AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

Two members of a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla have appeared before an Israeli court after they were abducted from their ships in international waters and brought to Israel for interrogation. On Sunday, the court extended the imprisonment of Spanish national Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian national Thiago Ávila by two days, though authorities have not brought any charges against them. Ávila told his lawyers he’d been subjected to brutality after his abduction, including being, quote, “dragged face-down across the floor and beaten so severely that he passed out twice,” unquote. The beating left him with visible bruises on his face. Both Ávila and Keshek have begun a hunger strike.

Just before the broadcast, Democracy Now! spoke to Keshek’s wife, Sally Issa. She’s in Barcelona, Spain. Keshek is both a Spanish and Swedish citizen.

SALLY ISSA: So, my name is Sally. I am Saif Abukeshek’s wife. Saif Abukeshek was on board the Global Sumud Flotilla, who is a mission with the aim to break the illegal siege on the Gaza Strip and deliver humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza.

The Israeli military marine attacked the flotilla outside of the Greek island Crete in international water, and they kidnapped 100 — more than 175 activists, civilians, with nationalities from all over the world, and they kept them hostages and then later freed them to the Greek police. They held, on the other hand, my husband Saif and his comrade Thiago as hostages, and later they took them to Israel against their will.

We have got many testimonies about the interception and how it went. We have got to hear that it was very violent, and the activists were not treated very well. We could see images and pictures from the activists who were freed in Greece, where they had broken noses and broken ribs, and more than 30 people had to go to seek medical help.

They also told us how it went to my husband Saif when they were kidnapped on the flotilla. So, it has been very violent, and Saif was put in a isolated cell on the boat. He started a hunger strike, and he was treated very bad, so bad that all the activists on the boat could hear him screaming during the ride to Greece. Now my husband is in Israel. They are questioning him and Thiago. Yesterday, they went to the court, and they got an extension of two days’ interrogation.

And yeah, we are demanding all the governments around the world to interfere and free both Saif and Thiago and to put then a stop on the ongoing genocide and blockade, illegal blockade, of the Gaza Strip.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Sally Issa, the wife of the detained Palestinian activist Saif Abukeshek. He and Thiago Ávila were among an estimated 175 activists forced off their humanitarian aid ships at gunpoint during Israel’s raid on the flotilla as it sailed off the coast of Greece Thursday. All the other activists were taken to a port on the Greek island of Crete.

In a joint statement, the governments of Spain and Brazil wrote, quote, “This flagrantly illegal action by the Israeli authorities outside their jurisdiction constitutes a violation of international law.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez spoke Sunday.

PRIME MINISTER PEDRO SÁNCHEZ: [translated] Now that Netanyahu has done this, abducting foreign citizens — one of them is Spanish — and taking him to Israel, I say several things to Prime Minister Netanyahu. The first is that Spain will always protect its citizens. The second is that we will always defend international law. And this is a new violation of international law. And the third is we want the release of the Spanish citizen, who has been illegally abducted by Netanyahu’s government.

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, Middle East Eye reports prosecutors in Italy have opened an investigation into the kidnapping and detention of Thiago Ávila and Saif Abukeshek, who were on board the humanitarian boat that was flying the Italian flag.

For more, we’re joined by two guests. Here in New York, Rania Batrice is with us, a Palestinian American activist, part of the communications team for the Global Sumud Flotilla. And in Crete, Greece, we’re joined by Hannah Smith, a representative of the Global Sumud Flotilla public affairs team, who was on the flotilla when Israeli forces raided the ships.

Hannah, let’s begin with you. So, you have these two Sumud activists who have been detained by Israel, and we heard the description of what happened to them. What happened to you?

HANNAH SMITH: So, we were completely shocked by this. On Thursday night, our communications went down. We lost internet. Most of us thought it was just a technical issue. But soon we were surrounded by speedboats, with their turning their lights on and off. We were very confused. We didn’t know if people were just messing with us. Then we were approached by one of these boats, and they self-identified as Israeli Navy. They pointed guns at us. They had lasers pointed at us. We had our hands in the air. They threatened lethal force, and they told us to get to the front of the boat. They left us for a few hours, and then they came back, and they boarded the boat.

