The Global Sumud Flotilla said that 200 activists had camped a few miles from the Sirte crossing into Libya when they were encircled by unmarked vehicles, physically assaulted and forced to evacuate. Ten of them were subsequently arrested when they attempted to negotiate with the Government of National Stability.

The GNS Foreign Ministry, an administrative authority in Libya, claimed the detentions were prompted by the activists’ failure to obtain proper entry permits, but insisted they were being treated in accordance with international humanitarian law. The ministry added that despite its sympathy with the cause, entry across the Libya-Egypt border is permitted only to citizens of those countries.

But it’s been weeks, and the activists have been rotting in prison ever since, with no information on their welfare or whereabouts. While they were allowed to call family in early June, their communication has been heavily restricted. They are being held in undisclosed locations in Benghazi.

And while a handful of their fellow flotilla activists in Turkey are trying to do something about it, no one else seems to care. When Israel detained the Gaza Sumud Flotilla activists for four days, the international community erupted in outrage. When Itamar Ben-Gvir paraded himself in front of bound and kneeling hostages in a display that even Israeli leaders said was disgraceful, European countries moved to sanction him.

But on the ones held in Libya in what are termed “black sites,” there is deafening silence in a staggering display of hypocrisy and double standards from the rest of the world. Black sites are a network of secret, makeshift, unofficial prisons for holding migrants, refugees, political opponents and activists. Heavily armed militias and other armed groups with ties to the government retain control over the facilities and are known to subject detainees to torture, forced labor and severe human rights violations.

They would probably rather have been taunted by Ben-Gvir and sent home to tell made-up stories about their torture in Israeli prisons instead of suffering real torture behind an iron curtain no one can see through, but no one asked them, and no one cares.