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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://ahmedeldin.substack.com/p/spanish-police-beat-global-sumud">ahmedeldin.substack.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Basque Police Beat Global Sumud Flotilla Torture Survivors In Spain</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Ahmed Eldin</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">May 23, 2026</div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div dir="auto"><p>The
video from Bilbao Airport today is as brutal as it is bewildering. Six
Basque activists walk through arrivals, fresh from being intercepted,
detained, and abused by Israeli forces while attempting to deliver
humanitarian aid to Gaza, carrying physical and psychological scars from
their encounter with the Israeli military.</p><p></p><h4><strong>Basque police beating Israeli torture survivors is institutional. </strong></h4><h4><strong>These
are the same cops who've taken \u20ac1.6M in Israeli security
contracts,trained by former Mossad agents, and equipped with Israeli
surveillance tech. </strong></h4><p></p><p><span>Basque police, the </span><a href="https://www.preventionweb.net/organization/ertzaintza">Ertzaintza</a><span>,
descended on Loiu Airport with batons drawn. They attacked the
activists and the friends and family who had gathered to welcome them
home. Four people were arrested, charged with \u201cdesobediencia grave,
resistencia y atentado a agente de la autoridad\u201d \u2014 the standard playbook
for criminalizing solidarity.</span></p><p>The images are shocking:
police beating people who had just survived Israeli captivity. People
being dragged and handcuffed as they step off a plane, bringing back
evidence of Israeli war crimes.</p><div><a target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ti0D!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F69b1c685-4c1d-4af5-8608-cb74d66454e7_1091x742.jpeg"><div><span><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ti0D!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F69b1c685-4c1d-4af5-8608-cb74d66454e7_1091x742.jpeg" width="498" height="339" alt="" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;"></span></div></a></div><p><span>The </span><a href="https://www.preventionweb.net/organization/ertzaintza">Ertzaintza</a><span>
presents itself as a different kind of police force. Created in 1982 as
part of Basque autonomy, it\u2019s supposed to be more responsive to local
communities, and less like the centralized Spanish national police.</span></p><p>The
truth is, the Ertzaintza has a long-standing, multifaceted relationship
with Israel that goes far beyond the Spanish government\u2019s official
positions on Palestine.</p><p>Let\u2019s be clear about what we\u2019re talking about:</p><p><strong>Technology & Equipment:</strong><span> </span><a href="https://shield.ertzaintza.eus/en">The Ertzaintza has purchased Israeli technology and equipment for years.</a><span> Its phone-tapping system comes from Verint Systems, an Israeli company with </span><a href="https://www.elsaltodiario.com/armamento-policial/gobierno-vasco-ertzaintza-bilbao-contratan-exagente-israeli-mossad">deep ties to Israeli military intelligence.</a><span> An Israeli firm, </span><a href="https://www.impulse-h2020.eu/consortium/ertz/">ICTS</a><span>, has managed security at some of their facilities. They\u2019ve used </span><a href="https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/lang/en/espana/stpv/spaintoday2015/security/paginas/index.aspx">Israeli body armor, </a><span>surveillance cameras, and listening devices.</span></p><p><strong>Training & Services: </strong><a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/euskadi-israel-a-relationship-of-military-training-etas-empathy-for-zionism-and-politics/">The Ertzaintza has participated in training from Israeli sources</a><span>, including courses from Guardian Defense & Homeland Security \u2014 </span><a href="https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/euskadi-israel-a-relationship-of-military-training-etas-empathy-for-zionism-and-politics/">a company run by a former Mossad agent</a><span> that has provided \u201clive fire\u201d training to Spanish police.</span></p><p><strong>Financial Ties:</strong><span> These aren\u2019t minor transactions. </span><a href="https://www.elsaltodiario.com/armamento-policial/gobierno-vasco-ertzaintza-bilbao-contratan-exagente-israeli-mossad">Basque institutions have reportedly spent over \u20ac1.66 million on contracts with Israeli-linked security companies.</a><span> In 2021 the Ertzaintza signed a contract for </span><a href="https://www.elsaltodiario.com/armamento-policial/gobierno-vasco-ertzaintza-bilbao-contratan-exagente-israeli-mossad">\u20ac3,569.50</a><span> just for \u201csupply of stun and distraction grenade carriers\u201d from these same Israeli sources.</span></p><p>This is the institutional reality that contradicts the political rhetoric.</p><p><span>For years, Israel has aggressively cultivated relationships with European police forces through security training programs. </span><a href="https://www.israeli-tactical.de/">Companies like Israeli Tactical School, International Protection Services, and ISA Security Academy </a><span>market
themselves as premier counter-terrorism experts. Their instructors come
from Shin Bet, the Israeli secret service. Their doctrine emphasizes
aggressive tactics, crowd suppression, and treating dissent as security
threat.</span></p><p><a href="https://www.israeli-tactical.de/">The Israeli Tactical School</a><span>
openly boasts of training \u201csecurity professionals worldwide\u201d in
\u201ccounter-terrorism and executive protection.\u201d Their curriculum includes
\u201cclose-quarters battle\u201d and \u201ccounter-surveillance\u201d \u2014 tactics designed
for high-risk environments that aren\u2019t exactly what you\u2019d expect at an
airport arrivals gate.</span></p><p>When Israeli forces sexually
assault, torture, and brutalize international activists bringing aid to
Gaza, those actions send a clear message to every police force they\u2019ve
