{"id":452148,"date":"2026-05-05T15:51:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/05\/05\/europarlamentari-in-presidio-per-la-global-sumud-flotilla-colpisce-il-silenzio-delleuropa\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:26:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T14:26:37","slug":"meps-rally-in-support-of-the-global-sumud-flotilla-europes-silence-is-striking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/05\/meps-rally-in-support-of-the-global-sumud-flotilla-europes-silence-is-striking\/","title":{"rendered":"MEPs rally in support of the Global Sumud Flotilla: “Europe\u2019s silence is striking”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 \u201cWe are aware of the situation in Israeli prisons, and we know how international activists are treated: that is why we know that speaking out from the European Parliament is not enough<\/strong>, and that is why we have decided to come here and deliver this message directly through our own actions.\u201d A delegation of MEPs gathered for a protest today (5 May) outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgium. In a message addressed to Avi Nir-Feldklein (Israel\u2019s Ambassador to the European Union) and Idit Rosenzweig-Abu (Israel\u2019s Ambassador to Belgium), the group called for the immediate release of Thiago Avila and Saif Abu Keshek<\/strong>, the two activists from Global Sumud Flotilla<\/a> who are currently being held in Israeli prisons \u201cin violation of the fundamental principles of the rule of law and human dignity.\u201d <\/p>\n

Last week, Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila were sailing in Greek waters with other activists. On Wednesday night, they were intercepted by the Israeli army in international waters off the coast of Crete. “Once again, Europe\u2019s silence is striking,<\/strong>” comments Sandro Ruotolo (PD). <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
[Photo by Marco Di Gianvito\/IPA Agency]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis attack<\/strong><\/span>\u2014the MEPs stress\u2014constitutes a flagrant violation of the principle of freedom of navigation and must be regarded as an act of piracy<\/strong><\/span>.\u201d What happened to the flotilla and its activists \u201cis not an isolated incident, but part of a wider pattern of repression against peaceful civil action,\u201d they added. The activists were forcibly detained, transferred without legal justification, and, according to reports, subjected to degrading and violent treatment. \u201cWe want Israel to start complying with international law and for our governments to start taking action to ensure respect for international law itself,\u201d said Benedetta Scuderi (AVS).<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last Sunday, the two detained activists appeared before an Israeli court, which extended their detention. They appeared covered in bruises. They appeared in court again today and, according to the MEPs present<\/span>, their detention has been extended until next Sunday<\/strong>.<\/span> <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The 22 MEPs who took part in the protest are members of the progressive group: S&D, including Cecilia Strada, Sandro Ruotolo, Brando Benifei, Annalisa Corrado<\/strong>, Aodh\u00e1n \u00d3 R\u00edord\u00e1in, and Matja\u017e Nemec; Greens\/EFA with Benedetta Scuderi, <\/strong><\/span>Cristina Guarda, Leoluca Orlando<\/strong>, Ana Miranda, M\u00e9lissa Camara, Saskia Bricmont, Maria Ohisalo, and Catarina Vieira; The Left with Mimmo Lucano, Carolina Morace<\/strong>, Lynn Boylan, Hanna Gedin, Jo\u00e3o Oliveira, Catarina Martins, and Rima Hassan; Renew with Irena Joveva.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many Italian MPs. “We know how international activists are treated: that is why we have decided to come here and send this message directly through our own actions”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7911,"featured_media":452107,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29788,25707],"tags":[25890,25794,30361,33951,25755,31310,31937,33394],"class_list":["post-452148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diritti-en","category-world-politics","tag-ambassadors-en","tag-europarlamentari","tag-news-parliament-en","tag-gauze","tag-global-sumud-flotilla-en","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7911"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":452149,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452148\/revisions\/452149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}