1. United States
2. Ore.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to do whatever is in your power to demand the release of your citizen 22-year-old activist Greta Thunberg from captivity in Israel. And to urge the release of all of the others from the Flotilla who are still held captive. Israeli forces kidnapped unarmed civilians from the Sumud Global Flotilla who were attempting to break Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza. The unarmed civilians, sailing in international waters, broke no law, had no weapons, only aid for the Gazan people who are being intentionally starved and bombed and shot to death by Israeli forces. It is Israel that is the monster. It is Israel that breaks laws with impunity. It is Israel that must be held to account. Today I read in a report, including interviews with those from the Flotilla who have been deported from Israel, that Greta Thunberg has been singled out for torture by Israeli forces. What those deported described were the following: Greta being dragged on the ground, forced to kiss the Israeli flag, wrapped in the Israeli flag and paraded around like a trophy. Those who have been deported described the mistreatment they all experienced— being deprived of food for 3 days, being deprived of medicine, being deprived of clean water (they were forced to drink from a toilet). There must be intervention on behalf of these people. I write urging you to connect with whomever you can to defend your own citizen and the other citizens of the world who risked their lives to defend Gaza because that is the right thing to do, the human thing to do.