Two Australian activists say they were “brutalised psychologically” and treated “like criminals” by the Israeli military, including being strip-searched, shackled and denied external communication, after a boat they were on was intercepted and detained while attempting to transport aid to Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
The journalist Tania “Tan” Safi and human rights activist Robert Martin were among 21 activists on board the Handala when it was intercepted on Sunday and transported to Israel.
It had carried food, baby formula, nappies and medicine, as Palestinians continue to starve in what UN-backed hunger experts have called a “worst-case scenario of famine” unfolding.
On Friday morning local time, the Australians landed at Sydney airport after spending days in Israeli custody. Safi told reporters they were still “a little bit wobbly” and felt “very sore and weak”. The Handala crew had previously confirmed they would go on a hunger strike if the Israel Defense Forces intercepted the boat and detained its passengers.
“It feels like a bit of a dream at the moment to be honest … it’s been a rough ride,” Safi said. “We were dehydrated and exhausted. We’ve been disconnected from the world.”
Safi said at least 30 IDF members boarded Handala when it was intercepted, and claimed all were armed, some with four guns.
“They knocked me in the leg with one of their machine guns,” Safi said.
“They were playing this odd psychological game of offering water and food with the camera crew, trying to get us to accept things from them, but none of us would. We don’t want to take anything from an entity that is starving babies to death.”
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Safi said that after arriving at the port of Ashdod, about 40km south of Tel Aviv, their bags were taken and they were placed in an interrogation room. Many items were still missing, they said.
They confirmed reports that US labour activist Chris Smalls was physically assaulted by the IDF – including being choked and kicked in the legs.
“Chris, the only black man, was pinned down by seven or eight men,” Safi said.
“When I asked about him they came into the room and dragged me out by my arms, I’m still bruised from it.
“They pulled me out and threw me down on the floor, they made me take off all my clothes, they strip-searched me right there, made me squat up and down … they treated us like we were criminals.”
Eventually, Safi said they were able to see someone from the Australian embassy, who lobbied for the pair to be able to contact their friends and family and to access legal representation.
“In these prisons, we saw face-to-face the soullessness and the cruelty and brutality,” Safi said, adding that they had woken to the sounds of a fellow inmate “howling and screaming and crying in pain”.
“There were moments where they would handcuff me and grab the handcuffs and just throw me against the wall.”
Martin said he had been “manhandled” along with a few others when initially demanding legal representation.
“We had no rights … I have a lot of medication, they didn’t allow any medication at all,” he said. “The Australian government demanded I be able to make phone calls to my loved ones, they did not allow me to do that either, and anybody else.”
Eventually, Martin said, the pair were shackled and transported from Tel Aviv to Jordan. In Jordan, they received assistance from the embassy and were taken to hospital, where they were temporarily deemed unfit to fly due to their weak condition.
“We thought they were going to just dump us there, that was very, very scary for us, not knowing, having no phone, no money, no access to anything,” Martin said.
Safi said they did not realise how poor their condition was until they were hooked up to the IV in hospital and told they were “really unwell”.
“I just passed out and slept for like 16 hours,” Safi said.
“I couldn’t sleep [in prison] … they shine the torch in your face until you wake up, or they bang on the door every time you fall asleep.
“We did not commit any crimes. They tried to get us to sign documents that said we had entered Israel illegally, which is not true … we were taken completely against our will and brutalised psychologically in every way.”
The last boat sent by Freedom Flotilla, the Madleen, was intercepted by the Israeli army in international waters on 9 June and towed to Ashdod.
It carried 12 campaigners on board, including the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who were eventually expelled by Israel. In 2010, nine flotilla activists en route to Gaza on board the Mavi Marmara flagship vessel were shot a total of 30 times by Israeli soldiers. Five were killed by close-range gunshot wounds to the head.
The Israeli embassy in Canberra and Israeli ministry for foreign affairs were approached for comment.
