Foreign Ministry again protests Israeli Embassy on new attack on Flotilla

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares summoned the Israeli Chargé d'Affaires in Madrid, Dana Erlich, on Monday to convey his “formal and strong protest” regarding the latest attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla southwest of Cyprus and to demand that Benjamin Netanyahu's government “immediately cease any action that could endanger Spanish citizens traveling on these vessels.” This is the third time in just three weeks that the top Israeli diplomat in Spain has summoned her in connection with the Flotilla. The first meeting took place on April 30 to convey his “strongest condemnation” of the detention of some 30 Spaniards during the attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters south of Greece and about 1,000 kilometers from the coasts of the Gaza Strip and Israel. The second meeting took place a week later to convey their protest against the “inadmissible and unacceptable” decision by an Israeli court to prolong the detention of the Spanish-Palestinian activist Saif Abukeshek, arrested during the same raid on the flotilla. Saif Abukeshek was finally released and repatriated a few days later after several days in jail without charges. “I am following the current situation of the flotilla minute by minute, and I have instructed our embassies, both in Nicosia and Tel Aviv, as well as in the other countries in the region, to be fully operational,” Albares declared in Madrid during a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty. “They have been operational since early this morning, as has the consular emergency center at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” he assured. “From the information I have been receiving, the flotilla is composed of fifty-four vessels” and “some five hundred activists of forty-five nationalities,” he explained. “I don’t have the exact number of Spaniards, which would be around forty-five, but I insist, we haven’t fully verified it yet,” he continued. “Between one and two dozen of them, according to the information I have, are already being held by Israeli forces at this time,” he specified. According to Albares, “the Israeli Armed Forces have begun intercepting several vessels in international waters, where they have no jurisdiction, near Cyprus.” “The boarding of the Flotilla vessels today in international waters, near Cyprus, is a new violation of international law, barely fifteen days after the previous, completely illegal interception,” he warned. “I want to reiterate my condemnation of this action by Israel outside its territorial jurisdiction. No Israeli agent has any jurisdiction in those waters, and I want to make a firm appeal to stop all actions contrary to international law and the law of the sea,” Albares continued. “I also want to inform you that this morning I summoned the Chargé d'Affaires of the Israeli Embassy in Madrid to convey our formal and strong protest regarding this latest incident,” he announced. “We reiterate our demand that Israel immediately cease any actions that could endanger the Spanish citizens traveling on these illegally boarded vessels, and I firmly demand their protection,” he stated. “As on previous occasions, we are also working with other countries whose nationals are being affected to strengthen our protest and our joint diplomatic action in the event of any eventuality, and we are not ruling out any diplomatic or legal action,” the minister warned. “Once again, I insist, this is a peaceful flotilla that simply expresses the solidarity of Spanish society, which is mobilizing to increase access for humanitarian aid to Gaza, which is experiencing an absolutely unacceptable humanitarian catastrophe,” he added. Joint statement The foreign ministers of Spain, Turkey, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan, Libya, the Maldives, and Pakistan condemned on Monday, “in the strongest terms,” the latest Israeli attacks against the Sumud Global Flotilla, “a peaceful civilian humanitarian initiative aimed at drawing international attention to the catastrophic humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people.” In a joint statement, the ministers recalled “with great concern” previous Israeli interventions against flotillas in international waters and condemned “the continuation of hostile acts directed against civilian vessels and humanitarian activists.” “Such aggression, including attacks on vessels and the arbitrary detention of activists, constitutes flagrant violations of international law and international humanitarian law,” they warned. The ministers also expressed their “deep concern for the safety and security of the civilian participants in the flotilla” and called for “the immediate release of all detained activists, as well as full respect for their rights and dignity.” The ministers further stressed that “repeated attacks against peaceful humanitarian initiatives reflect a persistent disregard for international law and freedom of navigation” and called on the international community to “assume its legal and moral responsibilities, guarantee the protection of the civilian population and humanitarian missions, and take concrete steps to end impunity and ensure accountability for these violations.”

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