The 44 Spaniards from the Flotilla are now “free and on their way home,” according to Albares

Eduardo González The 44 Spanish activists kidnapped during the latest Israeli attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla are now “free and on their way home,” as announced this Thursday by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares. “Our 44 compatriots from the Gaza aid flotilla are now free and on their way home,” Albares posted on social media. “I thank the Spanish Embassy in Israel and the Spanish Embassy in Turkey for their extraordinary work in ensuring the protection of our citizens, our top priority,” he added. Hours earlier, the Spanish Consulate in Tel Aviv reported that Israeli authorities had begun transferring all the Spanish activists kidnapped in the raid, including the Spanish citizens, to Ramon Airport in southern Israel, with the intention of deporting them via Turkey. Separately, the Israeli Foreign Ministry had announced via social media that “all foreign activists” from the latest flotilla intercepted had “been deported from Israel” and warned that “Israel will not allow any violation of its legal naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.” Turkish authorities later confirmed the dispatch of aircraft to participate in the evacuation process. Speaking on TVE's "La hora de La 1" program on Thursday morning, Albares assured viewers that Spaniards have the government's "full" diplomatic and consular protection. "We will also protect them against any slander linking them to terrorist groups," he affirmed. "They are peaceful citizens, and what they are demanding is what any decent state, like Spain, demands: Gazans have the right to humanitarian aid, medical care, hospital treatment, and education, like any other human being on the planet," he insisted. “Yesterday, I not only urgently summoned the chargé d'affaires, but we also delivered a diplomatic note, which is the most formal protest document available, and we delivered another to the Israeli Foreign Minister (Gideon Saar), telling them that they must immediately release these Spaniards who have been illegally detained in international waters, where no Israeli agent has any jurisdiction over any Spanish citizen, and that I hold them directly responsible for anything that may happen to them,” he continued. “Of course, we will continue to insist that the Israeli minister who appeared yesterday in that hateful, inhumane, monstrous video not only be barred from entering Spain, where he has been banned for many months, but also be barred from entering the entire European Union,” he added, referring to the release of images showing the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, humiliating the detained activists. Gideon Saar himself has described the release of the video as “shameful.” According to the minister, the Spanish government has not received “any” valid explanation regarding the detention of activists who were “on a peaceful humanitarian mission, whose only aim is something that Spain has been requesting for months and months along with other countries in the international community: that humanitarian aid can enter Gaza en masse, that it can enter through the land border crossings, which are specially designated for this purpose.” The European Union Albares also welcomed the fact that the European Union has “finally” begun to adopt sanctions against violent settlers in the West Bank, “after months and months” of proposals to this effect from Spain, but insisted that the EU must suspend its Association Agreement with Israel. “We have to take that step; we have to tell Israel once and for all that if you want to call yourself a democracy, you don't act like this,” he declared. “The images we saw yesterday are not the images of a democratic state. A democratic state respects human rights, does not violate international law, and does not illegally attack peaceful citizens in international waters,” he stated. Therefore, “if we cannot achieve unanimity” for the “termination of the Association Agreement,” that part, “which is the trade component, should be put to a vote, as it simply requires a qualified majority,” he affirmed. “What I am asking of the High Representative (Kaja Kallas) is that we move to a vote, verify whether or not there is a qualified majority, and that each European state take a position,” because “what we cannot do is relate to Israel as if we were two democracies, a democratic bloc, the European Union, and Israel were exactly the same,” he warned. “The European Union does not have association councils with every country in the world; it has them with some, with those we consider to share our values,” but those countries “have to demonstrate this, and until they do, they cannot have that level of association. We cannot relate to Israel as we relate to Iceland or Norway, to give two very clear examples,” he concluded. Calls for Albares' appearance The Sumar group (the junior partner in the coalition government), along with ERC and Bildu, jointly requested on Thursday that Albares appear before Congress to report on the actions and decisions he intends to take following the latest Israeli boarding of the Global Sumud Flotilla. This boarding occurred in international waters, "violating international law" and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and after the release of Itamar Ben Gvir's video showing activists "subjected to degrading treatment in violation of their consular rights."

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