{"id":777400,"date":"2026-05-06T14:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/777400\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:04:17","slug":"flotilla-activists-to-appeal-detention-extension-in-beersheba-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/777400\/","title":{"rendered":"Flotilla activists to appeal detention extension in Beersheba court"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Beersheba District Court is set to hear an appeal Wednesday afternoon against the detention extension of two foreign activists taken into Israeli custody after Israel intercepted a Gaza-bound flotilla last week.<\/p>\n

The hearing, scheduled for 2 p.m., will address an appeal filed by Adalah on behalf of Brazilian activist Thiago \u00c1vila and Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek<\/a>, whose detention was extended Tuesday by the Ashkelon Magistrate\u2019s Court until Sunday morning.<\/p>\n

The two were among the activists<\/a> aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail in an attempt to break Israel\u2019s naval blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid. Israeli forces intercepted the flotilla near Crete, hundreds of nautical miles from Israel. Most of the activists were later released in Greece, while Abu Keshek and \u00c1vila were brought to Israel for questioning.<\/p>\n

Police have said the suspicions against the two include aiding the enemy during wartime, contact with a foreign agent, contact with terrorist elements, and additional terrorism-related offenses. In hearings this week, police argued that the two were dominant figures in the flotilla<\/a> and that investigative material linked them to an organization recognized by Israel as a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n

The organization at issue is the PCPA, or Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, a Palestinian diaspora organization that Israel and the US have accused of acting as a Hamas front. The organization has denied the allegation.<\/p>\n

\"VesselsVessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted on international waters by the Israeli Navy, sail off the city of Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, Greece, May 1, 2026. (credit: REUTERS\/STEFANOS RAPANIS)<\/p>\n

Adalah attorneys Lubna Tuma and Hadeel Abu Salih argued in the appeal that the lower court erred in finding reasonable suspicion that the activists committed serious terror-related offenses. According to Adalah, the two were taking part in a public humanitarian mission intended to challenge the blockade and deliver aid to Gaza\u2019s civilian population.<\/p>\n

The lawyers also argued that there are no grounds to continue holding the activists, saying they pose no danger and no risk of obstructing the investigation or tampering with witnesses. Adalah further claimed that police failed to properly investigate the activists\u2019 accounts, which the organization said were coherent and consistent with their public statements.<\/p>\n

Judge accepts request to extend flotilla activists’ detention<\/strong><\/p>\n

At Tuesday\u2019s hearing, Judge Yaniv Ben-Harush accepted the state\u2019s request to extend the detention<\/a> after reviewing investigation material, including classified material presented to the court. He ruled that reasonable suspicion existed and said the suspicions were not limited to the flotilla itself, but appeared to extend to alleged activity beyond the specific interception incident.<\/p>\n

The court also accepted the state\u2019s argument that some investigative actions could be disrupted if the activists were released.<\/p>\n

Ben-Harush rejected, at this stage, the defense\u2019s argument that Israel lacked authority to arrest and investigate foreign nationals intercepted far from its shores, ruling that because the suspicions involved security offenses, they fall under provisions governing extraterritorial offenses.<\/p>\n

Adalah has demanded the activists\u2019 immediate release.<\/p>\n

The case comes amid renewed scrutiny of Israel\u2019s handling of attempts to reach Gaza by sea. Israel maintains that the naval blockade is lawful and necessary to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas, while flotilla organizers and several foreign governments have argued that interceptions in international waters are illegal.<\/p>\n

UN calls for release of Keshek, \u00c1vila<\/strong><\/p>\n

The United Nations released a statement on Wednesday calling for Israel to “immediately and unconditionally release” both Keshek and \u00c1vila.<\/p>\n

The statement also called for the “disturbing accounts of severe mistreatment” to be investigated and continued that “those responsible must be brought to justice.”<\/p>\n

“It is not a crime to show solidarity and attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza who are in dire need of it,” the statement read, calling for “an end to Israel’s use of arbitrary detention and of broadly and vaguely defined terrorism legislation, inconsistent with international human rights law.”<\/p>\n

Danya Saperstein contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Beersheba District Court is set to hear an appeal Wednesday afternoon against the detention extension of two…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":777401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12332,44895,70,117682,99,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-777400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-beersheba","9":"tag-flotilla","10":"tag-gaza","11":"tag-global-sumud-flotilla","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116528012934426992","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}