Greta Thunberg recalls ill treatment by Israel

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg revealed that she was beaten, humiliated and threatened with being "gassed in a cage" during her time in Israeli custody, Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet reported in an interview published on Wednesday.

Greta was one of 450 people aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian aid mission involving over 40 vessels which aimed to deliver food, water and medicine to the Gaza Strip amid Israel's two-year onslaught on the besieged enclave.

The boats were intercepted by the Israeli navy on October 1, with Greta and all other activists being arrested and kept in Israeli custody. She was released and deported to Greece on October 6.

In her interview, Greta recounted her treatment in Israeli custody, which ranged from humiliation, threats of violence and physical beatings.

"She doesn't want headlines about herself and the torture she says she was subjected to," Aftonbladet reported.

"That was one of the first things she said on the evening she returned home, at a press conference in Sergels Torg together with several of the other Swedes who participated in the large Global Sumud Flotilla that attempted to bring emergency aid to Gaza."

Quoting Greta, the report read, "This is not about me or the others from the flotilla. There are thousands of Palestinians, hundreds of whom are children, who are being held without trial right now, and many of them are most likely being tortured."

"This shows that if Israel, with the whole world watching, can treat a well-known, white person with a Swedish passport this way, just imagine what they do to Palestinians behind closed doors."

Greta noted that what the flotilla activists went through is "only a small, small part of what Palestinians have experienced" and described bullet holes with bloodstains and messages carved into the cell walls by Palestinian prisoners detained there previously.

The activist recounted the night the flotilla was boarded, mentioning chemical agents employed by Israel and saying "that she will never again be able to look at a starry sky without thinking about drones".

"It was extremely hot down there. We just sat there. Those who weren't guarding us walked around the boat, tearing things apart and throwing everything around," she described.

"After about 20 hours, they arrived in Ashdod, Israel's largest industrial port, 40 kilometres south of Tel Aviv. A soldier pointed at Greta Thunberg and said, 'You first, come on!'" the publication wrote.

Greta added that she was not allowed to wear her t-shirt with "Free Palestine" on it and was ordered to change. She put on an orange one with the text "Decolonize" instead.

"And then I put on my frog hat. When I'm about to get off the boat, there are a bunch of police officers waiting for me," Greta recalled. "They grab me, pull me to the ground, and throw an Israeli flag over me."

Aftonbladet reported that Greta was dragged to a paved area fenced in with iron fences in a "protracted scene that lasts for over six hours", according to Greta and several participants in the flotilla.

"It was kind of dystopian," Greta said. "I saw maybe 50 people sitting in a row on their knees with handcuffs and their foreheads against the ground.

"They dragged me to the opposite side from where the others were sitting, and I had the flag around me the whole time. They hit and kicked me. Then they ripped off my frog hat, threw it on the ground, stomped and kicked it, and kind of threw a tantrum," she added.

"They moved me very brutally to a corner that I was turned towards. 'A special place for a special lady', they said," Greta explained. "And then they had learned lilla hora (little whore) and 'Hora Greta' (whore Greta) in Swedish, which they repeated all the time."

Greta added that while the Israeli flag was draped around her, guards would attack her if she touched the flag, even if it flapped towards her. She then described being bound "very tightly" with zip ties.

"They took my bag and threw away everything they interpreted as being related to Palestine," she added. "They took every item and stared into my eyes while slowly cutting them up with a knife, while ten people took selfies."

The activist also described the moment far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir came to the facility and verbally abused the detainees.

"He shouted, 'You are terrorists. You want to kill Jewish babies.' Those who shouted back were taken aside and beaten. They were thrown to the ground and beaten," Greta recalled.