‘WELCOME TO ISRAEL’:
Video posted by the Israeli security minister showing activists forced to kneel with their hands tied behind their backs drew international condemnation
AFP, ISTANBUL, Turkey
Turkey yesterday said it was sending charter flights to Israel to repatriate Gaza flotilla activists, after Israeli forces detained them in scenes that sparked international condemnation.“We plan to bring our citizens and participants from third countries to Turkey via special charter flights we will organize today,” Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan said in a statement.About 50 vessels set sail from Turkey on Thursday last week seeking to break Israel’s blockade of the besieged Palestinian territory and were joined at sea by a handful of others.
Guards watch over dozens of detained activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs and their foreheads on the ground on the deck of a military boat in Israel in a screenshot from a video released on Wednesday.
