A United States citizen who was detained by Israel on the Global Sumud Flotilla, which tried to deliver aid to Gaza, says he and other activists endured abuse and “psychological torture” in Israeli custody.David Adler, who was released and deported to Jordan on Tuesday, said after Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla in international waters, they took the activists to a prison complex in the Negev desert in southern Israel.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“We were kidnapped, stripped, zip-tied, blindfolded and sent to an internment camp on a police van without any access to food, to water, to legal support,” he said. “And for the next five days, on and off, we were psychologically tortured.”In an audio message shared with Al Jazeera through the advocacy group Progressive International, Adler said he and another Jewish activist were picked out and forced to be photographed with Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.“After interception, we were violently forced onto our knees into positions of submission, where the two Jews of the flotilla were taken by the ear and ripped from the group for a photo-op with Ben-Gvir, staring at the flag of the State of Israel, taunted by his goons,” Adler said.He described his time in detention as a “five-day nightmare of serial and systematic violations of our most basic rights”.‘My Jewish heritage demands it’Adler, who is co-general coordinator at Progressive International, added that riot troops would raid the …
