After Israel’s brutal attack on Kiwis our government does nothing.

Kiwi Julien Blondel’s face may be bloodied but it is unbowed.  So far the New Zealand government has done nothing after Blondel and other New Zealand peace activists were savagely beaten by Israeli soldiers who attacked the Global Sumud flotilla near the Greek Island of Crete on 30 April.  The flotilla was Gaza-bound and seeking to open a humanitarian corridor to Gaza to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinians and apply pressure to the Israelis to halt the genocide. 

New Zealanders Jay O'Connor, Mousa Taher, Julien Blondel and Sean Janssen were among 176 people who were captured in international waters, subjected to vicious mistreatment then dropped onto Crete.  O’Connor and Blondel were immediately transferred to hospital on arrival in Greece.  Several days after the Israeli attack, I spoke with Samuel Leason, another Kiwi who was on a boat that evaded the Israelis and made it to Crete. He told me that several people were still in hospital. 

Our government has so far offered no consular support and the Kiwis, like their comrades, have had to rely on the kindness of strangers and local peace activists. 

Samuel said it was really hard to see what Julien Blondel had been through. 

“I spent the last week with him, preparing in Barcelona. He's just the most lovely man. It was very difficult to see him in such a brutalized state. Despite what happened to him, he is steadfast in the movement, and he is steadfast for Palestine. We all are. We're all fuming. We're all fuming that our government can let Israel get away with something so blatantly illegal.”

At least four Israeli warships, overhead surveillance planes, drones and sophisticated jamming technology (to shut down the flotilla’s Starlink comms) were deployed against the humanitarian activists. The Israeli raiders systematically destroyed communications, navigation and other equipment on the ships they captured. They tampered with engines, cut fuel lines and shredded sails. Once they transferred the abductees onto warships, they abandoned the Sumud vessels in open seas.

Members of Global Sumud Aotearoa Delegation who I talked with today said the beatings of dozens of activists was systematic. It started when flotilla members protested when two of the Steering Committee members, Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila, were isolated and then subjected to violence (they heard their screams).  

The IOF soldiers dragged dozens of Sumud members, one after another, into a separate area where they were repeatedly kicked and punched. New Zealander Blondel (pictured) was one of many to be savagely beaten. Several were hospitalized when the Israelis, coordinating with allies in the Greek military, transferred them to Crete.  It is worth noting the attack happened within Greece’s Search And Rescue zone and yet the Greek Navy ignored SOS calls from the flotilla.

Such is the loyalty to Israel of New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters that there has been no immediate condemnation of either the violence meted out to New Zealand citizens or the fact that this violence was part of an act of piracy in international waters hundreds of kilometres from Israel.  

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the standard mumble: “The safety of New Zealanders involved [is] paramount and international law must be upheld." Will the Minister of Foreign Affairs haul the Israeli ambassador in for a dressing down?  Will the government publicly and forcefully rebuke Israel for its criminal behaviour? Will the government seek reparations for the damage done to the Sumud vessels? 

Unlikely, as it was revealed last week that the New Zealand prime minister wanted to even more strongly support the illegal US-Israeli war on Iran but was blocked by the minister of foreign affairs. With leaders like these across the Western world the Israelis have learnt that they can act with impunity. 

Eloiza Montana, comms lead for the Global Sumud Aotearoa Delegation said: “What our people suffered is terrible but it is tiny compared to what Palestinians go through. Imagine: if the Israelis are allowed to do this to international activists who are sailing in the middle of the Mediterranean – imagine what is going on inside Israeli prisons to the Palestinian hostages.”

I have written a series of articles over the past few years highlighting the mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners. I have had the grim experience of watching footage of the rape-murder of a Palestinian prisoner by Israeli soliders at Sde Temein prison and seen one of the perpetrators blessed a few days later on-camera by Netanyahu’s rabbi, who praised  him for his work. The only person punished for these sordid events was Israel’s top military prosecutor  Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi who, disgusted by the impunity, leaked the footage. 

Israel’s outstanding human rights organization B’tselem has done the world a great service by documenting the physical, sexual and psychological abuse that is standard practice within Israel's prison system.  For those who can handle the truth, I highly recommend B’tselem’s site “Welcome to Hell – The Israeli Prison Camps as a network of Torture Camps.” 

New Zealand has maintained virtually total silence over this criminality in order to provide assistance to its close friend and ally Israel.  Our leaders tell us we share values with the Israelis. The New Zealand government may; I do not.  Speaking from Türkiye, Rana Humida from the Aotearoa Delegation told me, “We need to hold the criminals accountable, so we can move to restorative justice.  Free Saif. Free Thiago. Free yourself!” 

Olivia Coote, a member of Global Sumud’s  Aotearoa New Zealand Delegation said: “Palestine activated for me a realization that the society I was a part of is an absolute farce and that we are not the good guys.” 

I’ll give the last word to Samuel Leason who told me from his ship moored off Crete this week:

“What this attack reveals is the true nature of the Israeli Occupation Force. There are 70 different nationalities on these boats – we represent the international community. For them to be able to come out here, brutalize us, steal our things and imprison us for days and then take some of our comrades to be questioned and tortured back in Israel just shows how much regard they have for people around the world. It shows how little regard they have for international law, and just how morally messed up they are.”

Eugene Doyle

Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington, New Zealand. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He hosts solidarity.co.nz. 

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