Israel keeps two spokespersons of the Gaza Flotilla detained and releases the rest of the participants in Greece

BarcelonaIsrael released most of the participants of the Flotilla this Friday that the army detained in Wednesday's assault,but is holding two spokespeople for the movement: the Palestinian-Catalan Saif Abukeshek and the Brazilian Thiago Ávila. Around 170 sailors, including about twenty Catalans, have been handed over to Greek authorities and have disembarked on the island of Crete, but the two spokespeople remain detained on the Israeli frigate where they were transferred after the assault. Benjamin Netanyahu's government has said they will be transferred to Israel for processing.

In an interview with ARA on April 15The rest of the boats, about thirty, continued sailing until they entered Greek territorial waters and are now on the coast of Crete, where they will decide whether to continue the mission or not after the storm affecting the area today passes. It is not clear if the activists released in Greece will be able to reunite with them or if they will be repatriated.

Abukeshek, born in Nablus, in the West Bank, and a resident of Spain for more than twenty years, with a Spanish passport, is a Palestinian activist who has three young Catalan children. For his part, Ávila is a Brazilian climate activist who had been a deputy for PSOL, a split from President Lula da Silva's Workers' Party, and has a young daughter. In an interview with ARA on April 15, when he set sail from Barcelona, Ávila stated: "We cannot surrender to the world that Trump and Netanyahu want".

The governments of Spain and Brazil have issued a joint statement in which they consider that "this flagrantly illegal action by the Israeli authorities outside their jurisdiction constitutes an outrage to international law, which can be invoked before international tribunals". Madrid and Brasilia demand the Israeli government "the immediate return" of their citizens "with full security guarantees".

Also from Madrid, sources from the Spanish government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have explained that Minister Albares is in permanent contact with his counterparts in Israel and Greece to gather all information and demand that international legality and their rights be respected. "The Spanish government condemns this detention and demands their immediate release. Contacts are also being made at technical and diplomatic levels between the ministries and embassies of the different countries", they point out.

Sally Issa, Abukeshek's wife, has demanded his release and recalled: "Our children have the right to have him back." The Israeli government says the Palestinian-Catalan activist will be prosecuted for "affiliation with a terrorist organization," which his wife calls slander to justify his "kidnapping."

Eduard Lucas, a member of the Intersindical Alternativa de Cataluña (IAC) and head of the union's international relations, has denounced in ARA the "act of piracy by the Zionist government" and the "kidnapping" of two members of the Flotilla to "make a political mockery" in Israel and "blackmail" the rest of the participants into abandoning the mission. The union calls on the Spanish government to do everything possible for his release from a genocidal state and denounces that Abukeshek has been detained "for being Palestinian." He also highlights that the governments of Madrid and Brasilia have been critical of Netanyahu's policies, which may have influenced Tel Aviv's decision to continue detaining precisely these two spokespersons. "Palestinians who enter Israeli prisons either die there or leave old. It is a system based on hate, death, and revenge," denounces the trade unionist. The Palestinian Community of Catalonia, Open Arms, and the Coalition Prou Complicitat amb Israel also support the activist and have demanded his immediate release in a statement. The organizations warn that "their integrity and lives are in danger every minute they remain in Israeli custody." Some of the Flotilla activists who disembarked in Greece have reported being beaten on the Israeli frigate to which they were transferred after the assault.