Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez escalated his rhetoric against Israel on Saturday, attacking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a Socialist Party event over the arrest of flotilla activist Saif Abu Qashaq, who has ties to Hamas. “Netanyahu kidnapped foreign citizens, including a Spanish citizen,” Sánchez said.
Sánchez, who has recently ramped up criticism of Israel, added: “We will always protect our citizens, we will always defend international law, and we demand the full release of the Spanish citizen who was illegally kidnapped.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced last weekend that all flotilla activists intercepted by the Israeli Navy near Crete would be released in Greece. But it was later determined that two of them—residents of Spain and Brazil—would be brought to Israel for questioning.
In a Foreign Ministry statement on the matter, officials said: “Two flotilla activists involved in terrorism will be brought to Israel for questioning and the rest will disembark in Greece. As published by the Peace Council and the U.S. State Department, humanitarian activity in the Gaza Strip is managed by the Peace Council, and this Hamas-led flotilla is another provocation designed to divert attention from Hamas’s refusal to disarm.”