Part 1: On board the flotilla captured by Israel
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
When you're in it, you're going, like, this couldn't possibly get any fucking worse, and then it does, and so you almost can't process what happened the moment before. It's so weird. I'm sure it will take a while for everything to come back, but, yeah, it feels a bit sort of disjointed at the moment.
This week, seven Australians returned home after being detained by Israel.
They had been part of the Global Samud Flotilla, more than 400 activists from 56 countries, trying to reach Gaza by sea, carrying food and medicine. Four days after they set sail from Turkey, Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla on international waters and took the passengers to Israel. Then Israel's National Security Minister, Itmar Ben-Gavir, released footage of detainees bound on the ground as he stood over them and taunted them. Israel says the operation was lawful and that no-one was harmed. But the Australians who have now returned say they were beaten, humiliated, denied food and water and held for almost 80 hours.
They enjoyed every moment of that. I mean, it's really hard to know, like, do they genuinely believe that we're terrorists? It's so obvious that we're not funded by Hamas, that we're, you know, teachers and mothers and doctors and journalists and ordinary people just doing this because our government are failing us
I'm Ruby Jones, and you're listening to 7am. Today, in part one of a two-part episode, filmmaker and flotilla participant Juliette Lamont on what she says happened from the moment Israeli forces reached her boat. It's Tuesday, May 26, and in warning, this story contains reference to sexual abuse. Juliette, hello and welcome to 7am. It's nice to be with you. Thank you for joining us. You've just arrived back home to Australia.
How are you? It's a weird feeling. It's nice to be home, but it's also, yeah, I mean, just knowing that Anthony Albanese hasn't really made a statement, having heard our testimony, is disappointing.
What happened to the Australians on the Global Sumud Flotilla?
But, yeah, we will definitely bang the drum and make sure that he... Yeah, it just deals with some of the things that we have been through and that highlight what Palestinians go through every day.
Well, let's talk about what happened. So 12 days ago you set out. You were one of more than 400 people on the global smud flotilla bound for Gaza to attempt to deliver aid. That was intercepted by the IDF after just four days. Could you take us back to that moment when Israeli forces reached the boat?
Yeah, I mean, it was bizarre because there hasn't been, in the 20-year history of flotillas, there's never been an interception that's been in the broad daylight. So we were not anticipating that and that was really brazen. And so it was kind of weird because it was almost like cosplay soldiers because normally when I've interacted with them, it's stealth and it's dark and they are really frightening. But we got to see, you know, through the balaclavas, like 18-year-old kids who are really frightened with lots of weaponry and lots of but also just like these are children, these are brainwashed kids who are doing this. So that was an extra dimension to what I experienced last year when I was on the flotilla.
Yeah, we saw them coming up. You know, we heard like maybe we were the 15th boat, I think out of 52 boats that were intercepted. So we knew that it was coming. We hadn't anticipated it would happen quite so quickly. They come up to the side of the boat. We put it on autopilot and just basically put the motor on, you know, like floor depth. So we're going eight nautical miles on autopilot, refused to stop the boat. And then so they opened fire above our heads.
How did Israeli forces intercept the flotilla?
And so we knew that they meant business. There was seven of us on the boat and we discussed what the red line would be when we would acquiesce to the IOF's threats. And, yeah, shooting above our heads was definitely a red line. So that's when we decided, okay, they mean business. And so what did you do? Okay, well, they boarded the boat. We refused to tell them who the captain is. That's what we do in our training because the captain normally is tortured and is met with more violence because they want to get information out of them.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:04–2:25
2
What happened to the Australians on the Global Sumud Flotilla?
2:25–4:05
3
How did Israeli forces intercept the flotilla?
4:05–5:46
4
What did the detainees experience during their capture?
5:46–14:15
5
What was the initial reaction when Israeli forces approached the boat?
14:15–16:40
Speakers
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