Israel deports Greta Thunberg after intercepting Gaza-bound aid boat
Campaigner Greta Thunberg arrived home in Sweden late on Tuesday, June 10, after Israel detained her and other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat and deported some.
Of the 12 activists on board the MADLEEN, which was carrying food and supplies for Gaza, four including Thunberg agreed to be deported immediately, while all of them have been banned from Israel for 100 years, the rights group that legally represents some of them said in a statement.
The remaining eight were taken into custody after they refused to leave Israel voluntarily, and brought before a detention review tribunal on Tuesday, rights group Adalah said. "The state asked the tribunal to keep the activists in custody until their deportation," Adalah said, adding that under Israeli law, individuals under deportation orders can be held for 72 hours before forcible removal.
Israeli forces intercepted the boat, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, in international waters on Monday and towed it to the port of Ashdod. They then transferred them to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, the foreign ministry said, from where Thunberg flew first to France then Sweden.
Thunberg, 22, accused Israel of "kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to Israel": "This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing." Asked upon arrival in Stockholm if she was scared when Israeli security forces boarded the sailboat, Thunberg replied: "What I'm afraid of is that people are silent during an ongoing genocide."
Four French activists who were also aboard the MADLEEN were set to face an Israeli judge, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. He had earlier posted on X that five would face court action and only one would depart voluntarily. Barrot told reporters that French diplomats had met with the six French nationals in Israel, and that French-Palestinian European MP Rima Hassan was among those who refused to leave voluntarily.
The activists − from France, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands − aimed to deliver humanitarian aid and break the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory. In what organizers called a "symbolic act," hundreds of participants in a land convoy crossed the border into Libya from Tunisia with the aim of reaching Gaza, whose entire population the UN has warned is at risk of famine.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
More than 123 million forcibly displaced worldwide, UNHCR says
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said the number of people forcibly displaced by violence and persecution around the world rose to more than 123 million by the end of 2024 — an increase of around 2 million from the previous year. UNHCR said figures recorded at the end of last year show that displacement has almost doubled over the past decade. The report comes at a time when humanitarian groups are facing budget cuts from the United States and other traditional Western donors. UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi, however, highlighted what he called 'rays of hope' in recent months, noting that nearly two million Syrians have returned home as the country begins to emerge from more than a decade of civil war. The findings were released alongside the UN refugee agency's Global Trends Report on Thursday, which estimated that by the end of April 2025, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide had likely fallen slightly — down 1% to 122.1 million — marking the first decline in more than a decade. Among those figures, the number of internally displaced people jumped by more than 9% to 73.5 million at the end of last year. The numbers represent cumulative figures from years of conflict, violence, and persecution — and include people who returned home last year, even as others fled. UNHCR said nearly two-thirds of people who crossed national borders to flee remained in neighbouring countries, countering the "widespread perception in wealthier regions" that a majority of people were fleeing in a bid to reach places like Europe or the United States. The agency said Sudan, torn by civil war, is now the site of the world's largest displacement crisis, with more than 14 million people uprooted — surpassing Syria's 13.5 million. Many of those fleeing the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have fled to neighbouring countries like South Sudan, Chad and Egypt. In Afghanistan, more than 10 million people have been forcibly displaced. While active fighting has largely ceased, the UNHCR notes that widespread poverty and hunger persist, and some countries have implemented policies to deport undocumented migrants, including Afghan nationals. The report also notes that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine continues to drive large-scale displacement. Some 8.8 million Ukrainians have been displaced by the fighting, 3.7 million internally and 5.1 million who have sought refuge in other countries. Hamas "brutally attacked" a bus carrying the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) staff to a distribution site near the southern city of Khan Yunis on Wednesday night, killing at least five, the US-backed charity said. "There are at least five fatalities, multiple injuries and fear that some of our team members may have been taken hostage," GHF said in a statement. The five killed staff members are Palestinian. 'We condemn this heinous and deliberate attack in the strongest possible terms,' GHF said. 'These were aid workers. Humanitarians. Fathers, brothers, sons, and friends, who were risking their lives everyday to help others.' The killings early Wednesday were carried out by the Hamas Sahm police unit, which Hamas claims it established to combat looting. The unit released video footage showing several dead men lying in the street, saying they were Abu Shabab militia fighters who had been detained and killed for collaborating with Israel. It was not possible to verify the images or the claims around them. Abu Shabab officials denied that the images showed members of their militia. Israel's foreign ministry reacted to the news by stating on X that "Hamas is weaponising suffering in Gaza -- denying food, targeting lifesavers and forsaking its own people." Reverend Johnnie Moore, a Christian evangelical advisor to US President Donald Trump who was recently appointed head of GHF, called the killings 'absolute evil' and lashed out at the UN and Western countries over what he said was their failure to condemn them. 'The principle of impartiality does not mean neutrality. There is good and evil in this world. What we are doing is good and what Hamas did to these Gazans is absolute evil,' he wrote on X. Israel and the US say the new system is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid from the long-standing UN-run distribution scheme, which is capable of delivering food, fuel and other humanitarian assistance to all parts of Gaza. UN officials deny there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, and instead say they have struggled to deliver it because of Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of law and order in Gaza. The GHF began operating in late May, stating it has distributed more than 7 million meals worth of food during the first week of its mandate. However, its work has been marred by deadly shootings which have taken place near some of its four aid distribution centres in recent weeks. On Wednesday, at least 25 people were reportedly killed near a GHF convoy in the Netzarim corridor in Gaza, according to two hospitals there. The GHF has claimed it has faced continued threats from Hamas, saying on Saturday this has "made it impossible" to operate in Gaza. Hamas has denied this, in turn accusing the GHF of "failing on all levels".
