The Adalah legal aid organization representing detained activists from the Gaza flotilla accused said Sunday that prominent activist Greta Thunberg has not met with a lawyer since initially being processed by immigration officials after they were detained by naval forces.

The organization also slammed far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, accusing him of endorsing “inhumane treatment, abuse, and intimidation” of the activists while being held in an Israel prison.

Ben Gvir said during the course of the day that he was “proud” of the way the Israel Prison Service (IPS) was treating the activists, and that he himself had instructed that they be subject to the same, severe conditions as received by Palestinian security prisoners.

His comments came in response to complaints about allegedly harsh conditions in which the flotilla participants are being kept, including for climate and pro-Palestinian activist Thunberg who is reportedly being kept in a cell with bed bugs and denied adequate food and water.

Thunberg met with a lawyer immediately after being brought ashore last Thursday in order to be legally processed by the Immigration and Population Authority (PIBA). She has not met with a lawyer since then.

It is assumed that Thunberg is in Ketziot Prison, with all other detainees from what was dubbed the Global Sumud Flotilla, although the IPS, the Foreign Ministry and PIBA did not respond to a request by The Times of Israel to confirm that she is being held in that facility.

Thunberg did not sign a document, presented to all activists, which would have enabled her to be deported before a mandatory 72-hour detention period from the time of arrival in Israel expires.

Officials in the Swedish embassy who met with Thunberg, reported that she was suffering from bedbugs in her cell, a lack of food and water, and had been forced to stand in front of Israeli flags while she was videoed.
Adalah said that one of its lawyers had spoken with another activist who was together with Thunberg when the incident occurred.

Despite denials by the foreign ministry, the organization said that flotilla activists have said in their testimonies to lawyers that they have been denied essential medical treatment and medicine; that the provision of food and water provisions is “grossly inadequate”; and that the detainees are being held in overcrowded and sometimes insanitary cells.

Other flotilla activists have told the lawyers that they were subjected to physical violence, while still others said they were blindfolded and handcuffed for prolonged periods.

Similar accounts have emerged from activists who spoke to the media after having been deported.

Unlike Ben Gvir who publicly lauded the harsh conditions he said he had imposed on the flotilla activists, the Foreign Ministry said that claims Israel was mistreating Thunberg and other detained activists were “brazen lies.”

It is unclear how many activists from the flotilla remain in Israel, since the Israeli authorities have failed to provide Adalah with a list of all the detainees who remain in Israeli custody.

The Global Sumud Flotilla organization says that there were 462 activists on board the 45 boats of the flotilla, and that, as of early Sunday afternoon, 328 were still being held in Israel.

The foreign ministry said on Sunday afternoon, however, that 29 activists were deported during the course of the day, while four left on Friday and 137 left on Saturday.

Once brought ashore at Ashdod port, the activists were all given the opportunity to be immediately deported instead of being processed under Israel’s Law of Entry, which mandates a 72 hour detention period before being deported.

It appears that a large number of activists declined to sign this document and sought to challenge the legal validity of their detention as having illegally entered Israel after, they claim, being illegally intercepted and detained by the Israeli navy at sea.

Adalah said however that a substantial number of those who did agree to immediate deportation are still yet to be deported due to logistical and other problems facing the Israeli authorities in removing them from the country.

The Global Sumud Flotilla did not reply to a request for comment as to why activists are refusing to sign the immediate deportation release forms.

According to Adalah, the Israeli authorities only permitted two of the organization’s lawyers to enter Ketziot Prison on Sunday to deal with the more than 300 activists who are being held there.

A spokesperson for the organization said that, at the current pace, she doubted the lawyers would be able to finish meeting with all detainees even before the end of Monday, especially given that Monday is the eve of the Sukkot holiday.

Adalah’s lawyers met with dozens of flotilla activists when they were first processed by Israeli authorities after being brought ashore at Ashdod port, but the organizations said some 87 activists have not met with a lawyer at any stage since they were intercepted at sea.

The Foreign Ministry, the Israel Prison Service, and the Immigration and Population Authority of the Interior Ministry are yet to respond to requests for comment from The Times of Israel on the number and status of the detainees still in Israel.

Earlier on Sunday, Ben Gvir said he was “proud” of the way the Israel Prisoner Service (IPS) is holding activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla in harsh conditions in Ketziot Prison, as he instructed.

“I was there, on their boats, I didn’t see aid and I didn’t see humanitarian. I saw one [can of] Materna [baby formula] and an entire wild party of people who were dressing up as human rights activists, but who in practice came to support terrorism and to celebrate [at our expense],” said Ben Gvir.

“I went to visit Ketziot Prison and I was proud that we are treating the ‘flotilla activists’ as terror supporters, whoever supports terrorism is a terrorist, and deserves the conditions of terrorists… It is worthwhile for them to experience the conditions in Ketziot Prison, and think twice before they come close to Israel again. That’s how it works.”

Adalah condemned Ben Gvir’s comments, noting that there have been numerous, substantiated reports of severe physical and psychological abuse of Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli prisons, the conditions of whom are the same as those for the flotilla activists according to the minister.

“This conduct, explicitly endorsed by the minister with authority over the IPS, demonstrates a deliberate use of repression against peaceful activists, human rights defenders, and individuals who seek to confront Israel’s ongoing crimes against Palestinians.”

In a ruling last month, which apparently confirmed these allegations, the High Court of Justice ruled that the state, including the Israel Prison Service which Ben Gvir has authority over, had failed to fulfill its legal obligations to adequately feed Palestinian security prisoners, and ordered it to take steps to provide such prisoners with enough food “to enable a basic existence.”