Israel Has Kidnapped Two of Our Most Important Pro-Palestine Activists

By Chris Hedges

May 04, 2026

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/israel-has-kidnapped-two-of-our-most

 

[Two foreign activists — Thiago Avila and Saif Abu Keshek — from a Gaza-bound flotilla were brought to Israel for interrogation and appeared before an Israeli court on May 3].

 

Nothing illustrates the inversion of the international and moral order more than the genocide in Gaza and the shipment of tens of billions of dollars of weapons to Israel by Western nations, especially the United States, to sustain it. Part of this inversion is the unrelenting persecution of those who denounce the genocide — especially those who risk their lives to halt it and demand the rule of law.

But the rule of law, it appears, is buried under the rubble in Gaza.

And because of that Israel is able, with barely a word of protest by Western nations – Spain being one of the few exceptions – to abduct 175 activists aboard Sumud Flotilla 500 nautical miles from Gaza and 80 nautical miles west of the Greek island of Crete.

This violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was accompanied by the usual Israeli brutality. Flotilla members from the 22 vessels that were intercepted and then transferred to the Israeli vessel NAHSHON were denied food, forced to sleep on the floor as it was flooded “repeatedly” with water, punched, kicked, dragged across decks with their hands tied and shot at with rubber bullets and live ammunition. Eventually, all but two flotilla members were transferred to Crete, with 36 requiring medical attention.

Two of the leading activists on the flotilla, the Brazilian organizer of the flotilla, Thiago Avila, and the Spaniard Saif Abu Keshek, who is of Palestinian descent and who has organized Palestinian solidarity movements across Europe for over two decades, were not allowed to disembark when the vessel reached Ierapetra Port in southern Crete, although the ship was in Greek territorial waters.

They were kidnapped and taken to Israel.

“Participant eyewitnesses provided harrowing testimony of Abukeshek’s screams echoing throughout the ship as he was subjected to systematic torture, after being separated from the others,” read a communique issued by The Global Sumud Flotilla.

Abu Keshek was blindfolded, forced to lie on his stomach “since the moment of his seizure until this morning” which resulted in “bruising to his face and hands.” Thiago was “dragged face-down across the floor” and beaten so severely that he passed out twice.

When the two activists appeared in an Israeli court there were visible bruises on their faces. Thiago had trouble lifting his right hand.

Since their detainment, the two men have been on hunger strike. They are accused of “assisting the enemy during wartime” and “membership in and providing services to a terrorist organization.”

This is the world we now live in. The moral and the courageous are criminalized. The ruling class weaponizes the law to justify the abuse and atrocities of the lawless.

Here is a link to an interview I did in Italy with Thiago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH8I3z143Nw

Here is a link to the documentary we made in Italy where Thiago, along with Francesca Albanese, Greta Thunberg, Yanis Varoufakis and the striking Italian dock workers, who refuse to load weapons onto ships bound for Israels, are featured:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5ofVZjG21g

We must contact the Israeli Embassy in Washington. We must protest in front of the embassy, as well as the Israeli consulate in New York, to demand the release of Thiago and Saif.

They are the best among us.

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United Nations; Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967

https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-palestine

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B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

https://www.btselem.org/

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Breaking the Silence

https://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/

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Physician for Human Rights

https://phr.org/countries/israel/

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Al-Haq. Defending Human Rights

https://www.alhaq.org/

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