The sister of Israeli hostage Evyatar David has rebuked Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg for using a photo of her starving and frail brother in a social media post accusing Israel of mistreating Palestinian prisoners.
Thunberg, who was among hundreds of activists from the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla deported from Israel on Monday, shared a graphic on her Instagram earlier this week that featured pictures of Palestinians detained by Israel.
One of the slides featured in the graphic claims that many Palestinians held in Israeli detention “have been taken from their homes, held in brutal conditions, tortured, silenced, and forgotten by the world that claims to care about human rights.”
The graphic was part of a collaboration post that included Thunberg, Yasemin Acar and several other social media accounts, according to Fox News.
Acar serves on the steering committee of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and is credited as one of the organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a group that states its mission is “to break the Israeli siege on Gaza.”
One of the photos used in the graphic was taken from a Hamas propaganda video of David, who was abducted by the terror group from the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7, 2023. The video shows an emaciated David inside a tunnel, digging a hole that he believes will serve as his grave.
The graphic that Thunberg shared has since been updated to omit the image of David, an Israeli hostage who’s being held against his will in a Gaza terror tunnel.
The Israeli hostage’s sister, Yeela David, commented on the graphic earlier this week, stating that Thunberg needed to do some research before posting “things you don’t understand about.” Yeela added that the emaciated man shown in one of the slides is an Israeli hostage who “[H]amas starved on purpose.”
“Every minute you are not deleting the post, you are becoming a bigger joke,” Yeela wrote in an Instagram comment, adding a laugh emoji. “[E]mbarrassing.”
The graphic that Thunberg shared also features a video of a 13-year-old Ahmad Manasra after his October 2015 arrest, claiming that the Palestinian teenager was “just a child, confused and scared, facing adults who treat him like an enemy instead of a boy in pain.”
As The New York Times reported in November 2016, Manasra was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in an October 2015 stabbing attack that critically injured a 13-year-old Israeli boy and a yeshiva student in his early 20s.
According to legal documents, Manasra and his 15-year-old cousin, Hassan Manasra, armed themselves with knives before making their way to a neighboring Jewish area in East Jerusalem. He had grabbed a decorative six-inch blade from his parents’ bedroom, while the older cousin armed himself with a large kitchen knife.
A panel of three judges later wrote that Ahmad and his cousin “sought to stab any Jew they came across and did not desist from stabbing a 13-year-old boy who was riding his bicycle near his house, in front of his younger brother.”
The young victim, Naor Ben-Ezra, received lifesaving treatment at a hospital after he was stabbed four times in the neck and armpit, according to court documents. The young adult victim suffered lung and liver damage, as well as wounds to his stomach and chest.
Police fatally shot Hassan after he ran at them with a knife near the scene of the stabbings, according to the Times.
While lawyers for Ahmad argued that Hassan was the one who stabbed the victims, according to legal documents released in the Jerusalem District Court’s sentencing decision, the state prosecutor called for “zero tolerance” in Ahmad’s case.
Ahmad later apologized for his actions, according to the judges, saying that he was “sorry about what happened with the boy.”
Thunberg and the Global Sumud Flotilla did not respond to The Christian Post’s requests for comment.
The first slide in the post repeated the claim that the flotilla activists were mistreated following their arrest by Israeli forces after the activists attempted to sail into Gaza, declaring, “Their suffering is real, and no human being should ever be subjected to such pain, fear, or humiliation.”
On Monday, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement announcing that 171 of the flotilla activists, including Thunberg, had been deported from Israel to Greece and Slovakia. The ministry noted that the group of deportees consisted of European and U.S. citizens.
“All the legal rights of the participants in this PR stunt were and will continue to be fully upheld,” Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated. “The lies they are spreading are part of their pre-planned fake news campaign.”
According to the Israeli ministry, the only violent incident that occurred was when one of the flotilla activists reportedly bit a medical worker while detained in Ketziot Prison. The ministry is likely referencing an incident involving Reyes Rigo Cervilla, who allegedly bit a medical staff member’s hand following a routine check-up, according to prison officials.
In a separate statement on Monday, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted reports that the boats carried a minimal amount of aid, despite the flotilla activists’ claims that their mission was to deliver supplies to Gaza.
The Israeli ministry reported that the Sumud flotilla carried 2 tons of aid across over 40 vessels, which the ministry compared with the 300 aid trucks filled with 20 tons of aid that Israel facilitates into Gaza with help from international organizations.
“The Hamas–Sumud flotilla was nothing more than a publicity stunt,” Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
