{"id":217047,"date":"2026-05-03T16:43:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T16:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/217047\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T16:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T16:43:29","slug":"global-sumud-flotilla-claim-detained-activist-never-meant-to-go-to-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/217047\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Sumud Flotilla claim detained activist never meant to go to Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/diaspora\/antisemitism\/article-894829\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Global Sumud Flotilla<\/a> issued a statement saying that one of the two flotilla activists detained by Israel, Saif Abu Keshek, never intended to go to Gaza on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Keshek was on \u201can observer boat which was never intended to go to Gaza,\u201d the statement read, adding that he was \u201charshly beaten before being removed and isolated from the rest of the participants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In another statement released on Saturday, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-894861\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Global Sumud Flotilla<\/a> claimed that Keshek was tortured, writing that \u201cparticipant eyewitnesses provided harrowing testimony of Keshek\u2019s screams echoing throughout the ship as he was subjected to systematic torture, after being separated from others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While almost all activists detained aboard the flotilla <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-894831\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">were taken to Greece<\/a>, two, Keshek and Thiago \u00c1vila, were brought to Israel for questioning \u2013 Keshek due to suspicions of affiliation with a terrorist organization and \u00c1vila due to suspicions of illegal activity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">According to the Foreign Ministry, Keshek is a leading member of the PCPA, an organization that functions as a front for Hamas. Keshek serves as a liaison between Hamas officials and international contacts, as well as assisting in financial transfers to the terror group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Keshek was previously arrested in Egypt and deported in June 2025, and faced prior detention for questioning in Tunisia in connection with financial crimes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Keshek and \u00c1vila, who the Foreign Ministry said also work with the PCPA, were brought to Israel to be questioned by law enforcement authorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Both will receive a consular visit from the representatives of their respective countries in Israel, the Foreign Ministry stated on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/diaspora\/antisemitism\/article-894824\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Spain<\/a>, where Keshek holds citizenship, and Brazil, \u00c1vila\u2019s home country, released a joint statement condemning the \u201ckidnapping of two of their citizens in international waters\u201d on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The two countries demand the immediate return of their citizens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Global Sumud Flotilla issued a statement saying that one of the two flotilla activists detained by Israel,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[57],"tags":[66347,8221,2398,12533,110768,23483,45372,174],"class_list":["post-217047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tunisia","tag-flotilla","tag-foreign-ministry","tag-gaza","tag-gaza-strip","tag-global-sumud-flotilla","tag-hamas","tag-idf","tag-tunisia"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116511650807679877","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}