Legal and Humanistic Analysis of the Global Flotilla Sumud Case in Israel
This brief article aims to rigorously and sensitively examine the allegations of torture and mistreatment suffered by members of the Global Flotilla Sumud following their detention and kidnapping by Israel in international waters in October 2025. Starting from the presumption of the credibility of the testimonies, it explores the legal implications under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the guidelines of the Istanbul Protocol for documenting torture. The intention is to reveal the potential scope of these accusations in terms of international crimes and to reflect on the moral and political significance of what occurred, the possible characterization as state terrorism, and the international challenges to combat impunity and advance toward peace and justice. This analysis seeks to shed light on a dark chapter of the present to contribute to understanding and global action in defense of human rights.
In October 2025, an international humanitarian flotilla, known as the Global Flotilla Sumud, was intercepted in international waters by Israeli forces. Approximately 450 activists and journalists, including the well-known figure Greta Thunberg, were detained, kidnapped, and forcibly taken to Israel. From that moment, harrowing allegations emerged about the systematic application of torture, inhuman detention conditions, and flagrant violations of the most fundamental human rights.
These events are set within a complex political context in which Israel publicly declared it would treat the detainees as terrorists, language that anticipated and justified repressive and punitive practices aimed at breaking the dignity of the activists. Even with the official Israeli denial, the consistent allegations documented by witnesses, international NGOs, and consulates pose a profound challenge to international law and global ethics.
This essay addresses these allegations from an international legal perspective, linking the materiality of the testimonies with the framework of the Rome Statute and the evidentiary standards of the Istanbul Protocol. The concrete facts are examined, legal penal categorization is conducted, and reflection is offered on the nature of the phenomenon we face, including the urgent question of whether we are confronted with a form of state terrorism. Finally, impunity is confronted with hope and the need for collective responses.
Accounts of Torture and Abuse: Voices from Detention
To grasp the magnitude and nature of the abuses suffered, it is essential to faithfully listen to and present the voices of those who experienced detention and torture. Only in this way is it possible to humanize the legal debate and nurture an informed dialogue.
A pivotal allegation comes from those who recounted the night when, exhausted after days without clean water or sufficient food, locked inside cages, they faced a chilling scene:
“It’s night, we are caged, exhausted, three days without drinking clean water; forced to drink from the toilet, dehydrated, sick, and suddenly a platoon of soldiers appears, ‘armed to the teeth,’ with long guns pointing at our bodies and faces, using laser pointers on the weapons, in a clear threat of death. We can’t move even to protect our vital areas because they threaten us with dogs trained to kill.”
This account synthesizes several simultaneous crimes: physical and psychological torture, cruel treatment, direct threats to life, forced deprivation of vital needs, and illegal deprivation of liberty. The fear imposed with weapons, dogs, and laser light, combined with dehydration and absolute confinement, creates a terrifying and inhumane scenario.
At another moment, several detainees were transferred blindfolded, exposed to constant threats and humiliations:
“They blindfolded us, and the feeling of not knowing where we were going mixed with the guards’ insults; we were verbally humiliated as ‘terrorists’ and forced to sign voluntary extradition documents stating we were guilty of entering Israel illegally, when in fact we were kidnapped in international waters.”
This fragment reveals not only physical and psychological mistreatment but also violations of procedural rights and basic legal guarantees: the right to due process, access to legal representation, and the presumption of innocence.
A particularly serious practice was collective punishment for political expressions such as shouting “Free Palestine,” which led to extreme positional torture:
“They made us kneel on the cement for five to seven hours, tied with zip ties at the wrists, without access to water or the bathroom.”
This positional torture is internationally recognized as a severe form of maltreatment causing lasting physical and mental harm, combined with deprivation of basic needs becoming a tool of prolonged suffering and degradation.
The allegations also include arbitrary confiscation of medication, sleep deprivation through constant nighttime harassment, brutal beatings—which some activists describe as being “treated like monkeys”—and public humiliations forced upon them, such as holding or kissing Israeli flags.
