Deported Polish Gaza aid flotilla members return home, claiming “torture” by Israel

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Polish citizens who were among the hundreds of activists detained by Israel on a flotilla seeking to bring aid to Gaza have returned to their homeland after being deported.

One of them, member of parliament Francziszek Sterczewski, accused Israel of “torturing” them during their captivity and also criticised the Polish government for “turning a blind eye” to the “genocide” taking place in Gaza.

Last week, Israel intercepted dozens of boats that were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which had been sailing across the Mediterranean towards Gaza, hoping to break Israel’s blockade of the territory and deliver aid.

Among the 470 people detained was a Polish delegation comprising Sterczewski; Nina Ptak, head of an NGO; Omar Faris, who leads the Socio-Cultural Association of Polish Palestinians; and Ewa Jasiewicz, a journalist and author who has written extensively about Gaza.

Jasiewicz, who holds British citizenship, was quickly deported, but the remaining three refused voluntary deportation and were kept in detention until an Israeli court ordered their deportation on Monday alongside environmental activist Greta Thunberg and around 170 other members of the flotilla.

In a video published on Wednesday, Sterczewski, who was at that time in Athens, where the trio had initially been deported, said that “there is no other way to describe [our treatment in Israel] than torture”.

“Guards woke us up at night with loud music, shone lights in our eyes, starved us, and set dogs on us,” he said. Similar claims have been made by Thunberg, who said that she and other detainees were subjected to “torture” by Israel.

Israel’s foreign ministry has strenuously denied such allegations, saying that “all the legal rights of the participants in this PR stunt were and will continue to be fully upheld”.

“Interestingly enough, Greta herself and other detainees refused to expedite their deportation and insisted on prolonging their stay in custody,” added the ministry.

Sterczewski also criticised the Polish government for “turning a blind eye” to the situation in Gaza. He accused the foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, of “double standards” for condemning Russian war crimes but downplaying Israeli ones. He called on the government to recognise Israel’s actions as genocidal.

Sikorski has criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza, but last week said that he does not regard what is happening there as constituting genocide.

Poland’s foreign ministry has provided consular assistance and other support to the Polish detainees from the Gaza flotilla. But it has also criticised their decision to ignore warnings not to try to travel to the territory. One deputy foreign ministry last week called the flotilla a “propaganda” exercise.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Robert Kowalewski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Agnieszka Wądołowska

Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. She is a member of the European Press Prize’s preparatory committee. She was 2022 Fellow at the Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program at City University of New York. In 2024, she graduated from the Advanced Leadership Programme for Top Talents at the Center for Leadership. She has previously contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy and Duży Format.