All of the activists travelling aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla who were detained by Israeli authorities this week have been released from detention and are now in Istanbul.
A statement from the flotilla’s Australian delegation said 428 people, including 11 Australians, were free after spending about 80 hours in detention. The Australians were undergoing examinations at a hospital and will meet with lawyers in the coming days before their return to Australia.
Zack Schofield, one of the Australians onboard, said the group was taken to prison and “treated really poorly”:
double quotation markMany of us haven’t eaten for days. We were denied water for two days. … But it is nothing compared to what happens to Palestinians in the occupied territories every single day. …
The message to our Australian government is that they need to cut ties with Israel. We need to cancel the alliance, stop sending them weapons parts, stop giving them political support.
