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The Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement will host a European conference in Barcelona on November 18–20 featuring former Malaysian lawmaker Nurul Izzah Anwar, who attended a 2013 meeting with Hamas representatives, and U.S.-sanctioned UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who previously addressed a conference attended by Hamas officials. Another announced speaker, British-Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah, was photographed alongside PFLP member Leila Khaled and delivered a graveside tribute to veteran PFLP figure Maher al-Yamani.
The event will also feature Massive Attack musician Robert Del Naja, who was arrested twice in 2026 while demonstrating support for Palestine Action, an organization proscribed under British counterterrorism law.
The BDS@20 Europe Conference is organized by the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), alongside 15 European co-organizing organizations. Two organizations listed as conference partners have documented connections to Saif Abukeshek, whom the U.S. Treasury sanctioned in May 2026 over his leadership role in an organization it identified as Hamas-directed.
The BNC itself lists the Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine (PNIF) among its members. The PNIF is an umbrella coalition that has historically included representatives of Hamas, the PFLP, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
Nurul Izzah Anwar Attended a 2013 Meeting With Hamas Representatives
Another announced speaker, former Malaysian parliamentarian Nurul Izzah Anwar, participated in a February 1, 2013 meeting involving senior Hamas representatives at the headquarters of Malaysia’s People’s Justice Party (PKR). A Malaysia Chronicle report identified Nurul Izzah among the politicians assisting her father, then-opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, during the meeting.
The Hamas delegation included Walid al-Moudi, identified as a member of the organization’s political bureau, and Ahmad al-Kurd, a former social affairs minister in the Hamas administration in Gaza. A separate account attributed to the party’s own publication, Keadilan Daily, reported that Nurul Izzah attended the gathering alongside senior PKR figures.
Conference Partners Connected to U.S.-Sanctioned Flotilla Organizer
The conference’s European organizing network includes two organizations with documented relationships to Saif Abukeshek, a Barcelona-based pro-Palestinian activist sanctioned by the United States earlier this year. On May 19, 2026, the U.S. Treasury designated Abukeshek under counterterrorism authorities for serving on the General Secretariat of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA). Treasury described the PCPA as an organization established with funding from Hamas’s International Relations Bureau and directed through Hamas officials placed within its leadership. The designation also identified Abukeshek as a member of the steering committee of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Comunitat Palestina de Catalunya also has documented ties to Abukeshek. A June 8, 2024 Catalunya Ràdio program identified him as the organization’s spokesperson. In December 2024, the University of Lleida also identified Abukeshek as a member of the organization when reporting on his participation in a panel discussion alongside Palestinian lawyer Raji Sourani.
According to a 1995 article in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, Sourani served a three-year prison sentence after an Israeli court convicted him of membership in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
A second connection involves the European Trade Union Network for Justice in Palestine, whose logo appears among the conference’s publicly listed supporters. A January 2026 Doha Institute publication describes Abukeshek as a board member of the network, a position also listed in his biography published by the Global Movement to Gaza. The relationship is further documented in a May 2026 trade-union statement identifying him as an active member of the European network.
Musician Arrested Twice Over Support for UK-Proscribed Terrorist Organization
Robert Del Naja, a founding member of British electronic music group Massive Attack and another announced conference speaker, was arrested twice in 2026 during demonstrations supporting Palestine Action. On April 11, Del Naja was arrested at London’s Trafalgar Square after displaying a sign declaring, “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” He was arrested again on September 26 outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool after displaying a similar sign.
According to NME, police detained him on suspicion of showing support for a proscribed organization under the Terrorism Act 2000. Palestine Action was proscribed by the British government in July 2025.
Francesca Albanese’s U.S. Sanctions and Hamas-Linked Conference Appearance
Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, was restored to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals list on May 27, 2026. The United States originally sanctioned her in July 2025 under an executive order concerning the International Criminal Court, accusing her of supporting efforts to pursue ICC action against American and Israeli officials and companies. .
Her participation in the Barcelona conference follows an earlier appearance at a Hamas-linked event. In November 2022, Albanese spoke by video at a Gaza conference organized by the Council on International Relations–Palestine, whose chairman, Basem Naim, is a member of Hamas’s political leadership. According to UN Watch, participants included Hamas officials Ghazi Hamad and Abdul Latif al-Qanou, alongside PIJ figures Ahmad al-Mudallal and Khadr Habib. Addressing the conference, Albanese stated, “You have a right to resist this occupation.”
Ghassan Abu-Sittah’s PFLP Associations and 2018 Article
Abu-Sittah, another scheduled speaker, has previously faced scrutiny over appearances alongside PFLP figures and comments concerning Palestinian militants. Investigative journalist David Collier highlighted a photograph showing Abu-Sittah alongside Leila Khaled, a longtime PFLP member who participated in an aircraft hijacking in 1969 and an attempted hijacking in 1970. The Jewish Chronicle also documented Abu-Sittah delivering an emotional graveside tribute in Beirut in 2020 to Maher al-Yamani, a veteran PFLP figure who had worked in the organization’s special operations apparatus.
In a March 2018 article published by Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar, Abu-Sittah referred to Ahmad Nasr Jarrar as the “hero of the Nablus operation.” Jarrar was a Hamas operative identified by Israel’s Shin Bet as the suspected leader of the cell that murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a father of six, in January 2018. Hamas subsequently praised Jarrar following his death in an Israeli military operation.
Closed-Door Workshops to Coordinate European BDS Campaigns
According to the conference’s official program, the gathering will take place at Casino l’Aliança del Poblenou, an 800-capacity venue in Barcelona. The November 18 opening will be accessible to the public and accredited journalists, while the November 19–20 proceedings will feature strategy workshops that are not open to the press.
Workshops will address maritime supply-chain campaigns under the #BlockTheBoat banner, university boycotts, trade-union organizing, divestment campaigns, corporate accountability, technology and artificial intelligence, and procurement policies affecting public institutions. The closed-door workshops are intended to develop the movement’s next phase of coordinated campaigns across European institutions, governments, industries, and civil society organizations.