The wife of the Majorcan activist arrested in Israel: "They knew they could be tortured"

PalmaThe spokesperson for Global Sumud Flotilla in the Balearic Islands, Xisca Puig, expressed this Thursday her satisfaction at the imminent return of the Spanish activists detained in Israel, among whom is her husband, Toni Riera. “They already knew what could happen to them, they were prepared for it, even that they could be tortured; I saw it with horror,” she stated, referring to the treatment received by the members of the flotilla intercepted by the Israeli army when it was heading towards Palestine with humanitarian aid.

The Mallorcan, 66 years old, was arrested last Tuesday, May 19, while sailing aboard the sailboat Cabo Blancotransferred to an airport to be deported via Turkeytransferred to an airport to be deported via Turkey.

Puig has defended the commitment of her husband, whom she has described as a “peaceful, calm, and ecological” man. As she explained, both he and the rest of the detainees wanted “to not stand idly by” in the face of the situation in Gaza and “to give voice” to the Palestinians who, as she has denounced, live confined in “an extermination camp”.

“There are so many people standing idly by in the face of what Israel is doing, that it is necessary to keep this cause alive, so that the Palestinian people can live in peace”, the activist has claimed.

Puig has recounted that the last time she was able to speak with her husband was shortly before he was intercepted and transferred first to the Israeli port of Ashdod and then to Ketziot prison, located in the Negev desert, in the south of the country.

The spokesperson for the Global Sumud Flotilla has also harshly criticized the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, following a video that was publicly released in which he appears waving an Israeli flag while disparaging the detained activists, who are shown handcuffed and kneeling on the ground. “Israel has moved to another level, it seems that human treatment no longer exists,” she lamented.

Despite everything, Puig assured that both her husband and the other two residents of Menorca detained, Lluís Moner and Alonso Santos, “are where they should be.” “Palestinians are much worse off,” she remarked.

The activist has insisted on the need to “give a voice to the Palestinian people, who do not have one” and has called on the European Union to take measures against Israel in the face of the suffering that, according to their denunciation, is being caused “to thousands of defenseless people”.

He also explained that Toni Riera's two sons “are having a hard time”, but that they understand that their father “has to be there defending a just cause that seems forgotten” by the international community. “It seems to have stopped appearing in the media”, lamented Puig, who recalled that “Palestinians continue to die and their lands and houses continue to be occupied”.