Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has revealed that she endured beatings, threats, deliberate humiliation and dehydration at the hands of Israeli prison guards following the interception of a humanitarian aid flotilla.
In an interview with Swedish daily Aftonbladet published on Wednesday, Thunberg recounted the five harrowing days she spent in Israeli custody after being seized from the Global Samud Flotilla alongside other activists earlier this month.
She described guards carrying out “beating, kicking, and threats of being gassed in cages,” providing vivid details of the abuse.
“I was dragged to a paved area fenced in with iron, and they hit and kicked me while an Israeli flag touched me. They ripped off my frog hat, threw it on the ground, stomped it, and yelled insults in Swedish,” she recalled.
Thunberg gave a harrowing account of the relentless physical and verbal abuse inflicted by Israeli prison guards.
“They moved me very brutally to a corner … ‘A special place for a special lady,’ they said. And then they had learned (the phrases) ‘Lilla hora’ (Little whore) and ‘Hora Greta’ (Whore Greta) in Swedish, which they repeated all the time.”
Thunberg, had originally said she did not want to draw attention away from the suffering of Palestinians by complaining about her prison conditions.
“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,” Thunberg told Aftonbladet, highlighting the broader suffering of Palestinians.
The flotilla had sailed to challenge Israel’s long-running humanitarian blockade that continues to deny vital food and medical aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.
The confrontation began when masked Israeli soldiers carrying automatic weapons boarded the flotilla boats.
Thunberg described being forced to sit in a circle under the scorching sun while guards tore through supplies, tossing medicines and food into trash bins.
“It was extremely hot down there … 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,” she said, illustrating the psychological torment.
The activists were eventually taken to Ashdod, the largest industrial port in the occupied territories, where the abuse intensified.
The 22-year-old was also made to change her ‘Free Palestine’ T-shirt.
Thunberg reported threats and assaults from far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who shouted, “You are terrorists. You want to kill Jewish babies,” while other protesters were beaten.
Guards routinely threatened abductees, forced them to stand or kneel for hours in extreme heat, and confined them in small, overcrowded cells with minimal food or water. In one cell, prisoners were made to drink brown tap water, and several fell ill.
“Then guards came and said we are going to gas you. It was standard for them to say that. They held up a gas cylinder and threatened to press it against us,” Thunberg said. “The guards have no empathy or humanity … Everything they do is extremely violent. People’s medications, heart, cancer, and insulin were thrown away in front of their eyes,” the activist added.
She also noted bullet holes and bloodstains on prison walls, alongside messages carved by Palestinian abductees held in the prison before her.
Greta Thunberg emphasized that the focus should remain on Palestine. “What we have been through is only a small, small part of what Palestinians have experienced,” stressing that the suffering of flotilla activists is minor compared with the ongoing abuses faced by Palestinian people.
[ SOURCE: PRESS TV and NEWS AGENCIES ]
