By MELANIE LIDMAN and RENATA BRITO Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities said Monday they deported to Greece and Slovakia another 171 people detained for taking part in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, including prominent Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X that “the deportees were citizens of Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Norway, the UK, Serbia, and the United States.” The post included photos of Thunberg and other activists wearing white T-shirts and gray sweatpants.
Thunberg was among dozens of deportees to land in Athens, Greece, on Monday afternoon. Crowds of supporters gathered at the Eleftherios Venizelos international airport and chanted “Free free Palestine!” as activists disembarked.
“That this mission has to exist, it’s a shame! It is a shame!” Thunberg told journalists and protesters shortly after arriving. “I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment, trust me, but that is not the story,” she added.
Instead, Thunberg urged world leaders and ordinary citizens to end their “complicity” with the “genocide” being carried out against Palestinians in Gaza, on the eve of the second anniversary of the war there between Israel and Hamas.
“We cannot take our eyes away from Gaza,” Thunberg said.
The interception of the flotilla led to large-scale demonstrations in cities across the world.
Israeli authorities again rejected mistreatment accusations that have emerged in interviews with activists who were deported to Turkey, Spain and Italy over the weekend. Israel’s government has also vehemently denied claims that its offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide, despite a growing number of experts denouncing it as such.
Lubna Tuma, a lawyer with the Adalah association representing more than 470 Global Sumud Flotilla participants who were detained last week as they attempted to break the Israeli siege of Gaza, said 150 people were still held in Israel’s Ktziot prison, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela. Forty of them were on hunger strike, including many Tunisians.
“Some stated that they prefer that their food go to the people in Gaza,” Tuma said during a briefing on Monday that was broadcast on Adalah’s and the flotilla’s Instagram accounts. Others were also refusing to drink water “until medical treatment is given to all detainees,” she said.
The association’s legal team said the remainder of the activists — including those from countries that don’t maintain diplomatic relations with Israel — were expected to be deported on Tuesday.
Adalah lawyers have seen most, but not all, of the activists. Tuma said Israeli authorities have repeatedly violated activists’ rights. Tuma said it started with their interception in international waters and continued with their transfer to Israel and detention in a maximum security prison, where Tuma said activists were subject to physical violence and humiliation.
Israeli authorities have strongly rejected the claims, reiterating that the detainees’ rights had been respected throughout their detention. Israel’s foreign ministry accused one activist of biting a female medical staff member.
Several activists have given testimonies alleging mistreatment by Israeli authorities.
“There was some dehumanizing and violence and shouting,” Roos Ykema, a Dutch member of the flotilla who was deported to Madrid on Sunday, told The Associated Press. “But we got the European treatment,” she added.
North African nationals who were detained told the AP they faced harsher treatment than their European counterparts.
“When I showed my Belgian passport their behavior towards me changed completely,” said Houssem Eddine Rmedi, a dual Tunisian-Belgian citizen.
Others said they weren’t so lucky.
“The moment you show your Tunisian, Algerian or Moroccan passport, they start beating you,” said Moroccan activist Ayoub Habraoui, who added that he and others were kept kneeling under the sun for nearly six hours.
South Africa’s government said Monday that its citizens would be released and repatriated on Tuesday via Jordan. Several other governments that had citizens taking part in the flotilla have said their embassies in Israel were working closely with Israeli authorities to make sure activists were released and sent home as swiftly as possible.
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Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Ghaya Ben Mbarek contributed reporting from Tunis, Tunisia.
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