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Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs/TPS-IL on 10 June, 2025
Greta Thunberg, Others to Be Deported, Refused to Watch October 7 Video
Jerusalem, 10 June, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists detained aboard a boat trying to breach the Gaza blockade have been brought to Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday morning ahead of their deportations, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said.
“Some of the “Selfie Yacht” passengers are expected to leave within the next few hours. Those who refuse to sign deportation documents and leave Israel will be brought before a judicial authority, in accordance with Israeli law, to authorize their deportation,” the ministry said.
“Consuls from the passengers’ home countries met them at the airport,” the ministry added.
After arriving in Ashdod, all underwent medical checkups.
Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered a screening of a 43-minute video of Hamas atrocities for the 12, but said they refused to watch it. The video is based on footage from Hamas bodycams, security cameras, cellphones and dashboard cameras and call recordings. The hard to watch video was previously screened for international leaders and journalists.
“Greta and her flotilla companions were taken into a room upon their arrival for a screening of the horror film of the October 7 massacre, and when they saw what it was about, they refused to continue watching,” Katz said in a statement. “The antisemitic flotilla members are turning a blind eye to the truth and have proven once again that they prefer the murderers to the murdered and continue to ignore the atrocities committed by Hamas against Jewish and Israeli women, adults, and children,” he added.
Israeli forces intercepted the Madleen on Monday morning as it was trying to break the Gaza blockade. The boat was carrying a token amount of humanitarian aid, which Israel said would be delivered to Gaza.
Israel and Egypt have maintained restrictions on Gaza leading up today’s blockade to prevent weapons smuggling since Hamas seized control of the Strip in 2007. Since then, Palestinian activists have periodically sent flotillas trying to breach the blockade. In 2011, an independent UN inquiry into the Mavi Marmara affair of 2010 criticized Israeli forces for using excessive force but upheld the blockade’s legality.
At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 55 remaining hostages, 33 are believed to be dead.
