The Foreign Minister will address the Israeli attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla in Congress on Thursday

Eduardo González The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will appear before the Congress this coming Thursday, May 7, to explain the actions of his Department following the Israeli attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla. Separately, the Spanish consul in Tel Aviv visited again this Monday the Spanish citizen detained by Israel for being part of the flotilla, the Spanish-Palestinian Saif Abukeshek. Specifically, Albares requested his “urgent appearance” before the full Congress this past Thursday at the request of Sumar, EH Bildu, ERC, and the Mixed Group (Podemos, BNG, and Compromís) to “explain the actions and decisions that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will adopt to protect and assist the ships and people who, for peaceful and humanitarian purposes, are participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for Gaza, which is being illegally attacked and its members kidnapped by the State of Israel, in violation of international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,” as stated in the request for his appearance submitted to the Congress's governing board. According to sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Saif Abukeshek, the Spaniard “illegally detained,” was “visited again this Monday by the Spanish consul in Tel Aviv, who was able to speak with him and check on his condition.” “The consul will continue to visit him regularly and will remain in constant contact with his family,” the sources continued, reiterating that the Spanish government “demands his immediate release.” The consul held an initial meeting with Saif Abukeshek this past Saturday to check on his health and offer him protection, and attended the first court hearing on Sunday. According to the NGO Adalah, which provides legal counsel to activists, Israeli prosecutors have accused Abukeshek of “collaborating with the enemy in times of war, contacting a foreign agent, belonging to a terrorist organization, and transferring assets to a terrorist organization.” Meanwhile, Albares held a telephone conversation with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, to discuss the situation of the detained Spaniard, as reported at a press conference by the European Commission's spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Anouar el Anouni, who reiterated the EU's call for Israel to “respect International Law, including International Humanitarian Law and International Maritime Law.” Last Thursday, Israel detained approximately 175 members of the flotilla (including around thirty Spaniards) in international waters (specifically south of Greece), and therefore outside its own territorial waters. The vast majority of the detained Spaniards were released and disembarked in Crete. Saif Abukeshek, a member of the Global Sumud flotilla's coordinating committee, was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus and has lived in Spain for twenty years. Speaking to the Europa Press news agency on Thursday, his wife, Sally Issa, asserted that her husband has been "mistreated" by Israel and is currently on a hunger strike. For its part, Sumar, a junior partner in Pedro Sánchez's government, has denounced Abukeshek's "kidnapping" and called on the government to denounce Israel for violations of humanitarian law, both in international and national forums. In this regard, the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, and the parliamentary spokesperson for IU, Enrique Santiago, have warned, on behalf of Sumar, that the Spanish-Palestinian may have been tortured, according to his lawyers.

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