Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg arrived in Greece to a cheering crowd of pro-Palestinian supporters on Monday after she and hundreds of other activists captured by Israel on the high seas were deported following an attempt to bring aid to Gaza.
Israel said it expelled 171 activists on Monday, including Thunberg, bringing the total deported so far to 341, out of 479 people it detained when it captured the flotilla attempting to break its naval blockade of Gaza.
The Greek Foreign Ministry said 161 of the activists arrived on a flight to Athens on Monday. They included Thunberg, 22, 27 Greek citizens, as well as citizens of nearly 20 other countries.
“Let me be very clear. There is a genocide going on,” Thunberg told the crowd at the Athens airport referring to Israeli military action in Gaza.
“Our international systems are betraying Palestinians. They are not even able to prevent the worst war crimes from happening. What we aimed to do with the Global Sumud flotilla was to step up when our governments failed to do their legal obligation.”
Participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla, who were seeking to deliver aid to Gaza and were detained by Israel, arrived in Athens Monday after being expelled by Israel. (Louisa Gouliamaki/Reuters )
Canadians detained
Israel, which rejects accusations it is carrying out genocide in Gaza and says reports of hunger there are exaggerated, has dismissed the flotilla as a publicity stunt benefiting Hamas. It had previously detained Thunberg at sea in a similar attempt to breach the blockade in June.
Ottawa says Israel will release three Canadians who were also detained on a flotilla vessel.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand wrote on the platform X today that “Canada is aware of three Canadians who were detained off the coast of Israel.”
She says Global Affairs Canada has offered consular assistance and “all three are in the process of being released.”
The other deportees are citizens of Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Norway, the U.K., Serbia and the United States, the Israeli foreign ministry said.
Israeli forces intercepted dozens of vessels belonging to the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) carrying foreign activists and humanitarian aid bound for Gaza, the flotilla’s organizers said Thursday. This is the latest attempt to break an Israeli blockade and deliver supplies to the war-torn Palestinian territory.
Deported activists allege mistreatment
Among nine members of the flotilla who arrived home in Switzerland, some alleged sleep deprivation, lack of water and food, as well as some being beaten, kicked and locked in a cage, the group representing them said in a statement.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson rejected the allegations.
Spanish activists also alleged mistreatment on their arrival in Spain late on Sunday after being deported.
“They beat us, dragged us along the ground, blindfolded us, tied our hands and feet, put us in cages and insulted us,” lawyer Rafael Borrego told reporters at Madrid’s airport.
Swedish activists said on Saturday that Thunberg was shoved and forced to wear an Israeli flag during her detention, while others said they had clean food and water withheld and had their medication and belongings confiscated.
Israel says claims are lies
Israel’s foreign ministry has described widespread reports of detainees being mistreated after the flotilla was intercepted as “complete lies.”
A spokesperson told Reuters over the weekend that all detainees were given access to water, food and restrooms, adding, “they were not denied access to legal counsel and all their legal rights were fully upheld.”
On Sunday, the Swiss Embassy in Tel Aviv visited 10 Swiss nationals and said all were “in relatively good health, given the circumstances.”
Former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, who was also on the flotilla, said there had been “mistreatment, but that was nothing compared to what the Palestinian people suffer every day.”
One of the Spanish activists who was part of the Global Sumud Flotilla and was detained by Israeli forces gestures next to police officers upon arrival at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport in Madrid, Spain, on Sunday. (Juan Medina/Reuters)
Spanish journalists Carlos de Barron and Nestor Prieto said Israeli authorities signed a statement on the deported activists’ behalf claiming they had entered Israel illegally.
“They placed documents in Hebrew in front of us, denying us the right to a translator, and we did not receive consular assistance because they did not allow the [Spanish] consul to enter the port of Ashdod,” Prieto said.
Consular staff have visited activists at the prison, according to statements from several countries whose citizens were detained.