"Flytilla" activist records detention

Though many of the so-called "flytilla" protesters who attempted to fly into Tel Aviv in July were turned away at the airports of their departure or immediately deported from Israel, some stayed on in Israel for a few days…in an Israeli prison. Activist D Murphy was one of them and she filmed her experience with a hidden camera.

While the boats of the second Gaza flotilla remained moored in Greece, some pro-Palestinian activists found another way to rankle Israeli authorities. They attempted to fly from various European airports into Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport. The campaign, officially called "Welcome to Palestine", picked up the name of the "flytilla" and was expected to include up to 800 activists.

As the day to fly to Tel Aviv came, Israel worked with airline companies and foreign security agencies to stop hundreds of activists in Europe before they could even board their flights. More were blocked when they arrived at Ben Gurion Airport, denied entry and deported from Israel.

Of those detained at the airport, activist D Murphy was among them. She and 13 fellow activists arrived at the airport and told officials they had an invitation to visit a cultural center in the Palestinian Territories. Instead, they were sent to Givon Prison along with 120 others who had arrived that day. Murphy had brought along a small video camera to record her experience and used to it record her time in the prison.

In the video produced from her footage by Undercurrents, she and a compatriot explain that after being detained upon arrival, they were told they would be transferred to a hotel. Instead they were brought to Givon Prison. They remained there for six nights and surreptitiously filmed their experience. Guards were not violent with detainees, and gave them access to counsel from their respective countries, however Murphy notes that relations between the guards and detainees remained tense. Their video shows Murphy and her cellmates banging on their prison door calling for water and cleaning the floors in the hallways.

Eventually the detainees were deported from Israel.

Read Al Jazeera's coverage of the "flytilla" protests: Israel clamps down on fly-in protest.

These are some of the social media elements featured in this segment of The Stream.