Flotilla Movement Acknowledged Senior leader's Hamas Ties — Then Deleted the Evidence
Jewish Onliner found that the Global Sumud Flotilla removed a prior reference to Saif Abukeshek’s senior role in the PCPA, around the time the U.S. Treasury sanctioned it as a Hamas fundraising group
Jewish Onliner is an independent publication. If you find our work valuable, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
A Jewish Onliner investigation has identified archived versions of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) website proving that organizational leadership deliberately removed references to ties with the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA)—an entity designated by the U.S. Treasury on January 21, 2026 as a Hamas-controlled fundraising operation.
The archived GSF website from October 1, 2025 contains a biography section identifying Saif Abukeshek, a Spanish national and GSF steering committee member, with the specific language: “serves on the secretariat of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad.” This identical description no longer appears on GSF’s current website as of May 2026—approximately four months after the PCPA designation.
The change appears to fit a broader pattern across flotilla-linked websites, including the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) website, which previously listed Zaher Birawi, a PCPA founding member designated in the same Treasury action, before that reference was removed from the current website.
Jewish Onliner Identified Abukeshek’s PCPA Role Before U.S. Designation
Jewish Onliner first identified Abukeshek’s PCPA membership in August 2025. The following month, Israel’s Foreign Ministry identified him as number 25 in a document listing PCPA operatives, reportedly recovered from a Hamas outpost in the Gaza Strip.
Abukeshek was recently brought into Israel for questioning alongside fellow GSF steering committee member Thiago Ávila after the flotilla’s attempted maritime sail to Gaza, and was released on May 10, 2026.
Their detention drew international criticism and coverage from outlets such as Reuters, AP, and Al Jazeera, which largely presented Abukeshek and Ávila as Gaza aid or humanitarian flotilla activists while making no mention, in the reports reviewed, of Abukeshek’s documented PCPA role or Treasury’s designation of PCPA as a Hamas-controlled organization.
According to reporting, Abukeshek doubles as CEO of Cyber Neptune SL, a Barcelona-based maritime company registered with Spanish corporate records, which owns ships that have participated in the flotillas. Business filings indicate that Cyber Neptune operates under the corporate purpose of maritime transport of goods and maritime passenger transport. On August 29, 2025, precisely three months after incorporation, the company’s corporate purpose was changed from “buying and selling of real estate” to maritime transport.
The Designated Network
The same Treasury action designated Zaher Birawi, an alleged senior Hamas member and founding member of PCPA. The London-based activist simultaneously holds leadership positions across the interconnected flotilla network: he serves as chairman of the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza (ICBSG) and a founding member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC).
Jewish Onliner identified a pattern of website scrubbing across multiple organizations following the January 2026 designations. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s website previously listed Birawi as “Zaher (Chairman)” in media contact information for ICBSG. This reference has been removed from the current FFC website, suggesting an effort to obscure ties to designated personnel across the network.
The ICBSG website at breakgazasiege.net—chaired by Birawi—went offline entirely following the Treasury action and remains unreachable as of May 2026, though the organization’s email infrastructure briefly remained operational. The PCPA’s primary website at palabroad.org similarly went offline after the designations.
Treasury’s Legal Assessment
The Treasury designation documents identify a deliberate Hamas strategy of organizational infiltration. Treasury named Adel Saad al-Din Hassan Doughman and Majid Khalil Moussa al-Zeer as examples of senior Hamas operatives strategically placed within PCPA leadership to maintain organizational control. Both individuals were previously designated on October 7, 2024.
The Treasury press release explicitly stated: “The strategic and tactical aspects of the PCPA’s activity are controlled by Hamas through the placement of key Hamas-linked figures in major positions throughout the organization.”
Treasury also issued a direct warning regarding ongoing organizational operations: “Members of the PCPA General Secretariat, as well as those in leadership positions of the PCPA’s various regional bodies, especially any U.S. persons, should be aware of the sanctions risk they are incurring by any continued support to this now-sanctioned organization.”
Compliance & Transparency Questions
The inconsistent disclosure of Abukeshek’s PCPA affiliation across GSF’s public materials raises potential compliance and due-diligence questions for U.S. persons, platforms, donors, vendors, and partner organizations. U.S. sanctions law generally bars U.S. persons and U.S.-linked transactions from providing funds, goods, or services to designated entities or blocked persons unless authorized by OFAC.
The discrepancy also raises transparency concerns. GSF and allied flotilla organizations maintain a broad public-facing digital presence, yet key disclosures related to PCPA and designated figures appear inconsistently across current and archived materials. That makes it harder to assess the network’s ties to an entity Treasury says is “clandestinely controlled by Hamas.”