trained: \u201cThis is how you handle people who challenge us. And you should
be doing the same.\u201d</p><div id="gmail-youtube2-bA7JWBfnARU"><p></p></div><p><span>While
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has positioned himself as a critic
of Israeli actions in Gaza, calling for investigations and even </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRYgTwg-jEs">suspending the EU-Israel association agreement</a><span>, the institutional reality on the ground tells a different story.</span></p><p>The
Spanish government may condemn Israeli atrocities in public statements,
but its security apparatus maintains deep ties with Israeli military
and security contractors. </p><p>This explains why the Ertzaintza
behaved the way they did in Bilbao. They\u2019re part of a security ecosystem
that views Palestinian solidarity activists through the same lens as
Israeli security forces.</p><p><a href="https://www.eldiario.es/espana/dani-esteve-bombardear-flotilla-palestina_1_102123456.html">It\u2019s the same logic that allows far-right agitator Dani Esteve to publicly call for bombing the flotilla</a><span>
and lead demonstrations in Madrid with complete impunity. When the
system views Palestinian solidarity as a threat to national security \u2014 a
lesson learned from Israeli counterinsurgency doctrine \u2014 it will act
accordingly.</span></p><p><a href="https://ahmedeldin.substack.com/subscribe"><span>Upgrade Subscription To Paid</span></a></p><p><span>Timing matters. The Global Sumud Flotilla arrived as global pressure on Israel reaches unprecedented levels. </span><a href="https://www.mofa.go.kr/">South Korea has condemned Israeli actions.</a><span> </span><a href="https://www.government.nl/">The Netherlands has banned settlement products.</a><span>
Even in the US, the pro-Israel lobby is losing ground with more
Americans sympathizing with Palestinians rather than Israelis for the
first time. </span></p><p>Israel and their proxies know they\u2019re losing
the battle for global legitimacy. So they\u2019re doubling down on repression
\u2014 not just in occupied territories, but in European cities too.</p><p>The
Ertzaintza\u2019s attack was an attack on the credibility of Spain\u2019s entire
Palestine position. It exposed the hypocrisy of a government that talks
solidarity while practicing complicity.</p><p>This is the contradiction
at the heart of European \u201csolidarity\u201d with Palestine. You can condemn
Israeli genocide in Brussels while your police enforce the same logic of
repression domestically. You can call for accountability while your
institutions actively suppress the movement demanding that
accountability.</p><p><span>The contrast between Barcelona and Bilbao tells the story. In Barcelona, the activists were welcomed by </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amW_u7mVHac">Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun</a><span>,
who called for investigations into Israeli \u201ctortures\u201d and denounced the
interception as \u201cpiracy.\u201d In Bilbao, they were met with batons and
arrests.</span></p><div id="gmail-youtube2-amW_u7mVHac"><p></p></div><p>This
is about the fundamental contradiction between Spain\u2019s supposed
solidarity with Palestine and its institutional entanglement with
Israel\u2019s security apparatus.</p><p>The activists who sailed for Gaza
weren\u2019t just bringing humanitarian aid \u2014 they were bringing back
evidence of Israeli war crimes. And in that evidence lies a challenge to
the very system that profits from Israeli technology and training.</p><p>When
the police attacked them in Bilbao, they were attacking the activists
and attacking the evidence. They were actually attacking the truth,
protecting the institutional ties that bind them to the same security
logic that abuses Palestinians.</p><p>The Spanish government can condemn
Israeli atrocities all it wants. But until it cuts the institutional
ties that train police in Israeli security doctrine, until it stops
purchasing Israeli surveillance technology, until it ends the contracts
with Israeli security firms \u2014 its words will remain empty.</p><p>The
activists who survived Israeli captivity only to be attacked by Spanish
police understand this reality better than anyone. They\u2019ve seen
firsthand how the same logic of control and violence connects Tel Aviv
to Bilbao.</p><p>The real question is why any police force would choose alignment with an occupying power over protecting their own citizens.</p><p>When
Ertzaintza beat people welcoming home activists who survived Israeli
detention, they were protecting the system that allows Israeli forces to
commit torture with impunity. They were protecting the illusion that
Spain can be a genuine ally to Palestine while its institutions do
Israel\u2019s dirty work at home.</p><p>Another world is possible. But it
won\u2019t be built by police forces that beat activists for supporting
freedom. It won\u2019t be built by governments that condemn Israeli genocide
while enabling it at home.</p><p>The Basque activists understood this.
That\u2019s why they sailed to Gaza. And that\u2019s why Ertzaintza was so damn
afraid of them coming home.</p><p>Meanwhile, Israel is busy gaslighting the world:</p><a href="https://x.com/israelmfa/status/2058209600940212412?s=46" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><div><div><div title="User"><span><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!eWB8!,w_40,h_40,c_fill,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.substack.com%2Fprofile_images%2F1587900251540791304%2FOwWylh5s.jpg" alt="X avatar for @IsraelMFA" width="40" height="40"></span></div><p><span>Israel Foreign Ministry</span><span>@IsraelMFA</span></p></div><p>We demand an explanation from the Spanish government regarding its treatment of the flotilla anarchists </p><div><p><span>8:33 AM · May 23, 2026</span><span> · </span><span>108K Views</span></p><p><span>215 Replies</span><span> · </span><span>707 Reposts</span><span> · </span><span>3.02K Likes</span></p></div></div></a></div></div></div>
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