Interview with Javier Aparicio, activist of the flotilla: “There are more than 35 colleagues with fractures, sexual abuse and rape with sharp objects occurred”

In the last month, activist Javier Aparicio has been kidnapped by Israel on two occasions. The first, at the beginning of May, when the Israeli Army attacked a first group of ships from the flotilla that intended to break the maritime blockade of Gaza. The second, just a few days ago, an illegal detention that has received greater international attention than Israel. Aparicio attends to El HuffPost from Madrid, where he landed on Saturday afternoon from Istanbul. In principle, tomorrow he will return to his home, in Castejón de Sos, in the Benasque Valley, where he will try to “process everything he has experienced” and continue “putting energy where it is needed”, such as in the land convoy of the Global Sumud Flotilla, detained in Libya. During the talk, Aparicio witnesses the torture to which Israel subjected the flotilla activists, which included broken ribs and sexual assaults.

During the first kidnapping, the violence was also great. Some activists were taken to Saif [Abukeshek] and there was a lot of violence there, they even broke my nose. The greatest brutality came when they disembarked us in Crete, because many of us did not want to leave the ship if Saif did not come with us. This model of violence was repeated these days, but perhaps now in a more identified way. If in the first kidnapping we caught quite a few, in the second we caught everyone. Perhaps the difference lay more in the operation they deployed in the floating prisons to which they transferred us.

They tortured us. These days I have seen people talk about us being beaten, but it is appropriate to talk about torture. Torture is not only intended to obtain information, but also to intimidate, trying to dissuade, in this case, solidarity movements with Palestine. You can’t just talk about violence. There are more than 35 colleagues with fractures, there were sexual abuses, rapes with sharp objects… And all this is worse with the Palestinians, who are constantly raped with metal bars, dogs… In addition, they used violence that does not leave as much of a mark. For example, in all port procedures they put us in braces to immobilize us that touched some nerves that make you writhe in pain… It is a violence that is not so visible, like subjecting ourselves to extreme heat or extreme cold, to the absence of access to water… Everything is intentional. If you think about it, rib fractures are noticeable, but they also don’t look like a broken nose or a black eye. In Israel they are always careful that what they do is not seen too much, they are obsessed with the image that they convey to the world. It was a slip, a crack in their communication apparatus. I am glad that it generated outrage, but what was seen is a tiny part of what they did to us.

Yes, but if it is for images they were not lacking in visual incentives just with everything that has happened and is happening during the blockade and siege of Gaza. The flotillas are just talking about stopping the genocide… Now suddenly they put their hands on their heads and that’s fine, but it’s frustrating that they have to hit Europeans to make them look at what’s happening. But well, in the end we are also going to do that, to put the body so that it can be seen.

It was a shock to encounter that level of violence so similar to Israeli violence. With the specific moment of an Ertzaintza’s knee on a colleague’s neck, I shuddered. It was creepy because it’s the same thing the Israelis did to us in the floating prison to beat us. The images speak for themselves. Regardless of what that produced, everything could have been resolved differently. At least it is revealing, it has served to clearly point out the clear and documented relationship of the Basque police forces with Israel. They have signed 1.6 million contracts with Israeli police and martial training companies, with companies of former soldiers who test their procedures with the Palestinians and then export them. We saw it with George Floyd, with the systems of repression of the aboriginals in Australia, now in Ecuador… That is why the arms embargo is important, but this should not only consist of stopping buying or selling weapons, but also in stopping buying military industry in the form of training, surveillance… Border control and maritime rescue are also revealing of these relationships. In the past, distress calls were made and rescue ships came. Now, that relief obligation has been so distorted, the law has been twisted so that surveillance is aerial, with drones casually manufactured in Israel. A drone can’t save anyone. We must cut off all this exchange, this normalization of relations with Israel. In the Spanish State they fill their mouths with the talk of two states and the end of violence, but they do not realize that Palestine no longer has any autonomy, Israel occupies everything. It is offensive to talk about two States and not recognize the current dilemma of the Palestinian people.

Yes… There are those who say that we are just hippies who are going to receive beatings, and no. We are professionals and have a legal team with lawyers from more than 70 countries. Previous fleets have already initiated some legal actions and our lawyers are already studying what to do. In this case we still don’t know very well what we will do with the boats, because before Israel took them, but this time they have left them stranded in the Mediterranean. We will also initiate actions against Greece and Cyprus because no matter how much they kidnapped us in international waters, these are divided into rescue zones. And the Greek and Cypriot governments have omitted the rescue. We have documented the calls from mayday and how they ignored them. And that is no longer just complicity, it is active cooperation in kidnappings.

Yes, we will continue doing everything possible, looking for formulas and ways to confront the Israeli regime. We can’t wait. The important thing is that everyone can organize and mobilize in support of Palestine. Things like boycotts, for example, work very well if they are organized. In Malaysia, for example, some McDonald’s or Starbucks have closed because people have organized themselves in complete divestment actions. Now our attention is also on the companions of the land convoy detained in Libya. We have lost contact with nine colleagues and we are awaiting negotiations. In my case, I am in the international communication team of the Global Sumud Flotilla, it has been to arrive and continue working.