Israeli authorities deported 171 activists whom they had previously captured because they tried to enter Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid. Among them is Serbian student Ognjen Marković, writes the Times of Israel.
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and 170 members of the Global Sumud flotilla flew from Ramon Airport in southern Israel, on their way to Greece and Slovakia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, as reported by this media outlet.
As stated, they were deported from Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Norway, the United Kingdom, Serbia and the United States of America, the ministry announced.
Israel claims, as stated in the text, that “all legal rights of the participants in this PR show were and will continue to be fully respected,” adding that “the lies they are spreading are part of their pre-planned fake news campaign.”
The only violence, the ministry states on X, and this media outlet reports, was committed by one Spanish participant who bit a medical worker in the Ketziot Prison.
Thunberg and other detainees claim that Israel was holding them in illegal conditions, the text writes. The Israeli ministry said that the claims of abuse of Thunberg and other crew members are “brazen lies,” while Itamar Ben-Gvir, the Israeli Minister in charge of prisons, says he is proud that they are treated like terrorists.
The legal aid organization Adalah announced that numerous activists reported abuse, with some saying they were denied food and water, while others reported that Israeli authorities treated them roughly.
Flights to Greece and Slovakia increased the number of Sumud flotilla activists deported from Israel to 341, while 138 of them still remain.
We remind you that on October 1, students of the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in a blockade announced that a fleet, on which Ognjen Marković was also present, had been intercepted. A protest walk was also held in Belgrade to the Israeli Embassy.
This flotilla sailed in August. President Vučić called the student who embarked on the humanitarian mission irresponsible and unserious, but finally, nevertheless, concluded: “The state is here, of course, to help and will always do everything it can.”
Minister of Information Boris Bratina asked “why should he be freed when no one forced him to go there.”
Minister of Education Dejan Vuk Stanković said that the student “is creating an international scandal.”
MORE TOPICS:
“TREASON, THEN PRISON”: Belgraders called for the lustration of officials from Milošević’s time!
A SERBIAN WON WORLD RECOGNITION: Novi Sad native awarded for a revolutionary phyllo dough machine!
Source: N1, Photo: Reuters / @IsraelMFA