention on Oct. 6, and she initially did not speak up about her experience, repeatedly refocusing the conversation back to the Palestinians when she was asked about what had happened during her detainment.
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However, earlier this week, she gave an in-depth interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, where she alleged horrific mistreatment at the hands of Israeli authorities during her five days in captivity, which included being stripped and humiliated, psychological torture, and physical abuse.
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The moment that men with covered faces and automatic weapons boarded Greta’s boat was watched live by people all over the world as it was broadcast through the flotilla’s own channels, and Greta shared that she and her fellow activists were then taken to a lower deck where they were made to sit in a circle without moving while the boat was taken to land.
As she got off the boat, Greta says “a bunch of police officers” grabbed her, pulled her to the ground, and threw an Israeli flag over her. After this, she said, everything went “from zero to a hundred.”
“It was kind of dystopian. I saw maybe 50 people sitting in a row on their knees with handcuffs and their foreheads against the ground,” she said of her arrival at the detention centre. “They dragged me to the opposite side from where the others were sitting, and I had the flag around me the whole time. They hit and kicked me.”
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Greta alleges that the Israeli guards had even learned insults in her native Swedish, and repeatedly called her “Lilla hora,” which translates to “little whore,” and “Hora Greta,” which translates to “whore Greta.”
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She claimed that the police forced her to sit in a corner and placed an Israeli flag next to her, recalling: “The flag was placed so that it would touch me. When it fluttered and touched me, they shouted ‘Don’t touch the flag’ and kicked me in the side. After a while, my hands were tied with cable ties, very tightly. A bunch of guards lined up to take selfies with me while I was sitting like that.”
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Greta said that authorities made her watch as they slowly cut up all of her personal belongings with a knife, and that she was kicked by a guard any time she lifted her head from the ground while others were being “thrown to the ground and beaten.” She was then taken to a building to be searched and undressed.
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“The guards have no empathy or humanity, and they keep taking selfies with me,” she alleged. “There’s a lot I don’t remember. So much is happening at once. You’re in shock. You’re in pain, but you go into a state of trying to stay calm.”
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When Greta refused to sign papers stating that she had entered Israel illegally, among other things, her hands were allegedly tied together with cable. She was blindfolded, and put in a freezing cold cell inside a car alongside other prisoners as they were driven to a prison.
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Once outside, Greta says she was forced to strip again. “It was mockery, rough handling, and everything was filmed,” she claimed. “Everything they do is extremely violent. People’s medications were thrown into the trash can in front of their eyes. Heart medication, cancer medication, insulin.”
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Greta also alleges that they hardly received any food or water during their days in captivity, and were forced to drink from the tap in the toilet sink where “something brown flows,” with many prisoners becoming ill.
“You felt that you couldn’t ‘afford’ to cry because you were so dehydrated,” she said. “It was so hot, like 40 degrees [104°F]. We begged the whole time: ‘Can we have water? Can we have water?’ In the end, we screamed. The guards walked in front of the bars the whole time, laughing and holding up their water bottles. They threw the bottles with water in them into the trash cans in front of us.”
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At one point, Greta alleged, around 60 people were put in a small cage outside in the hot sun, with most not having room to sit down. As people fainted, the others banged on the cage and asked for a doctor — at this point, guards are said to have threatened to “gas” the prisoners. Greta said: “It was standard for them to say that. They held up a gas cylinder and threatened to press it against us.”
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In the night, guards would apparently wake the prisoners by regularly shaking the bars, shining a flashlight, and forcing everybody to stand up. Greta alleges that she was also placed in a bug-infested isolation cell at one point.
Representatives from the Swedish embassy in Israel did not come to meet with the Swedish prisoners for three days, but Greta says that they “didn’t do anything.” She added: “We were together and told them about the treatment we received. About the lack of food, water, about the abuse. The torture. We showed them the physical injuries we had – bruises and scratches.”
“We said over and over again: we need water,” Greta said. “The embassy staff said: ’We’ll make a note of that.’ One of us, Vincent, said: ‘Next time we meet you, you must bring water.’”
She claims that the embassy staff did not return for another two days and didn’t bring any water apart from a half-empty one of their own, which the prisoners gave to Vincent, who “was in the worst shape.”
Greta was released and deported to Greece after five days in captivity. When her suitcase was returned to her, “Whore Greta” had been written on it in large letters, as well as a Star of David and an erect penis.
“This is not about me or the others from the flotilla. There are thousands of Palestinians, hundreds of whom are children, who are being held without trial right now, and many of them are most likely being tortured,” Greta told Aftonbladet. “What we have been through is only a small, small part of what Palestinians have experienced. On the walls of our prison cells, we saw bullet holes with bloodstains and messages carved into the walls by Palestinian prisoners who had been there before us.”
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She went on: “This shows that if Israel, with the whole world watching, can treat a well-known, white person with a Swedish passport this way, just imagine what they do to Palestinians behind closed doors.”
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Israeli authorities have denied Greta’s allegations, with the foreign minister saying in a statement to the Telegraph: “All of her legal rights were fully upheld. Interestingly enough, Greta herself refused to expedite her deportation and insisted on prolonging her stay in custody. She also never lodged any complaint with the Israeli authorities regarding these ludicrous and baseless allegations – because they simply never happened.”
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