Greta Thunberg and nearly two hundred pro-Palestinian activists are released by Israel.
Israel also releases 27 Spaniards from the flotilla, but detains one of the detainees accused of biting a doctor.
BarcelonaThe Israeli government deported another 171 activists from the Global Summit Flotilla on Monday, including Swedish youth Greta Thunberg, on planes to Greece and Slovakia. It denied that they had suffered any abuse in custody, as some of the prisoners had alleged. "This genocide is being fueled by our governments and our institutions. It is our responsibility to end this complicity. We are not heroes; what we have done is the bare minimum," Thunberg said from Athens airport. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has stated that this group of "provocateurs" includes citizens of Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia, Sweden, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The Swedish activist, one of the Flotilla's most well-known faces, arrived at Athens airport on Monday afternoon surrounded by displays of support.
Twenty-seven of the 28 Flotilla activists with Spanish passports who remained detained in Israel have also been released, including Cuperos Pilar Castillejo and Adrià Plazas, and representatives of Podemos, who will sleep that night in the State. One of the activists, Reyes Rigo, has been detained, accused of having bitten an Israeli doctor who was performing a routine medical examination on Sunday afternoon as part of the preparations for her repatriation, according to her. The Country"The forecast is that no Spaniards will remain in prison today," Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares had said hours earlier on Catalunya Ràdio. "Everyone is working so that they can sleep at home today. This is the objective and I hope we can achieve it," Duch added in statements to RTVE, which will receive the Catalan delegation at the airport at midnight.
This Sunday, the Flotilla activists who had signed a voluntary extradition document, which forced them to acknowledge that their entry into Israel had been "illegal," arrived in Spain. This first group included former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau and Republican councilor Jordi Coronas, who They have reported "psychological torture", harassment and deprivation of food and water. by Israel during their detention in the Israeli state. This mistreatment has also been witnessed by the rest of the released international activists and, as Commons MEP Jaume Asens explained on SER, will be transferred to the Spanish prosecutor's office, which is already investigating Israel for the crimes committed in Gaza.
The two CUP leaders landed in Barcelona early Monday morning, although they were originally scheduled to arrive on Tuesday after spending the night in Madrid. "They will arrive in Barcelona tomorrow, surely," CUP spokesperson Susanna Moreno reported at a press conference on Monday morning. In this regard, the spokesperson lamented "the lack of information" from Israel and denounced its continued "violation of rights" by maintaining the isolation of the detainees. Finally, both Castillejo and Plazas arrived at El Prat after being transferred from Tel Aviv to Athens and from there to Barcelona. The other activists went to the Madrid and Bilbao airports.
Upon arrival at the airport, Castillejo explained that they had been mistreated by Israeli security and administrative forces, but stressed that this "must be left in the background" because Palestinians suffer "much worse conditions." CUP leadership member Adrià Plazas called for a spotlight on governments throughout Europe, including the Spanish government, because "they are not fulfilling their duty to guarantee international law." "With each resignation, states become accomplices," he said.
The activists who landed in Barcelona expressed their concern for Reyes Rigo, the Mallorcan activist who remains imprisoned. Without confirming or denying the Israeli authorities' version, some of them did state that they witnessed how the prison authorities beat her and took her to an isolation ward. The activists who shared the prison with her and who returned to Barcelona today tried, without success, to obtain information before leaving. "All we've achieved is being handcuffed and put on the bus that took us to the airport," they criticized.
The CUP (Party of the Unity of People's Party) has emphasized that the Flotilla's mission was "the spark" that brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets in Barcelona this Saturday, and CUP spokesperson Su Moreno reiterated that "civil society has done what states should do." The CUP leader also criticized the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) for "supporting Gaza and at the same time repressing the protests" and announced that they will ask the Parliament's plenary session this week for explanations.
After sleeping at home for the first time in over a month, Colau also expressed sharp criticism of the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). In an interview on Catalunya Ràdio, she took the opportunity to call on the government to do "more" to sever all relations with Israel, including economic ones. "The PSC has been very lukewarm," the former mayor reproached, recalling that Mayor Jaume Collboni reestablished the twinning relationship with Tel Aviv, which she broke when she came to power—and then left it hanging again. Until now, and as a result of a pact with Comuns, Salvador Illa's government has closed Acción's office in Tel Aviv in protest of the massacre in Gaza.
The Government will urge an "investigation" into the mistreatment.
Foreign Minister Jaume Duch has stated that the "mistreatment" reported by the Global Sumud Flotilla activists detained in Israel will have to be "investigated." These abuses "will have to be investigated," Duch stated, emphasizing that the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has indicated that "there is already an investigation by the Prosecutor's Office" and, in fact, on Sunday "there was a forensic team at the airport" for those repatriated.
Along the same lines, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska assured this Monday that the Spanish government will respond to the complaints of the flotilla activists, but expressed caution regarding the legal measures that could be taken while waiting for the return of the remaining activists today. In statements to TVE, Marlaska recalled that the government and the Attorney General's Office are "proactive" in appearing before the International Criminal Court, but that no legal qualifications can be made regarding what happened with the Flotilla. Marlaska considered that in this possible Spanish judicial investigation, it would be "very helpful" if these activists filed a complaint about the alleged mistreatment and harassment they suffered in Israel.