A United States citizen who was detained by Israel on the Global Sumud Flotilla, which tried to deliver aid to Gaza, says he and other activists endured abuse and “psychological torture” in Israeli custody.
David Adler, who was released and deported to Jordan on Tuesday, said after Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla in international waters, they took the activists to a prison complex in the Negev desert in southern Israel.
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“We were kidnapped, stripped, zip-tied, blindfolded and sent to an internment camp on a police van without any access to food, to water, to legal support,” he said. “And for the next five days, on and off, we were psychologically tortured.”
In an audio message shared with Al Jazeera through the advocacy group Progressive International, Adler said he and another Jewish activist were picked out and forced to be photographed with Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“After interception, we were violently forced onto our knees into positions of submission, where the two Jews of the flotilla were taken by the ear and ripped from the group for a photo-op with Ben-Gvir, staring at the flag of the State of Israel, taunted by his goons,” Adler said.
He described his time in detention as a “five-day nightmare of serial and systematic violations of our most basic rights”.
‘My Jewish heritage demands it’
Adler, who is co-general coordinator at Progressive International, added that riot troops would raid the prison with attack dogs at night to “terrify and terrorise” the detainees.
His testimony adds to the allegations of mistreatment of flotilla activists, who included climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
The flotilla – a collection of more than 40 boats and 470 people from across the world – aimed to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, which has sparked a deadly hunger crisis in the territory.
Israel intercepted the flotilla in international waters last week, a move that human rights advocates have argued is illegal.
Adler was one of more than 20 US citizens in the group and among the last to be released.
Earlier this week, about two dozen lawmakers from the activist’s home state of California penned a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling on him to push for Adler to be freed.
As he was sailing towards Gaza last week, Adler shared a social media post reflecting on his Jewish identity and the decision to participate in the flotilla.
“If there’s any part of the Torah that I still remember, it is this obligation it bestows upon us: ‘Justice, justice you shall pursue.’ How could we stand by while the State of Israel perverts this holy obligation, overseeing a holocaust of the Palestinian people?” Adler wrote.
“I joined this flotilla just like any other delegate – to defend humanity before it is too late. But on Yom Kippur, I am reminded that I am also here because my Jewish heritage demands it.”
Trump envoy taunts Adler
According to Adler, US officials did not provide any consular services to him and other Americans who were imprisoned by Israel.
“The US general consul said, ‘We are not your babysitters. You’d have no food, no water, no money, no phones, no planes,’” he said. “‘We’re taking you straight to the airport, and you’re on your own.’”
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee had rebuked Adler personally, calling him a “self-absorbed tool of Hamas”.
Huckabee also echoed the false Israeli claims that the flotilla is “Hamas-funded”.
Palestinian rights advocates and many Palestinians in Gaza welcomed the flotilla, saying it demonstrates the power of individuals to take direct action to help the people in Gaza even if they fail to reach the shores of the territory.
In his message, Adler called the mistreatment of the activists a marker of “how rogue the state of Israel has become in its utter disregard for basic international humanitarian law”.
“I’m obviously very aware that all of this pales in comparison to the treatment that Palestinians endure every single day,” he said.
Israel holds thousands of Palestinian detainees, many without charge or trial.
Rights groups and United Nations experts have documented horrific and systemic torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including the use of starvation and sexual violence against captives.
Israel continues to imprison US teenager Mohammed Ibrahim, who was arrested in the occupied West Bank in February and has since lost more than a quarter of his body weight, according to his family.