They took us very aggressively to an Israeli naval vessel, where they held us for nearly two days. We were held in a makeshift prison with shipping containers and barbed wire. Many people were subject to aggressive physical force. We were denied access to adequate water. We were denied access to sanitary supplies. We were also — the day after our interception, Saif was taken into solitary confinement, something that we were all very concerned would happen. We anticipated that this genocidal regime would target him because he’s Palestinian. And we were held there.

The nights were extremely cold. People’s jackets were stolen. When I advocated for one of the participants, who’s a doctor, who was pacing for two hours trying to stay warm — she had a short-sleeve shirt in like 50-degree weather that was cold and damp. When I advocated for blankets, they flooded the sleeping area. And then we had a dozen people pacing, trying to stay warm, trying not to get hypothermia.

The cruelty increased when we started to mobilize for the release of six people who were in solitary confinement. Saif was one of these people. We mobilized, and then — we mobilized in the sense that we refused to leave the vessel without them. We started to bang on the walls and say, “Free our comrades.” You know, we were so concerned about their safety. When we were told that we were going to be transported to another vessel, we weren’t told what vessels they were going to be, but we knew that we didn’t want to leave without them. And so, when we said, “We’re not going to leave without them,” when we nonviolently resisted, many people were beat. Many people were dragged. I was held in a stress position for many hours. I refused to be on the first boat. I negotiated to get back on the Israeli vessel from the Greek Coast Guard boat. And I heard people being beat. I heard people screaming. I heard people being dragged around. And it was absolutely horrifying.

We know that this cruelty that is directed at us is because of the hatred that they have for the Palestinian people. We also know that this flagrant violation of international law that happened over 600 nautical miles from Gaza, it has happened because we have allowed so many violations to happen in Gaza, because we have allowed the genocide to continue. So, what we experienced was very cruel, but it was a fraction of what Palestinians in Gaza experience.

Then, at the end of this, I was on the last boat to disembark, and we realized that Thiago was also still on board and that they had not released Saif. We negotiated with the Greek Coast Guard. We tried to get them and urged them to intervene, to do anything to stop that vessel from leaving Greek territorial waters. These people were kidnapped, brought into Greek territorial waters. The Greek government had an obligation to intervene, but they did not.

And then we were brought to the Greek port, where many people awaited hospitalization and medical treatment. Several people broke ribs. Two people were beat unconscious. Many people had concussions. People were aggressively kicked in the genitals. We saw a level of violence that I genuinely didn’t anticipate.

Many of us were not even planning to go all the way to Gaza on this flotilla. We had other stops along the way. So this was an utter shock, a complete violation of international law, and something that I think we should all not only condemn, but do concrete actions to stop and to hold the government, the Israeli occupation government, and all of its enablers accountable.

AMY GOODMAN: Some of your colleagues had to be rescued from a ship that was sinking, Hannah?

HANNAH SMITH: Yes. So, there was one vessel that was attacked by the Israeli occupation Navy. That vessel was called Tam Tam. And I haven’t even been able to talk to the people on board, so I can’t share their full experiences. But they were — yes, they were left on a vessel that was sinking. Open Arms, one of our support vessels here in Crete that is supporting the fleet with medical and mechanical support was able to find them and rescue them. But, yes, I mean, this is utterly horrific. We’re talking about this is European waters that this happened in.

AMY GOODMAN: So, how many ships were there? And are some still headed to Gaza?

HANNAH SMITH: So, there were 56 vessels before the Israeli attack. They intercepted 21. They left one sinking. And so, now we have 34 vessels here in Crete.

So, the plan right now is that we want to regroup. We want to assess the situation. We want to assess our strategies and the risks. We want to come together as a movement and start to work towards the next steps. So, right now we are not planning an immediate departure to Gaza, but we are planning on convening and discussing what we feel as a movement is going to be the most effective way to continue to work towards breaking Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and stopping the genocide, and then also to free our comrades, Saif and Thiago.

