Rape, Assault, Abuse
It has been only 72 hours since our colleagues on the Gaza flotilla arrived in Istanbul, Turkiye to tell of the rape, assaults and abuse they endured from the Israeli military on their sailboats, security personnel on the prison ship, civilian police at the Ashdod processing center and guards at the notoriously abusive Ktzi’ot prison. Shezaf, Hagar (August 5, 2024). "Torture, Sexual Abuse and Humiliation | Dozens of Testimonies From Palestinian Prisoners Describe Conditions in Israeli Jails During Gaza war". Haaretz.
Criminal Abuse Orchestrated and Ordered at the Highest Level of the Israeli Government
The 72 hours feel like weeks as we heard the stories from each of the 428 unarmed civilians from 45 countries who were on 50 small sailboats, kidnapped in international waters and taken against their will to a place they did not want to go-Israel-and then subjected to criminal abuse from personnel from a multitude of Israeli security institutions.
This criminal abuse was orchestrated and ordered at the highest level of the Israeli government as evidenced by the statement and actions of Minister of National Security Ben Gvir. Gvir himself posted footage on a social media platform showing himself gloating as activists from the flotilla were forced to kneel on the floor, blindfolded, roughed up with the hands bound tightly in zipties at the port of Ashdod.
The videos include a clip of Ben-Gvir waving an Israeli flag over the detainees who are hunched over on the ground with their hands bound and a clip of him smiling and chanting “Am Yisrael Chai”—Hebrew for “The nation of Israel lives”—at a detainee. Other clips showed detainees being pushed down to the ground, and detainees with their foreheads pressed against the floor, surrounded by armed guards as the Israeli national anthem plays.
Countries Ban Ben Gvir for Actions Against International Activists, But Not for Actions Against Palestinians
For his actions, France has banned Ben-Gvir from entering French territory stating that his “unspeakable behavior of taunting Gaza flotilla activists who had been arrested and abused by Israeli police forces. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot wrote on X on May 23: “As of today, Itamar Ben-Gvir is banned from entering French territory. This decision follows his unspeakable actions towards French and European citizens who were passengers on the Global Sumud Flotilla. We cannot tolerate that French nationals can be threatened, intimidated or brutalized in this way—all the more so by a public officials.” Barrot also called for the European Union to sanction Ben Gvir.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the treatment seen in the footage in a post on X, calling the images “unacceptable” and saying it was “inadmissible” that demonstrators, including Italian citizens, were subjected to treatment that “violates human dignity”.
“Italy further demands an apology for the treatment of these demonstrators and for the utter contempt shown toward the explicit requests of the Italian government,” she said, adding that Israel’s ambassador in Rome would also be summoned.
President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea on May 20 called Israel’s actions “way out of line.”
Spain and Ireland also issued statements, calling out Ben Gvir’s “monstrous” and “appalling” behavior.
Even US President Donald Trump’s administration issued a rare criticism of an Israeli official, branding Ben Gvir’s actions “despicable. “Flotilla was stupid stunt, but Ben Gvir betrayed the dignity of his nation,” wrote US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on X.
Israeli Government Values-Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing and Theft of Lands
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s disclaimer that Ben Givr’s incitement of violence against flotilla participants does not reflect the “values” of the state of Israel has been ridiculed around the world as the values of the state of Israel are clearly stated by their actions of recent genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank and 80 years of Israeli abuse of Palestinians beginning in 1948 with the Israeli militias massacres of Palestinians and theft of land and homes of over 800,000 in the Nakba, “Catastrophe.”
No one has to look far for the “values” of the state of Israel. The values of the state of Israel are the criminal actions documented in excruciating detail by cases brought to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.
Gaza Flotilla Participants Suffered Gunshots, Beatings, Sexual Assaults, Concussions, Broken Bones…and. They Still Are Willing to Challenge Israeli Brutality Toward Palestinians
Gaza flotilla participants, both men and women, young and old, endured an endless succession of criminal actions by Israeli state security officials. Three were shot by Israeli officials. Beatings, kicked in all parts of the body, dragged on the floor by the hair, forced to remain kneeling and bent over for hours at a time, beaten when one moved slightly, stripped naked numerous times, sexually assaulted, intimidation and humiliation were suffered in various degrees by virtually all of the 428 persons who were kidnapped from their flotilla boats.