LeMonde
2 hours ago
- LeMonde
French prosecutors seek murder charge for school stabbing suspect
French prosecutors on Thursday, June 12, requested that a 14-year-old school pupil detained for allegedl y stabbing to death a teaching assistant in eastern France be charged with murder and placed in pre-trial detention. The secondary school pupil was arrested on Tuesday after allegedly killing a 31-year-old school monitor with a knife during a bag search in the eastern town of Nogent, in an attack that caused widespread shock in France. On Thursday, prosecutors requested he be charged with "murder of a person carrying out a public service mission" and "intentional violence" against a police officer injured during the arrest. The prosecutor's office also requested that the pupil be placed in pre-trial detention, Dijon prosecutor Olivier Caracotch said in a statement. As a minor, the suspect faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison instead of life imprisonment. The prosecutors made the announcement as classes resumed at the Françoise Dolto school struck by the tragedy. Regional prosecutors told reporters on Wednesday that the teenager acknowledged "being the perpetrator" of the deadly stabbing. He had wanted to attack "any" adult monitor after being reprimanded for kissing his girlfriend, they said. He did not appear to suffer from any "mental disorder" but appeared "detached" and expressed "no regret" for killing one of the school's monitors, all of whom were women, prosecutors said. A moment of silence was held at midday in schools across France in memory of the victim.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
'Genius' duo behind French multimillion-euro furniture scam found guilty
In Syria, women are now obliged to wear burkinis to public beaches. Burkinis are garments that cover the whole body, head to toe. British daily The Times writes that "Liberals fear setback" after the new regulation. This would mean Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa imposing a strict interpretation of Islam in the country, The Times says. The former al Quaeda commander toppled longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December, promising that "Syria will not deeply intrude on personal freedoms" – a promise met with scepticism, the paper writes. Elsewhere in Syria, discontent is simmering among some supporters of the uprising against the country's ousted dictator. The New York Times writes about Syria's Committee for Civil Peace – a newly founded group cooperating with former Assad supporters to "restore calm". But supporters of the uprising against Assad regime accuse the new leaders of not holding the old regime to account. One source told The New York Times that many of them were hoping for "punishment of those who committed war crimes". The committee, however, says it's working to de-escalate tensions with Syria's minorities. But instead, the paper says it re-opens a simmering dilemma – "how to achieve justice and reconciliation in a population that endured decades of violent repression". Next, a post-Brexit deal has been reached over the future of the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The British daily The Guardian writes that the deal between the UK and Spain is historic. Gibraltar is a disputed territory, located at the bottom of Spain. The new deal will make travel across the border with Spain much easier, with no land border checks. That's good news for the 15,000 people who cross the border every day. Many of them live in Spain but work in Gibraltar. The Times of London asks whether the deal is a "post-Brexit success", four years in the making. It could repair rocky relations, says the article, but it will be "closely scrutinised by Eurosceptics". Spanish daily El Periodico writes that "on paper" the deal puts an end to old disputes. With the fence finally demolished, Gibraltar will be more part of Spain and its territory will be "less alien" to Spanish people. It calls the deal a "moral victory" for Spain and a "concession" from the British side. De facto sovereignty, however, remains British, the paper reminds us. In France, a multimillion-euro furniture scam has been punished. The Guardian headlines "French furniture expert and restorer guilty of fake 18th-century chair scam". The two men faked furniture, including chairs, and claimed they were used by historic figures like Marie Antoinette. The Guardian calls it "one of the biggest forgery scandals to hit the French art world for decades". The two men scammed a Qatari prince and – most notably – the Palace of Versailles. French daily Le Télégramme writes that the "two genius forgers were convicted". Bill Pallot, the art expert in question, was sentenced to four years in prison, mostly suspended, and will have to pay a €200,000 fine. During the trial, he said: "We thought we'd do it for fun, to see if the art market could see (...). It went like clockwork". In its title, Le Parisien uses his nickname - "le Père la chaise" - a wordplay on the famous Parisian cemetery. The nickname literally means "the father chair" or the father of chairs. Pallot got that nickname after writing a book about seats and chairs of the 18th century. That's where he got his chair expertise from, before committing the scam. Finally, designer dogs aren't as great as they seem, according to a new study. British daily The Telegraph says that researchers found that some popular dog breeds such as miniature poodles are more likely to experience acute diarrhea. All designer dogs are 34 percent more likely to have this issue, according to the study.