Legal Analysis: Categorization and Scope of Violations
Assuming the truthfulness of the accounts, it is essential to break down these facts and analyze them from the perspective of international criminal law, particularly the Rome Statute that governs the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The definition of torture in this statute involves the intentional infliction of severe physical or mental pain or suffering on a person under the custody or control of the perpetrator. In this case, the accounts of positional torture, water deprivation, beatings, threats, and prolonged confinement clearly meet this definition.
Furthermore, illegal deprivation of liberty and the imposition of inhuman conditions, such as confinement in cages infested with bedbugs, lack of access to medical care, and insufficient food, constitute “other inhuman acts” prohibited by the statute.
These abuses do not occur in isolation: the mass detention, systematic allegations, and prior official rhetoric configure a widespread and systematic attack against a specific civilian population, an indispensable element to qualify as a crime against humanity.
The practice of positional torture for hours, the use of trained dogs to control mobility and provoke extreme fear, intimidation with weapons and laser light, as well as coercion to sign forced extradition documents, represent a combination of crimes whose accumulation amplifies the gravity and international criminal responsibility.
The Istanbul Protocol: Pillar for Documentation and Justice
In the face of highly serious testimonies, the Istanbul Protocol stands as the fundamental tool to transform testimonies into compelling evidence. Recognized as the international standard for the documentation of torture, the Protocol provides procedures for a multidisciplinary evaluation that integrates physical examination, psychological analysis, and detailed interviews.
Careful evaluation allows detection of visible physical sequelae as well as those not apparent on simple inspection, such as psychological trauma. Systematic correlation between injuries and testimonies strengthens forensic credibility and legal admissibility.
In the present case, despite multiple consistent and visible allegations, an independent medical and psychological evaluation certifying injuries, sequelae, and consistency with the narrative evidence is still lacking, an element vital for the effective judicial prosecution of those responsible.
State Terrorism: A Category for this Phenomenon
Beyond international criminal law, the characterization of these acts as state terrorism appears plausible from various academic and political perspectives.
State terrorism is generally defined as the systematic use of terror by a government to subdue or punish certain groups for political or repressive purposes. In Political Violence and Terrorism Discourse (George R. Edwards, 2009) and Terrorism and Political Violence (Jessica Stern, 2014), it is shown how violence sponsored or tolerated by a state, seeking to instill fear in civilian populations systematically to halt or curb political movements, fulfills this definition.
In this case, the official statement anticipating that detainees would be treated as terrorists, the violence exercised, and the pattern of abuse in detentions suggest the existence of a deliberate state policy to intimidate and disempower a group identified by its political activism, which we can conceptualize under this category.
Challenges and Reflections for Humanity
Israel’s flagrant impunity in the face of these accusations reveals one of the greatest challenges for the international community: the practical difficulty of enforcing justice against states with political and military power.
This puts into question the effectiveness of the international human rights and criminal justice system and confronts us with the need to strengthen supranational institutions, civil and diplomatic pressure mechanisms, and active global society oversight.
From a humanistic viewpoint, this case invites reflection on human dignity as an invulnerable universal value and our collective responsibility to denounce and combat injustice.
As Hannah Arendt noted, “the evil that exists in the world is not only the product of wicked people but often the consequence of the silence and complicity of many good people.” In this sense, collective resistance, constant visibility, and ethical and legal commitment to truth and reparation become our pillars for renewed hope.
Conclusion
The systematic kidnapping and mistreatment of the activists of the Global Flotilla Sumud, under the narrative of treating them as terrorists in a context of political repression, configure a complex phenomenon that combines atrocious crimes against humanity and practices reflecting covert state terrorism.
Recognition and precise documentation using the framework of the Rome Statute and the Istanbul Protocol will be key to unlocking international justice and, beyond courts, fostering a collective reflection that disallows indifference or normalization of abuse.
Faced with this reality, humanity confronts the urgent duty to strengthen its human rights protection systems, demand accountability, and renew its commitment to peace, dignity, and justice, recognizing that only through solidarity and joint action will it be possible to prevent the repetition of these shadows.
This essay therefore stands as an informed, ethical, and humanistic call in front of the devastating reality of torture and impunity, reminding every reader of the responsibility and power of not being complicit in silence.