AMY GOODMAN: So, Batrice, Rania Batrice, if you can talk about the significance of the two activists, one Spanish Swedish, Saif, and the other Brazilian — you can’t help but think, when it comes to Spain and Brazil, they’ve been among the countries who are most critical of Israel — if they are being used as an example, and what exactly is happening to them now in Israel, what you understand?

RANIA BATRICE: Yeah, so, I definitely think that’s, at least in part, part of what’s going on here, but also Saif and Thiago have been very vocal advocates and activists themselves. Thiago has been on several flotilla missions for many years. Saif obviously is also part of the leadership of the Global Sumud Flotilla, as is Thiago. So, I think it’s — I think it’s multiple things at play here. It is a favorite tactic of the Israeli regime to try to bully people into silence and submission, to threaten people, and they’ve gotten away with it for decades. So here they are doing it again, this time in international waters, as Hannah mentioned, over 600 nautical miles away from the coast of Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: We did talk to Saif Abukeshek in April as the Global Sumud Flotilla began its journey to Gaza. He spoke to us from aboard one of the humanitarian aid ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

SAIF ABUKESHEK: It’s very important to address how this genocide and how this siege being enabled, when countries like Spain decide to vote on an embargo, military embargo, to prevent this kind of ships to go through the Mediterranean, and they try to find other ports, when they don’t declare the content of what they have on the cargo, and they just sail to maintain and enable the Israeli government by providing them with the needed materials to continue committing genocide and maintain the illegal siege on Gaza. People need to react. Governments are allowing this to happen when they don’t take action.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that is Saif Abukeshek. We want to turn now to Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila speaking last June on board another humanitarian aid flotilla sailing to Gaza. The flotilla was also violently raided by Israeli forces.

THIAGO ÁVILA: So, I come from a place where imperialism always plays a decisive role. My country suffered two military coups, and both of them had the support of the United States. And so, it’s important that we understand that imperialism and Zionism, they are the greatest evils of our generation, and we need to defeat them wherever we can. And Palestine is now the strategic place for all peoples to unite and fight against oppression, exploitation and the destruction of nature.

They have been threatening us for many, many years. For 17 years, any flotilla mission that tried to reach Gaza has been threatened by them. But we will not bow to their threats. We do not need their permission.

AMY GOODMAN: So, as we wrap up, Rania Batrice, that is Thiago Avila. We also heard from Saif Abukeshek. If you can talk about what’s happening now? Apparently they’re going to be brought back into court. You’ve been with the Global Sumud Flotilla and the flotillas before, representing them here.

RANIA BATRICE: Yeah. So, they have had one hearing, where they extended their detention two days, I think, as you mentioned. Still no charges have been — have been placed on either one of them. They are continuing — I did get an update from Thiago’s wife that he was finally able to actually see a doctor. He is feeling better. They’re both still on hunger strike. So, we’re playing this waiting game where Israel has control of everything, including their access to their legal representation.

AMY GOODMAN: Let me end with Hannah Smith. Why did you go on this flotilla?

HANNAH SMITH: I think the reason I went is the same reason a lot of us went, and that’s because we were done standing by, watching such injustice continue, watching such impunity continue, because we want to do the right thing, because we want to stand up for justice and humanity, and because we love the Palestinian people, and because we see that Palestine and Gaza is a frontline in the global fight against oppression and injustice and domination. And I would go again. I think a lot of us would, because this is — this is something that every citizen, everyone all around the world, whether you’re on land or sea, should be doing, that we should be standing for justice and standing for Palestine.

AMY GOODMAN: I should also say, when we spoke to Saif Abukeshek, he was on a Greenpeace ship known as the Arctic Sunrise, providing technical support, accompanying the flotilla for part of the voyage in a show of solidarity. I want to thank you both for being with us, Rania Batrice of the Global Sumud Flotilla, and Hannah Smith was on that flotilla. She’s speaking to us from Crete.

Up next, the latest on the Strait of Hormuz and the war in Iran. We’ll speak with Trita Parsi.

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AMY GOODMAN: “Everybody Deserves to Be Free” by the Resistance Revival Chorus, performed at Town Hall in September for the Voices of Gaza.