Spain demands Israel release arrested Gaza flotilla crew member

Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares expressed concern about the ‘illegal detention’ of Saif Abukeshek and asserted that he was ‘kidnapped’.Madrid has demanded the release of a Spanish citizen who was arrested during a raid on a flotilla headed for Gaza and taken to Israel for “questioning”.Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Catalan radio station RAC1 on Saturday that he was concerned about the “illegal detention” of Saif Abukeshek, and called for him to be “released immediately”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Iran war: What’s happening on day 64 as Trump rejects Tehran’s proposallist 2 of 3UK’s Starmer eyes banning some pro-Palestine protestslist 3 of 3Israel’s ‘two-tier’ policing and the crime epidemic in Palestinian townsend of listAbukeshek, a Spanish-Swedish national of Palestinian origin, was among activists detained as Israeli military forces raided the Global Sumud Flotilla off the coast of Crete earlier this week.He was one of two men, alongside Brazilian Thiago Avila, then taken to Israel on Friday for “questioning”. Israel claims the two have ties to Hamas.Albares said that the arrest was made “outside the jurisdiction of Israel”, adding, “Of course, it is a kidnapping.”The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Abukeshek is a leading member of the Palestinian National Conference Abroad, which the United States says operates at the behest of Hamas.However, the Spanish diplomat insisted that “Israel has not put on the table any evidence about Abukeshek’s relationship with Hamas”.The Israeli navy stormed 22 of the flotilla boats attempting to deliver aid to Gaza while they were in international waters, hundreds of miles from the strip. Drones and communications-jamming technology were used. They detained 175 of those on board and took them to Greece, except for Abukeshek and Avila.Albares said that the Spanish consul in Greece had “had to go to the hospital because several activists needed medical assistance”.