Greta Thunberg has been mocked for appearing to fake being handcuffed upon her arrival to France.

The Swedish activist faced deportation from Israel this week after a dispute with local authorities. She was part of a group of 12 individuals who set sail to Gaza to protest against Israel’s actions. The activists, including Thunberg, were apprehended by Israeli officials and swiftly deported.

Out of the 12 activists aboard the boat named Madleen, which was carrying essential supplies for Gaza, only four, including Thunberg, agreed to immediate deportation. The organization representing some of the activists mentioned that the remaining 11 have been barred from entering Israel for 100 years.

Following their refusal to leave voluntarily, the other eight activists were detained by Israeli authorities and brought before a detention review panel on Tuesday as reported by rights group Adalah.

“The state asked the tribunal to keep the activists in custody until their deportation,” Adalah said, adding that under Israeli law, individuals under deportation orders can be held for 72 hours before forcible removal.

Israeli forces intercepted the boat, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, in international waters on Monday and towed it to the port of Ashdod.

They then transferred them to Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, the foreign ministry said, from where Thunberg flew to France ahead of a scheduled flight to Sweden.

Taking to X, Meghan McCain – the daughter of the late Republican senator and presidential nominee, John McCain – shared footage of Thunberg aboard the plane.

“Putting her in the last seat in coach that doesn’t recline next to the toilet is my favorite thing today,” she captioned the clip.

On arrival at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, 22-year-old Thunberg accused Israel of “kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to Israel”.

“This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing,” she said.

Four French activists who were also aboard the Madleen were set to face an Israeli judge, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

He had earlier posted on X that five would face court action and only one would depart voluntarily.

Barrot told reporters that French diplomats had met with the six French nationals in Israel, and that French-Palestinian European MP Rima Hassan was among those who refused to leave voluntarily.

The activists, from France, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands, aimed to deliver humanitarian aid and break the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.

In what organizers called a “symbolic act”, hundreds of participants in a land convoy crossed the border into Libya from Tunisia with the aim of reaching Gaza, whose entire population the UN has warned is at risk of famine.