By Melike Pala
BRUSSELS (AA) - Italian activists part of the Global Sumud Flotilla described harsh treatment at the hands of Israeli forces during detention as they arrived in Rome on Sunday.
"We were treated terribly ... From the army, we moved on to the police. There was harassment," Cesare Tofani said upon arrival at the Fiumicino Airport in Rome, ANSA news agency reported.
The group of 18 landed on a Turkish Airlines flight at around 11.30 pm local time, having first departed Eilat Airport on a charter flight to Istanbul. With assistance from the Italian Consulate General in Türkiye, they were transferred to repatriation flights to Rome and Milan.
Over 200 supporters, including family, friends, and colleagues, greeted the returning Italians with applause, hugs, and banners reading: "You can’t stop the wind, Free Palestine." They also waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans.
Yassine Lafram, president of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy, who landed at Malpensa Airport with the activists, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper: "They even treated us violently, pointing weapons at us, and this is absolutely unacceptable for us in a country that considers itself democratic."
Independent journalist Lorenzo D'Agostino said "Greta Thunberg was wrapped in the Israeli flag and paraded in front of soldiers. They pointed machine guns at us."
Saverio Tommasi, another journalist on board the flotilla, said detainees were denied access to a lawyer of their choice and were forced to meet a judge without any legal representation. He added that Israeli soldiers withheld medicines and treated prisoners "like monkeys."
"I and Paolo Romano were hit so badly on the back and head. They forced us to suddenly raise and lower our heads, at their command, as was done in the worst circuses of the 1920s with monkeys, and as should never be done with any living being," he said, according to the Il Mattino daily.
"They had changed my name and forced me to say 'bitini'. I don't know the translation, but I think it means something like 'idiot' or 'imbecile'. When I responded, all the soldiers burst into laughter, as if the physical and verbal humiliation for those people was something funny," Tommasi added.
Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla starting Oct. 1 and detained more than 400 activists from over 50 countries.
The flotilla had been attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave.