[News] ‘We Cannot Take Eyes’ off Gaza: Thunberg Condemns Complicity in Genocide

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com 
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/we-cannot-take-eyes-off-gaza-thunberg-condemns-complicity-in-genocide/> 



  ‘We Cannot Take Eyes’ off Gaza: Thunberg Condemns Complicity in Genocide

October 7, 2025
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Freed Gaza flotilla activist Greta Thunberg has urged the world not to 
take its eyes off the Gaza Strip. (Photo: video grab)

*By Palestine Chronicle Staff 
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/palestine-chronicle-staff>*


          “This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and
          fuelled by our own government, our institutions, our media,
          and companies.”

Freed Gaza flotilla activist Greta Thunberg has urged the world not to 
take its eyes off the Gaza Strip, while condemning governments for their 
complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocidal assault on the enclave.

“We cannot take our eyes away from Gaza, from all the places of the 
world that are suffering, living on the forefront of this 
business-as-usual system,” Thunberg told a large crowd at an Athens 
airport following her arrival on Monday, after being deported by Israeli 
authorities following her detention for participating in the Global 
Sumud Flotilla bound for the Strip.

“This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fuelled by our 
own government, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our 
responsibility to end that complicity,” the Swedish activist, who was 
among a group of 171 freed activists, said.

Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the flotilla in 
international waters beginning late last Wednesday into Thursday. More 
than 400 activists from 47 countries were abducted and forcibly taken to 
Israel, where they were imprisoned.


        Legal Obligations

There were cheers as Thunberg and other activists arrived in Greece, 
greeted by supporters after their ordeal.

“International law states have a legal obligation to act to prevent and 
to stop a genocide. Ending complicity, applying real pressure and ending 
arms transfers. We are not seeing that. We are not even seeing the bare 
minimum from our government,” the 22-year-old stated.

Thunberg, who was subjected to harsh and degrading treatment while in 
Israeli custody, said she “could talk for a very, very long time about 
our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment.”


        ‘Not the Story’

She added: “Trust me, but that is not the story. What happened here was 
that Israel, while continuing to worsen and escalate their genocide and 
mass destruction with genocidal intent, attempting to erase an entire 
population, … once again violated international law by preventing 
humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza while people are being starved.”

Denying that the activists were “heroes,” she said it was “a shame” that 
the humanitarian flotilla mission to end Israel’s illegal blockade on 
Gaza “has to exist.”

“This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fuelled by our 
own government, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our 
responsibility to end that complicity. We are doing the bare minimum,” 
Thunberg stated.

She stressed that she would “never comprehend how humans can be so 
evil,” adding “That you would deliberately starve millions of people 
living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades of 
oppression and apartheid.”


        Released in Stages

On Saturday, the first group of activists was released, with 137 
deported to Turkiye. More were released on Sunday to their home 
countries, including Italy and Spain.

South Africa announced on Monday that its detained citizens, including 
the grandson of Nelson Mandela, were scheduled for release on Tuesday.


        Legal Access Restricted

The Adalah legal resource center, based in Israel, said in a statement 
that the activists confirmed to the lawyers that widespread assaults and 
violence occurred during their transfer from the port to the prison and 
in the first days of their detention.

Lubna Tuma, an attorney with Adalah, said in an update on Monday that 
Israel “withheld information systematically from the beginning of the 
interception” in international waters.

She said that even before the deportation hearings, the organization 
“sent letters that we will be representing all the activists.”

However, she added, Israel began the hearings without their legal presence.

“And that means that many activists got into the administrative hearing 
without a legal counsel, even in the prison when the activists moved to 
the IPS, the Israeli Prison Services Authority,” Tuma continued.


        Verbal and Physical Humiliation

The attorney cited testimonies from activists that include “verbal 
humiliations, laughing in front of their faces, calling them names. They 
were forced to sit on their knees and elbows, forehead on the ground, 
for more than one hour under the sun.”

She also said activists were forced to stay in small rooms of three 
metres, 10 or 15 activists per room.

“It was very crowded. They couldn’t move. And all of that happened while 
they were handcuffed from behind. So imagine five hours, your hands on 
behind. You can’t speak. You can’t say anything. You can’t move more 
than one hour under the sun. And this position where knees and elbows 
(are) on the ground,” the attorney stated.

Tuma said they also received testimonies that two activists, Ana Maria 
from Spain and Thunberg, were separated from the others and forced to 
have pictures taken with the Israeli flag “as an act of humiliation.”

Activists also said that some were denied their medication, while others 
reported physical abuse, such as being kicked in the head. Women in 
particular, “felt violated and they had to protect each other.”


        Hunger Strikes

With some detained activists having embarked on a hunger strike, the 
exact number of those still in Israeli detention is not clear.

Those still to be released is Brazilian activist Thiago Avila who was 
also detained in a previous sea mission to Gaza, the Madleen, in June 
this year.

The Global Sumud Flotilla aimed to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and 
challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave, which it has maintained for 
almost 18 years.

Since October 2023, Israel’s ongoing military operation has killed more 
than 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza – most of them women and children – and 
injured over 169,000 more.

/(PC, Anadolu)/

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