CLARE MEP Michael McNamara (IND) was among those to lead the issuing of a cross-party letter from members of the European Parliament intervening in the seizure by Israeli military forces of civilian vessels from the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters near Crete which had a Kilmaley resident on board.
On Tuesday, the Ashkelon Magistrates’ Court granted the state’s request to extend the detention of Saif Abu Keshek from Spain and Brazilian Thiago Avila until Sunday May 10th. The duo were Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla activists who were abducted by Israeli authorities last week, according to the Israeli rights group representing them.
The pair were among dozens of activists who had set sail for Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off Greece on April 30. Organisers say that from 180 activists, the majority of whom were taken to Crete, Abu Keshek and Avila were taken to Israel for questioning, where they remain in detention.
Kilmaley resident Martin Guilfoyle was among the seven Irish activists captured while sailing on international waters. The seventy five year old said he was held at gun point by Israeli forces and said the treatment of those on board the Global Sumud Flotilla was brutal.
MEP McNamara led a letter signed by several members of the European Parliament across a number of political groups to HR/VP Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief which demanded immediate intervention. The letter described the interception as a serious act of aggression by a foreign military power in European waters, hundreds of miles from Gaza, with no legal or security justification. The co-signatories called on Kallas to intervene at the highest diplomatic level, summon the Israeli Head of Mission to the EU, place sanctions on the table, and report urgently to the European Parliament.
“Israel cannot continue to behave like a rogue state without consequences,” McNamara said.
