Thousands protest in Bilbao over Spanish police’s abuse of Gaza flotilla activists

Some 2,000 march in Basque city after cops filmed beating returning activists at airport; Israel summons Spanish diplomat for explanation of Madrid’s ‘hypocrisy’

Around 2,000 protesters took to the streets of the Spanish city of Bilbao on Sunday to condemn the Basque police’s abusive treatment of activists from a Gaza aid flotilla on their return from detention in Israel.

Police were filmed hitting people with batons and dragging them across the floor, before detaining four of them.

Video of the incident showed supporters gathered in the arrivals hall to welcome six of the anti-Israel campaigners as they arrived on a flight from Turkey after having been detained and deported by Israeli forces. Police then began striking people with batons and pinning others to the ground while onlookers jeered.

At Sunday’s march, pro-Palestinian demonstrators carried banners criticizing the Basque police force and accusing the local government of being “complicit with Zionism.”

The Basque regional police force said in a statement on Sunday that it had launched an investigation to determine whether officers had complied with procedures. The Spanish government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the investigation.

Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinian territories, has called for those responsible for events at Bilbao airport to be held responsible, while Amnesty International has demanded a thorough investigation.

The incident came after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir sparked a diplomatic furor on Wednesday with a video he released showing him taunting the activists as they were forced to kneel on the floor with their hands bound. The video triggered an international outcry, with dozens of countries condemning Israel’s treatment of the activists.

Spain, which has led Europe in anti-Israel policy and rhetoric over the past several years, issued one of the sharpest condemnations of Ben Gvir’s behavior and called on the European Union to suspend its trade agreement with Israel.

The Israeli embassy in Spain demanded an “explanation” from the Spanish government over the events at Bilbao airport.

Israel on Sunday also summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Spanish embassy to demand clarification on Spain’s treatment of the activists. Spain permanently recalled its own ambassador to Israel in March 2026, making the chargé d’affaires the highest-ranking Spanish diplomat in the country.

During the meeting with Francisca Pedrós, Foreign Ministry Political Director Yossi Amrani “pointed to the hypocrisy of the Spanish government, which sends its provocateurs to Israel and then condemns Israel for its lawful actions to enforce a legal naval blockade — while at the same time Spanish authorities employed severe violence against those same flotilla participants,” according to a Foreign Ministry readout.

Amrani demanded an explanation as to why Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez or any Spanish ministers “have still not seen fit to condemn the Spanish authorities’ violence, while they are always quick to condemn Israel on any pretext whatsoever,” the ministry’s statement added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned Ben Gvir for the incident, and were joined on Sunday by President Isaac Herzog, who issued a tacit denunciation of the far-right minister, saying: “We are exposed to barbaric acts by a handful of people who think that detainees, those under investigation, or suspects have no human rights whatsoever.”