Israel violates all fundamental rights. Mobilization is the best way to support Palestine and to immediately release the members of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF).

By Ruben Tzanoff

Ill-treatment and humiliation

The interception of the GSF by Israeli forces in international watersgave way to the consummation of previous threats to lock up solidarity activists and treat them as “terrorists”. Despite the communication blockade, the statements posted and those that reach us are henious: deprivation of food, water and medicine for more than 36 hours, humiliation on camera, abusive body searches, unprotected exposure to weather, confinement in bed bugs-infested rooms, guard dogs, verbal threats, racist insults, and physical and psychological aggressions. Differentiated approaches may be achieved through consular intervention, which is limited according to accomplice levels.

Greta Thunberg and Thiago Ávila in the spotlight with the rest of the activists

Greta and Thiago have been targeted since the previous mission in June. Greta has managed to report that she is in a cell infested with bed bugs, suffers from dehydration, has skin rashes and has been forced to stay long hours on hard surfaces without rest. Other allegations claim that she was dragged by the hair, forced to kiss the Israeli flag, and to pose in degrading photographs. Thiago reported similar abuses and is on a hunger strike. The activists who have returned stated that they saw other activists disoriented, tormented, with visible injuries or health problems that had not been taken care of because Zionists confiscated their medicines.

These practices are not isolated incidents, they are dealt with by all activists, as part of the usual Israeli pattern of degrading treatment of Palestinian prisoners and anyone who expresses their solidarity. Their goal is to break their dignity, impose public humiliation and political deterrence.

A prison with a horrible history

Activists were taken to Israeli prisons in the Negev desert, particularly to the Ketziot complex (Ktzi’ot/Ansar III), a high-security prison known for being extremely strict having been historically used to confine Palestinian prisoners with severe restrictions. Ketziot is a huge prison complex created, partly, to lock up detainees/abductees in emergency situations or in conflict contexts. In recent years, it has been denounced by human rights organizations due to its appalling sanitary conditions, isolation, restrictions on visits and cruel treatment of detainees.

Lies and painfully slow release and deportations

Activists are “in custody” and being deported, but Israel denies the abuse allegations. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the detainees are “healthy” and under regular procedures, although it does not consistently allow independent access or international supervision. The choice of Ketziot is not casual: its geographical isolation facilitates absolute control, media asphyxiation and the violation of rights without public attention or press.

Since the beginning of the Israeli operation against the flotilla, Israel has followed a pattern of selective partial release, quick deportations for certain citizens, and arbitrary detention for others, possibly longer. The first released included four Italian comgress members, who left Israel after their diplomatic immunity was acknowledged. The Zionists also deported 137 activists to Turkey, according to Turkish reports, after forcing the detainees to accept deportation statements. Tonight 29 more activists have arrived in Madrid, including Spaniards, Catalans, Portuguese and Dutch. Upon arrival at the airport, they stated that there was severe abuse and even more so for Muslim women.

Around 420 activists are still detained, including our comrade Cele Fierro. Deportation is being done at Zionism discretion, not according to due process, and under pressure depending on whether the comrades sign the deportation document or not. The pace of releases is being slow, fragmented, and subject to diplomatic negotiations country by country, which multiplies the psychological aggression towards kidnapped comrades Zionism objective, in and out of prison, is to discourage new attempts to break the blockade on humanitarian aid.

Systematic rights violations: Palestine and those kidnapped

Israeli actions against the flotilla are not isolated. It is a colonial and apartheid policy. Israel maintains a regime that systematically violates Human Rights and international law in Palestine: extrajudicial executions, bombings of hospitals and schools, food, water and medicine blockade, forced displacement, demolition of houses and mass imprisonment.

By hijacking the flotilla, Israel violates the following rights: the right to freedom of maritime transit, the humanitarian right to deliver assistance to a blockaded territory, the rights of prisoners under the Geneva Convention, and the UN principles on civil and political rights. In the case of the journalists who were on the flotilla, their detention and the censorship of their legal coverage violate the right to information regarding a humanitarian operation.

Global mobilization for Palestine and the flotilla

The criminal offensive for the total occupation of Palestine and the arrest of the flotilla unleashed a wave of indignation around the world. As far as we can tell, due to the insistence of our comrades at the Argentine Foreign Ministry for Cele’s safety, she is fine eventhough she is kidnapped. Member organizations of the International Socialist League (ISL) are part of the protests around the world.

This is the the path we must follow and deepen the struggle with more mass mobilizations, boycott actions, workers’ strikes and other initiatives that pressure on governments not to look the other way and act for the immediate release of the kidnapped comrades.