A Thwarted Aid Mission Lays Bare the Brutality of the Israeli State
Photo by Jithmi Athukorale
She has been compared to the boy David in the Bible story who challenged the mighty giant Goliath armed with just a slingshot and five stones. Confronting the brutal Israeli military, which has been credibly accused of committing horrific war crimes including genocide and sexual assault, unarmed and vulnerable aboard a fragile yacht, Sameera Mehboobdeen indeed seems like David.
A humanitarian activist, medic, forensic psychologist, criminologist and mental health practitioner, she is a 39-year old mother of two who made headlines for participating in the international Global Sumud Flotilla mission to Gaza. She was detained by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in international waters and has since safely returned to Sri Lanka.
Before embarking on the dangerous mission, Sameera was trained in disaster response in Türkiye to prepare her for the inevitable eventuality of her boat being forcibly boarded by the IDF determined to thwart the mission to end Israel’s siege of Gaza by bringing much needed food and medical aid to the desperate Palestinians. Non-violence was to be the answer to Israeli’s terror tactics.
Since the Western powers created the state of Israel on Palestinian land in 1948, there have been many relief missions by concerned activists, the current Sumud flotilla being the largest so far.
In April, the IDF invaded the earlier flotilla south of Crete and activists were arrested illegally in international waters. According to Al Jazeera and flotilla organisers, at least 30 people were injured during that raid. Four participants reported incidents of sexual assault in Israeli custody. Two key organisers were taken to Israel, charged with terrorism and beaten and tortured in jail.
Sameera’s flotilla set sail from Turkey on May 14 with 54 vessels carrying nearly 500 participants from 45 countries, with food, medicine and medical equipment. On May 18, the IDF boarded the vessels off the coast of Cyprus in international waters. Communications were jammed. By the end of the day, 41 vessels had been intercepted and over 300 activists detained, including Sameera.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself taunting the captured activists, who werehandcuffed and kneeling as the Israeli national anthem blared out in the background, drawing international condemnation. Many of the activists from around the world, including the UK and Australia, reported grave abuses by the IDF during their incarceration.
Sameera was eventually released and came home on May 24. She answered questions from the media upon her return.
How did you get involved in the flotilla?
The initial involvement happened during August because the Malaysian co-partner for Global Sumud Flotilla, approached some of our activists and we were invited to join. I missed the first mission because I couldn’t obtain a visa for Tunisia. When they announced the second mission, I went to Maldives and met the steering committee there, so they involved me in the operation team and the legal team.
What motivated you to go?
It wasn’t actually a motivation; the correct terminology is desperation; desperation in the sense, as Sri Lankans, do we have any other means to support Palestine? It’s very limited. This was the only international platform that we could actually work with to highlight Palestine in the Sri Lankan perspective. So the desperation was the motivation for this journey.
How was the support from your family?
They are my biggest asset. I was so concerned about my children because I’ve never left them for long on their own but they managed beautifully. My husband supported me monetarily with this journey because it was a huge expense. My ticket to Turkey was provided through Sri Lankan Global Sumud and my return ticket was given by Sumud Nusantara because I was out of funds as my stay extended much more than I expected. The accommodation, food and extra expenses was done with my personal money for the entire month. I made sure that we did not depend on international funds because we needed to keep the team clean. We made sure that any financial support does not come as a barrier for our future activities.
What happened when you were detained by the IDF?
On May 17th night we started seeing lot of drone movement and warships in the distance. We had been followed. On the 18th, all our communications were cut down so there was no mobile data and our CCTV was cut off and we were intercepted by the IDF. There were two warships and one approached us and asked us to stand up with our hands up and to turn towards their warship. We did not respond so they boarded our boat forcefully. We were in international waters. We were not in their territorial waters. We were not going to apartheid state of Israel. We were going to Gaza with aid.
How were you treated by the IDF?
We were taken on board their warship. There, the trauma and the brutality started. They dragged us about, made us kneel down and took us our life jackets and warm clothes from us. It was very cold. We were taken into a dark container where there were five armed men. They tried to take off my hijab but I resisted. One of their soldiers asked me to take off my nose ring, which I refused. Then he said he will rip it off so I took it off and gave it to him. He asked for my earrings. I gave him my earrings and he pushed me out of that container. I thought the nightmare was over but I then saw my comrades beaten up, bleeding, with rib fractures.Immediately we started treating them but we did not have anything so we used frozen flatbread to bandage our comrades using T-shirts and water bottles. They were punched in the face, bleeding, and no medical attention was given. There were severe injuries, fractures and taser wounds. They tasered people on the head and in the mouth. One of my comrades sustained 15 burn injuries. Women were punched in the face, their noses broken. They were beaten in their stomachs and sexually assaulted. We triaged the wounded but we did not think some of them could make the night because it was very cold and the containers didn’t have any doors. People were terrified, traumatised because of the brutality. We spent three days in that container, not knowing the time or where we were. We had to demand water and food while they played music and mocked us. They laughed at us. They clapped when our people suffered.
What happened when you were taken ashore?
After immigration, we were sent to several checkpoints as security measures. Even there, they humiliated us and verbally sexually assaulted women. They used foul language. We were handcuffed and our legs were cuffed as well. They put us into tiny rooms.People started screaming because they couldn’t breathe. We were not given water or food from that time. They used dogs to traumatise us. We were taken out multiple times from these cells. We were made to kneel on the cold concrete slabs. Women were verbally assaulted with foul language. They used sexual language. We were paraded and displayed. We were not allowed to lift our heads. We had to lower our heads, almost close to our knees, bent down. I wouldn’t say the IDF are human beings. They are created in a very different way. They did not have any remorse. They did not have any empathy. They are brutal. Finally we were sent into a cell that had 11 people in it. We did not see any Palestinians but we could witness their presence because Arabic was written on the walls and there were signs of children in the cells because alphabets were written on the walls. Finally we travelled around five hours to an airport and were deported to Turkey.
What do you feel about your experience?
Whatever we experienced was less than one percent of what the Palestinians experience daily. We were individuals from the international community, we were activists, we had delegations back home who were fighting for us, people were demanding our release but think about the Palestinian people who have no protection and no proper defence. It sends a chill along my spine when I think about it but this is the truth that the world needs to know about this apartheid state. So beyond us, I ask you to see the brutality, the trauma, the atrocities and the crimes that are committed against Palestinian people. We want the world to see their brutality. We were desperate to bring aid to Gaza. We were abducted in international waters because they can do anything they wish and the world is silent about it. It was not an arrest, it was an abduction because we did not try to enter Israel illegally, we tried to enter Palestine. Whatever is shown in videos from Palestine are much, much worse than you see; you are seeing only a fraction of it. So I ask you as people who speak the truth to show the world what Israel really is.
