On Tuesday, September 22, the Spanish Council of Ministers refused to block a US extradition request for James “Fergie” Chambers, a prominent and wealthy leftist activist and donor. The council did not determine whether the US citizen and activist will be sent to the United States, but only whether the request would proceed in Spanish courts, who will then make the final determination. Chambers’s legal team, which includes a number of legendary human rights lawyers, have vowed they will argue before the courts that Chambers’s extradition is politically motivated; thus granting it would violate the US-Spanish extradition treaty.

The US indictment against the activist remains sealed, but Chambers’s lawyers have accused the US government of seeking to criminalize humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, which has been a priority for Chambers to provide. The US extradition request has aroused considerable controversy within Spain. The electoral platform Sumar, a junior partner in Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist-led government, has opposed the extradition, as have a number of Spanish parliamentarians. They not only view the move as at odds with current Spanish government’s support for Palestine but as aiding the Trump administration as it seeks to internationalize its repression of pro-Palestinian voices.

The attacks on Chambers come at a pivotal time. For the last three years, as Israel has waged a genocidal war of annihilation in Gaza, Western governments have sought to shield the apartheid state from accountability by restricting their own citizens’ free speech rights. The United States has not been immune from this. It has escalated a long-standing trend of using its anti-terrorism laws and sanctions to target global support for the Palestinian cause.