Australian government ‘deeply alarmed’ over flotilla activists’ claims of abuse in Israeli custody

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has addressed public calls for a meeting from Australian activists who say they were abused and mistreated while in Israeli custody after their Gaza-bound flotilla was intercepted in international waters last week.

Melbourne student Gemma O’Toole, 23, and climate activist Violet Coco, 35, have both demanded an audience with Albanese following their release from Ketziot Prison. Coco, who said she was beaten and sexually assaulted in detention, said she would tell Albanese “the shame of Israel”.

“I’m not going to respond without any notice for someone I don’t know, I don’t know their circumstances,” Albanese said in Canberra on Monday, hours after most of the 11 Australian flotilla participants touched down on home soil.

A spokesperson for DFAT said it is “deeply alarmed” by the allegations of mistreatment, and that Australia has “made representations to Israel about these allegations and conveyed our expectation that they be urgently investigated.”

Albanese said the government had made its position “very clear” regarding the behaviour of Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who shared a video on Thursday in which he was shown taunting flotilla activists.

It triggered a global backlash and earned Ben-Gvir a rare rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Foreign Minister Penny Wong called the video “shocking and unacceptable” and summoned Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Hillel Newman, to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to “reinforce” its displeasure.

Albanese said on Monday that the way people “were treated isn’t consistent with how we want Australians … how we want anyone treated.”

“People are deserving of a level of respect and decency, and that minister’s behaviour and his rhetoric did not, were not consistent with what I would expect,” Albanese said.

Last Thursday night, Newman told ABC’s 7.30 that the flotilla was treated with “great sensitivity” and that “no one was hurt”. He “refuted completely” any allegations of sexual humiliation, said claims of violence were “not true”.

Last week, Israeli Prison Service spokesperson Zivan Freidin told the Associated Press that the allegations were “false and entirely without factual basis”. On Monday morning, Coco told waiting media at Melbourne Airport that those denials were lies.

“I think that all you have to do is contact the Turkish government to get the stats of all of the people who are still in hospital,” she said, starting to cry as she spoke of her captain, Arno Meys, who is stranded in Istanbul, Turkey, as he heals from a punctured lung. “It’s really not that hard to prove that they’re lying.”

Wearing their grey prison tracksuits – with Palestinian flags and “Free Palestine” among personalised designs hand-drawn onto the Israel-issued garments – seven flotilla participants gave their testimonies outside Sydney Airport, pausing when cheers and shouts of “Shame shame Israel” from supporters interrupted them.

“I was dragged into a darkened container ship on a prison boat, I was sexually assaulted, I was beaten, and that was just the beginning of four days of absolute hell,” said NSW Northern Rivers documentary filmmaker Juliet Lamont on Monday morning. She also alleged she was “shot at” in the Mediterranean and cable tied.

Lamont’s 25-year-old daughter, Isla, said through tears that she was “routinely strip-searched” and photographed by male officers wearing balaclavas while she was handcuffed.

Anny Mokotow, a Melbourne grandmother who identifies as a Jewish anti-Zionist, said the group had to beg for water and medicine. An emotional Sam Woripa Watson, from Brisbane, said he had a fractured rib, and bruises and cuts all over his body.

Melbourne student Neve O’Connor said she was beaten and had whiplash from being shoved into a pole, and Surya McEwen said he had a fractured cheekbone, rib and a pulmonary abrasion, which usually is caused by blunt chest trauma.

This masthead has contacted the Israeli embassy for comment.

Greens senator, Mehreen Faruqi, and independent senator Lidia Thorpe were among a crowd of about 50 friends, family and supporters at Sydney International Airport.

Faruqi said words from Wong to the Israeli ambassador were “useless” as they “don’t stop the killings of Palestinians”.

The group demanded Albanese condemn Israel for “kidnapping and torturing Australians” and cut ties with the state.

“How can we live in a safe world when our government continues to call this state a friend, an ally?” said Newcastle climate activist Zack Schofield, who was among the first of the 428 flotilla participants captured near Crete on May 18.

Non-essential staff at many Australian embassies across the Middle East were directed to leave in February following the US-Israel strikes on Iran, and Australia’s embassy in Tel Aviv is closed. Nevertheless, Australian officials in Istanbul provided consular assistance to the 11 Australians deported from Israel.

DFAT has repeatedly urged Australians not to join civilian missions aiming to break Israel’s 19-year land and sea blockade and deliver aid to Gaza due to risk of injury, death, arrest or deportation.

Israel has intercepted all Gaza-bound flotillas since 2010, when nine activists were killed during a military assault on MV Mavi Marmara.

It has repeatedly linked the Global Sumud Flotilla with Hamas, which the movement has repeatedly denied, and maintained its right to prevent the flotillas – which Netanyahu calls “provocative” – from entering Israel’s territorial waters.

The blockade has been in place since Hamas came to power in the Gaza Strip in 2007. The Gaza war started after Hamas-led fighters killed 1200 people and took 251 hostages in the October 7, 2023 attacks, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel’s offensive on the enclave has killed more than 72,000, according to Palestinian health officials. Food, water and medical supplies are delivered through partners including UNICEF and the Red Cross. About 2600 civilians seeking aid in the Gaza Strip were killed between May and October 2025.

At Brisbane International Airport on Monday, social work field educator Helen O’Sullivan said her experience in detention – her arm was twisted behind her back until she screamed, and her reading glasses were smashed by soldiers – has not deterred her.

“Don’t for one minute mistake [my tears] as regret or sadness because it’s not,” she said. The Gold Coast grandmother had written the “from the river to the sea” slogan, recently banned in Queensland, on her prison-issued tracksuit.

“All they have succeeded in doing is expanding our resolve to make sure that those war criminals are held to account.”

With Roy Ward

Start the day with a summary of the most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.