Within hours of their arrival in Istanbul, flotilla participants were describing one by one, boat by boat, to Turkish police investigators and civilian lawyers what the Israeli security personnel did to them. These are official statements from participants that will be used in judicial proceedings against the State of Israel.
The first of many reports describing the treatment of many participants was issued on May 24, 2026. Titled “Global Sumud Flotilla Released Horrific, Newly Emerging Testimonies as Survivors Return Home,” it contains descriptions by members of several delegations of Israeli brutality toward flotilla participants:
New Testimonies: Terror Inside the Shipping Containers
As survivors begin speaking to the press upon arrival in their home nations, a shared experience of calculated barbarism—and profound solidarity—is emerging:
- The French Delegation: In a chilling personal testimony, French delegate Meriem Hadjal described being dragged toward a dark shipping container by soldiers multiple times her size. "I take the first blow. Slaps that knock you out… Everything happens at the level of the head." Terrified of being raped, she resisted as a soldier repeatedly touched her, while a second soldier pulled at her chest and pants. Inside the container, she witnessed a third soldier torturing another volunteer on the ground with a taser. Another soldier grabbed her by the hair, beating her head while demanding she show her face. When the container door briefly opened, she recounted, "what I mainly see on the ground, because I don't look up, are bloodstains." Meriem noted she, along with other detainees, were stripped naked, removing any warm clothes and crammed into splintered containers where they could hear their "comrades, one by one, screaming, because they were being beaten to a pulp."
- The Polish Delegation: Karim Awad, a medic holding dual Polish and UK citizenship, recounted being choked with a torn Palestinian flag by an iOF soldier. Awad was subsequently subjected to continuous stompings to the head by six soldiers. Because he had written "Free Palestine" on his body, he was singled out for multiple strip searches, severe beatings with a hand-held metal detector, and having his hair ripped out. He further revealed that the iOF systematically flooded the floors of the dark shipping containers with cold water every few hours to prevent detainees from sleeping.
- The Greek Delegation: Delegates recounted the boarding of the Kiriakos X, where soldiers used electric shocks and brutal beatings on the crew to force them to identify their captain. To halt the torture of her crew, the female captain courageously stepped forward to claim responsibility for the boat and volunteers; the iOF responded by shooting her directly in the leg with a rubber bullet. She was wounded and denied proper medical care for days.
- The South African Delegation: Two South African delegates, Ebrahim Peters and Qutb Hendricks, provided powerful testimony detailing how iOF soldiers explicitly used geopolitical retaliation as a pretext for torture. Upon discovering the participants’ nationality, soldiers dragged them into an isolated room and launched a targeted physical assault. While beating the volunteers, soldiers explicitly referenced international accountability mechanisms, stating, "You guys want to take us to court? We'll show you," referencing South Africa's genocide case against israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
- The Belgian & Australian Delegations: 77-year-old Belgian delegate Olimpia Dìez Perlines expressed total shock at the sadism of the forces. Julien Cabral, another Belgian participant noted that soldiers could be heard explicitly saying, "let's have fun," as they initiated the violent attacks. And Australian delegate Juliet Lamont provided further harrowing details, confirming she was sexually assaulted “in this kind of torture chamber as five men were bashing me and smashing my face.”
- The Canadian Delegation: Ehab Lotayef, sailing aboard the Canadian Boat to Gaza, was directly asked by iOF personnel to assist them with translation, only to be stabbed in the hand by soldiers the moment he attempted to provide that help.
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The Brazilian Delegation: A delegate returning to Brazil, Ariadne Telles, detailed suffering physical and psychological torture. The delegate was subjected to severe sleep deprivation and targeted physical assaults: "They kicked me on the face, they kicked me on the legs, they zip-tied my hands; I don't feel my fingers until now."Detainees were forced to sit on their knees with their heads pressed to the floor for hours, while captors laughed.
Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves. She retired as a Colonel with many awards including the Legion of Merit. She also served as a U.S. diplomat in U.S. Embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia and received the Award for Heroism for the evacuation of the U.S. and international community from the civil war in Sierra Leone in 1997. She resigned from the U.S. government in 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”