Navigate Select ESC Close

"Designed to Break You": Gaza Flotilla Activists Faced Violence, Sexual Abuse in Israeli Detention

2026-05-26 News & Politics
9.6k
1.0k
214
Democracy Now!
Democracy Now!
3.3m subscribers

Unlock all features

FREE: Get instant access to 10 AI summaries, chats, or transcripts per day.

Description

Support our work: https://democracynow.org/donate/sm-desc-yt "I could hear screaming the whole time." Our guests Alex Colston and Haitham Arafat spent days in Israeli custody after being abducted from a humanitarian mission sailing to Gaza. They share accounts of violence, abuse and torture at the hands of Israeli soldiers. "The process that they have there in the jail was designed to break you as a human," says Arafat, a Palestinian American activist born in Gaza who has taken part in multiple missions attempting to break Israel's long-standing siege. Over 100 members of his family have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023. While incarcerated, the activists were visited by Israel's minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was recently banned from France after publicly ridiculing flotilla members. "They call us provocateurs, or they say we're terrorists … and yet, whenever Ben-Gvir shows up to these things, he's the one provoking us," says Colston, a journalist who was previously detained by Israel while sailing with the Global Sumud Flotilla last year. Subscribe to our Daily Email Digest: https://democracynow.org/subscribe

Top Comments (10)

@jemsrone5454 2026-05-26

Thank you for covering this!

87 4 replies
@so_monika6743 2026-05-26

The treatment of the Flotilla hostages by the Basque police must have been the reason why they were returned to Bilbao and not to Madrid. Any European police buying training from an Israeli company is absolutely outrageous.

78 3 replies
@jamesnoe3670 2026-05-26

Every IDF soldier and any other complicit police officer or military soldier need to be held accountable for the crimes they've committed against humanity!! Activists should have protection and should be able to be armed to protect against these inhuman corrupt illegal abuses against them!!!

72
@scottiedonohue7595 2026-05-26

They were injected? They need to get tested. Who knows what the put in their bodies.

69 3 replies
@cincsciences 2026-05-26

Sexual abuse? They are really monsters aren’t they?

37 4 replies
@scottiedonohue7595 2026-05-26

😢 all those family members killed. Nooo 🫢 😭😭😭😭😭

33
@resistancewitch 2026-05-26

Disgusting. All blessings to these brave souls. More courage in these normal people than all the world’s leadership put together.

31
@lorrieland922 2026-05-26

IDF training must be banned forever.

20 1 replies
@Lynn-i2w 2026-05-26

U.S. cities have IDF trained police forces. Horrifying.

18
@RonaldEllenburg 2026-05-26

Thank you always. Your lack of fear from reprisal is most admirable , and your reporting is nothing short of sheer bravery which is highly respected in the true Journalistic field. Blessings always Democracy Now!!! Carry on. rn

16

Unlock the Data Inside
Turn Videos into Knowledge

  • Get FREE 10/day: transcripts, summaries, chats
  • Chat with videos, export text & PDF
  • $1 free API credit for RAG, chatbots & research

Free forever plan • All features unlocked

App screenshot