{"id":305125,"date":"2025-10-20T12:00:41","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T11:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=305125"},"modified":"2025-10-16T06:34:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T05:34:30","slug":"statement-by-the-last-releasee-of-the-global-sumud-flotilla-from-israeli-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2025\/10\/statement-by-the-last-releasee-of-the-global-sumud-flotilla-from-israeli-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement by the Last Releasee of the Global Sumud Flotilla from Israeli Jail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Huwaida Arraf, a US attorney, Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, was on the Sumud Flotilla that Israel illegally intercepted on 1-2 Oct 2025 in international waters.\u00a0 She was taken to Israel, had a sham hearing, was physically abused, refused to sign a statement, and was then expelled.\u00a0 She is fearless.\u00a0 Here is her story.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Thank you all for your support and very kind messages. I was released Sunday [12 Oct] evening, along with my colleague Zohar Regev. We were the last of the flotilla hostages to be released. I am now safe in Amman and will be heading home to Michigan soon.<\/p>\n

“Israel is a truly sick, brutal, fascist, and lawless state that masquerades as a democracy. For example, those of us holding Israeli citizenship were subjected to a sham hearing on the conditions of our release, accused of ‘illegally infiltrating’ Israel. The judge refused even to address the fact that Israel has no jurisdiction in international waters \u2014 from where it abducted us, bringing us into Israel against our will.<\/p>\n

“The Israeli citizens were separated from the internationals, who were taken to a prison camp adorned with a huge poster showing Gaza reduced to rubble, with the words ‘The New Gaza.’ All of us were subjected to varying degrees of violence and attempts to break our spirits. I was attacked by a gang of female officers immediately after stepping off the boat because I was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘For the Children of Gaza’ and had a kuffiyeh wrapped around my waist. In their attempt to rip the kuffiyeh off, they pulled my hair, twisted my arms, zip tied me as tight as they could, knocked me to the ground, and kicked me in the chest. When I said I couldn\u2019t breathe, they told me that if I wanted to breathe, I had to get on my knees \u2014 which I refused to do. I may have a couple of fractured ribs, but otherwise I\u2019m doing OK. Some of my colleagues suffered worse.<\/p>\n

“Israel believes it can get away with genocide \u2014 and with abusing internationals \u2014 because the world, primarily the United States, has allowed it to. The U.S. consistently shields Israel from any form of accountability. A dozen U.S. citizens were illegally held in Israeli captivity and abused for between 3 to 5 days, yet we did not receive even a single phone call from the U.S. Consulate or Embassy, let alone a visit. This is just one small example of the U.S. sacrificing its own citizens to do Israel\u2019s bidding.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s hard to share these things, because we are NOT the story. What\u2019s happening to Palestinians in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory, and what\u2019s happening to Palestinians in Israel\u2019s dungeons–these are the stories that matter. The abuse we endured is nothing compared to what more than 11,000 Palestinian captives, including children, face in Israeli prisons, where torture is systematic and impunity the norm. At least 80 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli custody over the past two years; and that\u2019s only according to Israel\u2019s own admission. Who knows how many more.<\/p>\n

“We know our ordeal will end within days or a week, maybe a bit longer. For Palestinians, captivity and torture last months, years, or a lifetime.<\/p>\n

“Thank you again for the love. The few of us on the boats are nothing without the millions around the world acting in support.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/p\/1En8UiQdKo\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Submitted by TRANSCEND Member Maung Zarni<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JOIN THE BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS CAMPAIGN TO PROTEST THE ISRAELI BARBARIC GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS IN GAZA.<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

DON’T BUY PRODUCTS WHOSE BARCODE STARTS WITH <\/em><\/strong>729, WHICH INDICATES THAT THEY ARE PRODUCED IN ISRAEL. DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR HUMAN JUSTICE!<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Huwaida Arraf, a US attorney, Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, was on the Sumud Flotilla that Israel illegally intercepted on 1-2 Oct 2025 in international waters.\u00a0 She was taken to Israel, had a sham hearing, was physically abused, refused to sign a statement, and was then expelled.\u00a0 She is fearless.\u00a0 Here is her story.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":302145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[229,87,865,3566,88,1243,427],"class_list":["post-305125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activism","tag-activism","tag-gaza","tag-genocide","tag-global-sumud-flotilla","tag-israel","tag-nonviolent-action","tag-palestine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305125"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305143,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305125\/revisions\/305143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}