Foreign Minister Winston Peters said at the time that the pair had used their leadership positions to advocate for the annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements, undermining the two state solution supported by New Zealand.<\/p>\n
According to Peace Action Wellington, three New Zealanders who were part of the flotilla were in detention – Mousa Taher, Julien Blondel and H\u0101hona Jason Ormsby.<\/p>\n
US has condemned the sanctions levelled by NZ, Australia, Canada, the UK and Norway on Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.\u00a0 (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Israel accused of humiliating activists<\/p>\n
An Israel-based legal advocacy group, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, or Adalah, accused Israeli authorities of \u201cemploying a criminal policy of abuse and humiliation against activists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adalah’s statement said this followed similar patterns of ill-treatment by Israeli authorities against activists in previous flotilla missions \u201cfor which Israel faced zero accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adalah lawyer Suhad Bishara told The Associated Press a group of 11 lawyers who visited the detainees is aware of at least two activists who were hospitalised after being shot with rubber bullets \u201cfor no reason, without any justification”. Bishara said the activists will be brought before a judge Thursday who will decide on when their deportation will begin.<\/p>\n
Flotilla spokesperson Rania Batrice said Ben-Gvir posts such videos because the world hasn’t held Israel to account.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they\u2019re doing that to Europeans and Americans and people from South Africa and all over the world, imagine what they\u2019re doing to the Palestinian people,\u201d Batrice told the AP in an online interview.<\/p>\n
Batrice urged governments to step up their response. \u201cStrongly worded letters are not what we need right now. We need more action”.<\/p>\n
Peters said New Zealand condemned Ben-Gvir’s behaviour, describing it as “further vindication” of the decision to issue a travel ban.<\/p>\n
“We expect Israel to adhere to its international legal obligations, including in its treatment of New Zealanders participating in the flotilla,” he said in a post to X. <\/p>\n
“We have instructed MFAT to call in the Israeli Ambassador today to directly pass on our grave concerns.”<\/p>\n
British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the video \u201cviolates the most basic standards of respect and dignity” in how people should be treated and demanded an explanation from Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n
Italy condemned the detained activists’ treatment as a violation of human dignity and called Ben-Gvir’s videos \u201cunacceptable.\u201d It also summoned Israel\u2019s ambassador in Rome to protest the treatment of Italian detainees and demand their immediate release. Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she\u2019s directed her officials to summon the Israeli ambassador to Ottawa.<\/p>\n
Both Turkey and Greece condemned Israel’s treatment of the activists. The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the behaviour \u201copenly demonstrated to the world the violent and barbaric mindset\u201d of Israel’s government. The Greek Foreign Ministry called Ben-Gvir’s actions \u201cunacceptable and entirely condemnable\u201d and said it had lodged a formal protest.<\/p>\n
Palestinian militant group Hamas called out Ben-Gvir for the \u201cscenes of abuse and humiliation\u201d of the activists, saying they show Israel’s \u201cmoral decadence and sadism”.<\/p>\n
![\"Israeli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/israeli-naval-forces-sail-a-confiscated-gaza-bound-flotilla-SKPHMS22HFH2BGNNPIZZRZ4M5E.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Israeli naval forces sail a confiscated Gaza-bound flotilla boat into Israel’s Ashdod port after intercepting the vessel on the Mediterranean Sea. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Israel intercepts all remaining flotilla boats<\/p>\n
Israeli forces boarded the last of the flotilla boats that tried to challenge the blockade \u2014 the latest effort to highlight the grim conditions for nearly 2 million Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Flotilla organisers claimed Israeli soldiers fired on five boats during the interdictions, causing some damage. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said no live ammunition was fired and that \u201cnonlethal means\u201d were aimed at the vessels as a warning, but without targeting or injuring protesters.<\/p>\n
Israeli forces had begun stopping the flotilla, which had departed last week from Turkey, around 268km from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
Israel has called the flotilla \u201ca PR stunt at the service of Hamas\u201d with no real intent to deliver aid to Gaza. The boats carry a symbolic amount of aid.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Israeli navy stopped 41 boats from the flotilla in international waters off Cyprus and detained those on board.<\/p>\n
More than a dozen Irish nationals were aboard the flotilla, including Irish President Catherine Connolly’s sister. Irish Prime Minister Miche\u00e1l Martin has called Israel\u2019s interception of the boats in international waters \u201cabsolutely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The US Treasury, however, imposed sanctions against several European activists aboard the flotilla, which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called \u201cpro-terror”.<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including more warnings about corrections corruption, a shocking death on a New York street, and Italy\u2019s surprise scandal. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Gaza’s coast blockaded for nearly two decades<\/p>\n
Israel has maintained a sea blockade of Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007. Israeli authorities intensified it after the Hamas-led militant attacks on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage on October 7, 2023.<\/p>\n
Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment. Israel says it’s intended to prevent Hamas from arming itself. Egypt, which has the only border crossing with Gaza not controlled by Israel, has also greatly restricted movement in and out.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s retaliatory offensive following the October 7 attacks that started the war has killed more than 72,700 people, according to Gaza\u2019s Health Ministry. <\/p>\n
The ministry, part of Gaza\u2019s Hamas-run government, doesn’t give a breakdown between civilians and combatants. It is staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by 1News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel’s national security minister drew a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and triggered a backlash abroad,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,14849,5107,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-437545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-israel-gaza-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}