Climate activist Greta Thunberg has accused Israeli authorities of subjecting her and fellow activists to physical abuse and mistreatment during a five‑day detention following their participation in a Gaza-bound flotilla.
In an interview published Wednesday in Sweden’s Aftonbladet, Thunberg claimed she was kicked, beaten, threatened and harassed while held in custody. She also revealed that a suitcase confiscated during the naval interception was returned defaced with drawings including an Israeli flag, a phallic symbol and the words “Greta is a whore.” She was dismissive of the vandalism, telling the paper, “They’re like five‑year‑olds.”
The interview presents a sharply critical view of Israel’s handling of detained activists and accuses the Swedish Foreign Ministry of failing to respond forcefully. “If Israel, with the eyes of the world on it, can treat a well‑known white person with a Swedish passport like this,” Thunberg said, “imagine what they do to Palestinians in secret.” Israel has denied the allegations.
She described her prison cell as being riddled with bullet holes, blood spatters and graffiti from former Palestinian inmates. Thunberg added that she has suffered nightmares since the detention, saying the surveillance drones above the flotilla mean she’ll “never be able to look at a starry sky without thinking of UAVs.”
Still, Thunberg emphasized that the focus should not be on her. “This isn’t about me or the flotilla’s participants,” she said. “Thousands of Palestinians—hundreds of them children—are being held right now without trial. Many are likely being tortured. This is about international solidarity and people stepping up to do what governments are failing to do. Most of all, it’s about the people living in Gaza.”
She said she was especially moved by the participation of Jewish activists from pro-Israel families who joined the flotilla to declare that “what’s happening in Gaza is not being done in their name.” According to Thunberg, some of them have since been disowned by their families.
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Greta Thunberg after being deported from Israel
(Photo: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Thunberg detailed what she described as physical and verbal abuse by Israeli forces during her detention. According to Thunberg, upon arrival at Ashdod Port, a soldier singled her out and said, “You’re first, come.” She claims she was not permitted to wear a shirt that read “Free Palestine” and was instead required to change into one with the slogan “Decolonization”—a statement she said referenced Israel’s status as a colonial entity.
Thunberg alleged that as she disembarked the boat, Israeli police officers grabbed her, pushed her to the ground and threw an Israeli flag over her. She was then dragged to a fenced-off asphalt area, where she claims officers kicked and beat her, stomped on her frog-shaped hat and mocked her in Swedish, repeatedly using phrases such as “hora Greta” (“Greta the whore”) and “lilla hora” (“little whore”).
She said officers positioned the Israeli flag so that it would constantly touch her and then shouted “Don’t touch the flag!” while continuing to hit her. She also claimed that, while handcuffed, several officers posed for selfies with her.
Thunberg further alleged that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the scene and shouted, “You are terrorists!” at the group. Those who responded were allegedly taken aside and beaten. According to Thunberg, Ben-Gvir and his communications team later approached her, and the minister told her directly: “I’ll personally make sure you’re treated like terrorists and rot in prison. You’re Hamas. You’re a terrorist. You want to kill Jewish children.”
Thunberg said she remained calm and quoted the UN Charter in response, telling Ben-Gvir that Israel is not above the law and must respect international norms. “I thought this was being recorded and would be released,” she told Aftonbladet, “but I haven’t seen it published anywhere.”
Thunberg alleged further mistreatment, claiming that medications belonging to flotilla participants—including heart medication, cancer drugs and insulin—were thrown in the trash. She said that at one point, a large photo of bombed-out Gaza with the caption “New Gaza” in Arabic was displayed next to an oversized Israeli flag in the prison.
According to Aftonbladet, around 60 activists were held in a small outdoor cage under the sun. “When people fainted, we banged on the bars and asked for a doctor,” Thunberg recalled. “Then officers came and said, ‘We’re going to choke you with gas.’ That was something they said often. They held gas canisters and threatened to use them.”
She also alleged that guards would come at night, shake the cell bars while shining flashlights and force detainees to stand multiple times. Thunberg repeated earlier claims of being held in an insect-infested cell. During interrogation, she said, Israeli officers joked about her being part of a potential prisoner exchange deal with Hamas, telling her: “We offered you to Hamas in exchange for hostages,” later adding it was a joke. In another instance, she said, they told her: “This isn’t genocide. If we wanted to carry out genocide—believe us—we would.”
Thunberg also criticized what she described as biased media coverage of the recent release of Israeli hostages. “Of course I’m happy to see hostages reunited with their families,” she said, “but we have to call out the one-sided reporting. We’re talking about around 20 Israeli hostages—many of them soldiers—and 2,000 Palestinian detainees, many of whom are held without trial. These numbers and narratives reveal the racism underpinning how journalists operate.”