Fergie Chambers tells Spanish court Gaza is 'moral question of our time' - Middle East Eye

American activist Fergie Chambers told a Spanish court on Friday that he supported humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza because Israel's genocidal war in the Palestinian territory had become “the prevailing moral question of our time”.

Chambers appeared before the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid wearing a navy blue jacket and an open-collar grey shirt that revealed a ring of tattoos around his neck, defending himself for the first time against a US extradition request involving allegations that he intended to provide material support to Hamas.

Chambers, an heir to the Cox family fortune, was arrested on the Spanish island of Ibiza in July pursuant to the US extradition request.

If extradited and convicted on the lead charge of international money laundering, Chambers faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

In September, the Spanish government came under fire for allowing the case to proceed to the courts after declining to block the US request at the preliminary stage. The Audiencia Nacional is expected to deliver its decision next week, with the Spanish government also having a role in the extradition process.

According to the indictment, US prosecutors have charged Chambers with international money laundering, riot and conspiracy to riot. They allege that, after leaving the United States in 2023, he transferred approximately $7.5m out of the country with the intent of providing material support to Hamas.

On Friday, Chambers disputed the allegations, maintaining that the funds were used for lawful purposes, including investments in local businesses and sponsorship of Club Africain, a football team in Tunisia. He also insisted that his involvement in protest actions had been non-violent.

In a submission ahead of Friday’s hearing, Chambers’ defence lawyers accused the Trump administration of mistranslating the charges against him in a way that exaggerated their severity to Spanish authorities. They further argued that the US had failed to provide evidence that his wealth had been used for terrorist purposes.

Seated before the judges, Chambers was asked whether he consented to being surrendered to the United States.

He explained that his wealth derived from the sale of his shares in Cox Enterprises in 2023. The family conglomerate began as a newspaper business in 1898 before expanding into media, automotive services and other industries.

Asked about his Palestine-related activism, Chambers told the court that Jewish friends he grew up with in Brooklyn had introduced him to the cause and that he had participated in non-violent protests since the 2000s.

Asked why he had increased funding to Palestinian groups in recent years, he responded: “We have been focused on the most pertinent issue of the moment, whether that at different times has been racial justice in the United States, indigenous rights, environmental issues, or, in the case of 2023, the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

He added: “So certainly in 2023/2024 and to the present our funding increased dramatically towards Gaza, particularly toward medical treatment for children and access to shelter, transportation out of dangerous zones, food and water, clean water, because it seemed to be the prevailing moral question of our time.”

Among Chambers’ reported humanitarian initiatives was a $100,000 grant to the Zaynab Project to expand long-term mental health and psychosocial support for orphaned children in Gaza, including access to licensed therapists, counselling and psychological care.

He also reportedly donated $250,000 to the Sameer Project, which helped establish a bakery in northern Gaza, complete a desalination plant and operate a free medical clinic. Following Chambers’ arrest, the charity announced a pause in operations, saying tens of thousands of Palestinians would be affected.

Chambers also addressed allegations in the US indictment concerning large financial transfers to Club Africain, the reigning Tunisian football champions, who won their first league title in 11 years in May.

He explained that he had been introduced to the club soon after relocating to Tunis and quickly became a supporter.

“Its supporters are also very supportive of the Palestinian cause, and it’s very much aligned with the people in the streets of Tunis,” he said.

After discovering that the club was deeply in debt and struggling to fulfil its contracts and pay staff, Chambers said he negotiated a sponsorship agreement between Club Africain and a sports company he had established in the city.

The agreement was worth four million euros over four years, he said, with additional funding intended to eliminate debts, rehabilitate the club’s youth programme and settle years of unpaid salaries in its women’s sections.

“Basically just to revamp the club,” he said.

“We did win the Tunisian Championship the following year,” he added.

Asked about his involvement with Palestine Action USA, Chambers described the group as less an organisation than “an idea of protest”, particularly against Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer.

He said protests at Elbit facilities followed the October 2023 Israeli bombing of Gaza’s Al-Ahli hospital, which killed hundreds of people.

Chambers confirmed that he attended two protests at Elbit’s offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, explaining that “they happened to be a block from my grandmother’s house”.

However, he denied that his actions amounted to violence.

At one demonstration, he said, he used a bicycle lock to secure himself to the building’s front door. At another, he was among protesters blocking the road leading to the offices.

Asked whether he had paid bail for people arrested in connection with the protests, Chambers confirmed that he had, explaining that he had spent at least 15 years helping secure the release of protesters and political activists.

He said he had managed a bail fund for protesters in Atlanta and provided similar assistance during the George Floyd protests and the Standing Rock encampment.

“I believed that the system in the US can use high bail numbers and the fact that protesters don’t have access to a lot of money as a means to punish them,” he said.

In another exchange, Chambers was asked about the US government’s suggestion that he had left the country because he was on the run.

He denied the allegation, saying that he had no outstanding legal issues when he departed the United States.

“I actually moved next door to the US ambassador in Tunis. My wall touched that wall,” he said.

'I have … never had any contact with any terrorist organisation. I’ve certainly never financed any terrorist organisation. And I’ve never had any intent to. All I’m asking for is justice, reason and mercy'

Prosecutors did not question Chambers during the hearing.

Chambers’ lawyers also asked the court to examine what they described as “serious procedural irregularities” in the Spanish translation of the extradition request.

They argued that the discrepancies were not merely linguistic but materially altered the interpretation of the original documents, exaggerating the severity of the allegations against Chambers. The defence described the changes as “manipulation”.

The hearing also addressed allegations concerning the transfer of Chambers’ phone to US authorities following repeated contact between an FBI agent and a Spanish judge.

According to the defence, the transfer took place without Chambers’ lawyers being informed or given an opportunity to object. They argued that the circumstances violated Spanish law and the US-Spain extradition treaty.

Aitor Martinez, representing Chambers, said: “It is important to highlight that the US administration has not charged Fergie with financing terrorism or material support for terrorism or any other terror-related offences, nor presented a shred of evidence that even a single cent has been used for violent or terrorist acts. The reason not to charge him with those offences is clear: there is no evidence with which to do so.”

In his concluding remarks, Chambers described the toll his imprisonment had taken on his family.

“My family has been torn apart. I missed my grandmother’s funeral last week. My five-year-old son asks where I am every day. My wife will give birth, God willing, in March and I don’t know if I will be by her side. Because I have spoken my mind and I have a lot more money than other people who have spoken their mind in my country. That’s all it amounts to.”

He added: “To this day I cannot understand why I have been in prison since July for what amounts to speaking emotionally.”

Chambers denied any involvement in violence.

“I have never been associated with any violent activity, never committed any violent activity, never had any contact with any terrorist organisation. I’ve certainly never financed any terrorist organisation. And I’ve never had any intent to. Nor do these documents from the US suggest that I had any intent to.”

He concluded: “All I’m asking for is justice, reason and mercy.”