Dragged & draped in Israeli flag: Greta Thunberg tortured by Israeli forces?

Greta Thunberg was allegedly 'tortured' when the Global Sumud flotilla she and other human rights activists and journalists were on, en route to the Gaza Strip, was intercepted by Israeli forces, Al Jazeera claimed. Some 137 activists jailed by Israel for participating in a flotilla attempting to bring aid to the Gaza Strip arrived in Turkey on Saturday after being deported.

The activists claimed that the Swedish activist had been mistreated during their imprisonment. Hazwani Helmi, a Malaysian citizen, and Windfield Beaver, an American citizen, told Reuters that Israeli troops tortured Thunberg.

Turkish journalist Ersin Celik corroborated this, alleging that Israeli forces “tortured little Greta”, and that she was 'dragged on the ground' and ‘forced to kiss the Israeli flag’, as per Al Jazeera.

Thunberg was apparently shoved and forced to wear the Israeli flag. “They treated us like animals,” Helmi recalled. 

According to an email from the Swedish foreign ministry to Thunberg's associates, an official who visited her in detention stated that she was detained in a bedbug-infested cell with little food and water.

“The embassy has been able to meet with Greta,” the email read, further stating, “She informed of dehydration. She has received insufficient amounts of both water and food. She also stated that she had developed rashes, which she suspects were caused by bedbugs. She spoke of harsh treatment and said she had been sitting for long periods on hard surfaces.”

Italian journalist Lorenzo Agostino, who was also aboard the flotilla, recalled about Thunberg, “Greta Thunberg, a brave woman, is only 22 years old. She was humiliated and wrapped in an Israeli flag and exhibited like a trophy.”

While the Government of Israel denied these allegations and called them “brazen lies”, the country’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, stated that he was “proud” that Israeli forces were “treating the ‘flotilla activists’ as terror supporters.”

The flotilla, which set sail in late August, was the latest attempt by activists to breach Israel's naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been launching military attacks since the Palestinian militant group Hamas's lethal attack on Israel in October 2023. 

Several human rights and United Nations-affiliated groups have called Israel's military efforts a genocide to eliminate the population of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.