CAMPAIGNER Saif Abukeshek has arrived back in Barcelona from Israeli custody to share a message insisting global mobilisation for Palestine.
Saif Abukeshek finally returned to Barcelona’s airport on May 10 after being apprehended in Israel.
Despite the heartfelt reunion with his family on Sunday, it is clear that mobilisation is still the top priority.
Palestinian activist and chair of Global Coalition Against the Occupation in Palestine, the Spanish-Swedish native was seized alongside Brazilian activist Thiago Avila on April 30.
The Israeli Navy stopped the grassroots flotilla as it was on its way to Gaza to provide humanitarian aid.
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Abukeshek shared a video on the Global Sumud Flotilla’s X account to urge global support in the continued fight between the people Palestine and Israel.
The video shows Abukeshek speaking directly into the camera: “The people at sea are doing their part. Rise up at land in every corner of the world. We mobilise at land and at the sea for a free Palestine.”
Abukeshek and Avila were joined by dozens of other activists, but they were the only two brought in for questioning while the others were released in Crete, Greece.
READ MORE: Spain summons Israel envoy over detention of ‘kidnapped’ Gaza flotilla activist
Protestors in Barcelona took to the streets on May 2 to call for the two partisan’s release, which was backed by political voices as well.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gave a speech at a campign event to demand the release the ‘Spanish citizen who has been illegally abducted by the Netanyahu government.’
Following comments were made by Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, who accused Israel of executing an ‘illegal detention in international waters.’
However, Israel claimed that Abukeshek and Avila were linked to Hamas or other illegal activity.
In a subsequent post from Israel’s Foreign Ministry X account, they announced the deportation of the ‘professional provocateurs’ and maintained that their blockade on Gaza was lawful.
The discharge comes after what international advocates are claiming were six ‘brutal’ days in captivity.
‘I am sure that the treatment I face does not compare to the suffering they are going through,’ Abukeshek assured in the X video.
Abukeshek thanked those who mobilised, the pair’s legal team, his wife and children, colleagues in the movement, and the brave 180 persons in support of him, whose voices gave him strength.
‘But we are not done yet. We have to continue. We have to continue to mobilise until Palestine is free,’ Abukeshek insisted brazenly.
The release came after a court in Israel rejected an appeal from the duo’s detention on May 6, which rights groups in turn called ‘unlawful.’
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The fleet originally set off from Spain, France and Italy in the hopes to provide humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza.
The most recent stoppage is another example of a flotilla getting blocked by Israel, the first which was in 2025 off the coast of Egypt.
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