The Flotilla activists arrive in Catalonia: "The feeling was that we were in a concentration camp"

BarcelonaThe 18 Catalan activists who were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla landed this midday in Barcelona from Istanbul, after spending five days detained by the Israeli authorities. With banners of "Welcome home" and shouts of "Long live, long live Palestine", a hundred people were waiting for them at El Prat airport, and the reception left emotional images of reunion with their families.

The activists arrived at the Terminal 2 hall dressed in grey Israeli prison tracksuits, flip-flops, and a Palestinian scarf. In front of the media, they denounced the mistreatment they suffered and demanded action from Western governments: "We are risking our lives because governments are not acting," assured Ariadna Masmitjà, a teacher linked to the IAC union. She also asked the European Union to break off relations with Israel and criticized the Catalan budgets: "[We want] to defend that our money stops buying weapons," she said.

Filmmaker Mi Hoa Li, who was also on board the flotilla, has recounted the cruelty with which Israeli forces treated them: "They start hitting you until you fall to the ground and ask you to get up. If you don't get up, they kick you; then you have to get up, better. You get up again and they hit you again, until you fall again and they hit you again. They did that to me, and they also attacked me with a Taser [gun] for more than two minutes," she denounced. For his part, Javier Zendrera, visibly moved, described an "extreme violence" that continued behind bars: "Guards were constantly hitting us. The feeling was that we were in a concentration camp," he stated, recalling moments when he didn't know if the person next to him was still alive. "The world is watching us, but for the Palestinians this has no end."

At the terminal, the activists were received by various social entities and by the Minister of Culture, the Catalan Ernest Urtasun (Comuns).

The activists were intercepted in international waters while sailing towards Gaza on a humanitarian mission to denounce the genocide. Subsequently, they were transferred to a prison ship that took them to Israel. From Istanbul, where they underwent medical check-ups before flying to Barcelona, the group has reported suffering torture, abuse, and mistreatment. In total, the organization has recorded several injuries —including 36 fractures— and twelve episodes of sexual violence, including rape. “They treated us like animals”, activist Maria Mallach stated about the captivity on the ship, where she recounts that Israeli forces even fired at the crew.

An international investigation

The episode that most evidenced this vexatious treatment and provoked a wave of international condemnation was spearheaded by the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir. In images published by himself, he appeared mocking the 428 activists detained at the port of Ashdod, in Israel. Accompanied by Israeli security forces, he walked among the activists —kneeling with their heads to the ground— and told them: “Welcome to Israel, as masters of the land”, while waving an Israeli flag.

With the aim that these human rights violations do not go unpunished, the organization demands a "full and independent international investigation" into the assault on the humanitarian mission and that "those responsible be referred to the International Criminal Court". Similarly, it considers that the European Union should sanction those politically responsible and cut commercial ties with Israel.