Showing that cloddishness that we have come to expect from them, Israel’s detention of the activists on the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) was a coarse and violent affair.  Having been intercepted in international waters on route to Gaza to break the Israeli-imposed blockade, the 470 or so activists, hailing from some fifty countries travelling on 40 boats, were duly taken to the Ketziot prison complex in the Negev desert in southern Israel.  According to GSF, the endeavour was intended to “break the illegal siege on Gaza by sea, open a humanitarian corridor, and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.”

US activist David Adler, who was released and deported to Jordan on 7 October, issued an audio message shared with Al Jazeera through the advocacy group Progressive International describing the events: “We were kidnapped, stripped, zip-tied, blindfolded and sent to an internment camp on a police van without any access to food, to water, to legal support.”  His Jewishness, along with that of a fellow activist, had been noted by the captors.  “After interception, we were violently forced onto our knees into positions of submission, where the two Jews of the flotilla were taken by the ear and ripped from the group for a photo-op with [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir, staring at the flag of the State of Israel, taunted by his goons.”

Over the course of five days, Adler endured “serial and systematic violations” of basic human rights.  At night, riot police accompanied by attack dogs would raid the prison to strike fear into the interned activists.  

Adler’s accounts received solid corroboration from other........

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