Updated on June 9 at 5:35 pm EST
Israeli officials say that the 12 activists who were onboard the Gaza aid flotilla vessel that was seized by the Israeli military as it was trying to break Israel’s starvation blockade have been taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the group behind the humanitarian effort to break Israel’s starvation blockade on Gaza, said earlier in the day that it hasn’t heard from the crew since the Israeli military boarded the Madleen.
“It’s been 15 hours since we last saw or heard from our friends and comrades. We have not been allowed any contact,” the FFC wrote on Telegram.
“Of course, Israeli media alledge that no volunteers have been harmed. But the psychological impact of being forcibly abducted by a military force that is conducting a genocide in Gaza and other war crimes across the world, as well as being cut off from friends, family, and FFC colleagues, is illegal, beyond distressing and an attack on solidarity,” the FFC added.
According to Haaretz, the Israeli Prison Service is preparing to transport the activists to a jail, where they will wait for a government decision on whether to expel them immediately or face a judge instead.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel tried to make the 12 crew members, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, watch footage of the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, but they refused.
Katz has labeled Thunberg and the other activists “antisemitic” due to their opposition to Israel’s genocidal war.
“Greta and her flotilla companions were taken into a room upon their arrival for a screening of the horror film of the October 7 massacre, and when they saw what it was about, they refused to continue watching,” Katz said. “The antisemitic flotilla members are turning a blind eye to the truth.”
The FFC has been releasing pre-recorded videos from the activists who were onboard the Madleen. “My name is Greta Thunberg and I am from Sweden. If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that support Israel,” Thunberg said in one video.
“I urge all my friends, family, and colleagues to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me as soon as possible,” the Swedish activist added.
Israel has a history of attacking boats attempting to break its blockade of Gaza. Back in 2010, Israeli commandos raided six Freedom Flotilla boats and killed 10 Turkish activists. Just last month, an Israeli drone hit another Freedom Flotilla boat, the Conscience, when it was off the coast of Malta.
