“They handcuffed me, they did everything.” Speaking is Dario Carotenuto, 5 Star MP, who landed this morning in Fiumicino together with Alessandro Mantovani, the journalist of the daily Fatto. Both were on board the flotilla intercepted by Israel. The activists were taken to a hangar at the port of Ashdod, where they were blindfolded and handcuffed. A treatment documented in a video released by Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
“I came out of that panic room standing up”, says Carotenuto, “one was taken to the infirmary with probably internal injuries, there were people blindfolded, some with fractures, head trauma, sexual violence, elderly people tortured”.
Carotenuto: “They were with machine guns drawn, they were the longest seconds of my life”
At a certain point, the deputy continues, “they called us by number, they divided us, I still have it on my wrist, 147, they called us, they were with machine guns leveled at us, we had our hands raised, they asked us to advance and then they asked us to turn around. They were perhaps the longest seconds of my life, after which they grabbed us by the neck and divided us and from that moment on I no longer know anything about my traveling companions”.
“In recent days I have spoken to the crisis unit of the Farnesina”, added Carotenuto, “I also want to thank them because they have done everything they could. What I think is that politics does not do enough, that governments do not do enough, that these young people are there because governments do not do enough, that they are risking their lives because governments do not do enough: this is the truth. I think that all governments, all institutions should grasp this message of peace and hope for a better future, because what we are offering is only one prospect of war, instead these kids are truly planting seeds of peace.”