Activist tells of Israeli navy tussle
Campaigner says he was tasered and detained after troops boarded ship carrying medical aid to Gaza
Arelieved Kiwi activist arrived home to hugs from his partner yesterday after an encounter with Israeli troops when he was allegedly tasered and beaten after soldiers boarded a ship carrying medical aid to Gaza.
Unite Union leader Mike Treen cleared Auckland Airport checks and met his partner, Heidi Jia, and supporters who were chanting “Freedom for Palestine”. The veteran unionist said he had been detained in Israel for five days.
He claimed Israeli forces unlawfully detained the ship Al Awda, along with the international campaigners on board.
Israel accused Treen of taking part in an illegal attempt to sail through its naval blockade of Gaza.
Israel’s Embassy in New Zealand said the blockade had been set up as self-defence to prevent weapons being smuggled into Gaza for “terror organisation” Hamas.
However, Treen said his vessel was in international waters, about 65km from Israel and closer to Egypt, when five Israeli warships loomed ahead.
Up to 30 troops in balaclavas then boarded his ship, using force to burst through groups of activists who had linked arms, Treen alleged.
He said most of those on board the Al Awda were older, with an average age of 56, and that the ship’s captain had told the Israeli navy over the radio they had no right to board the vessel.
“This was an unlawful act, we were in international waters,” Treen said in the airport’s arrivals area. “We had linked arms to make the point that we weren’t just surrendering without a protest.”
Treen said he and a Swedish man acted as a “last line of defence” by linking arms in front of the door leading to the bridge.
The soldiers then beat the Swede and stomped on Treen’s toes and tasered him in the cheek, before ordering the Al Awda’s captain to take the vessel to Israel, Treen alleged.
“They beat the [captain], then threatened to execute him . . . [it was] Mike Treen
a savage and immediate beating of him,” Treen claimed.
Treen claimed he was later roughly frogmarched into detention where his clothing, cash and passport were taken from him. Most of his belongings were not returned and he only got his passport back once he
HFor video go to nzherald.co.nz landed in New Zealand, he said.
Israel’s Embassy in New Zealand said the naval blockade was necessary to keep Israeli citizens safe from Hamas, which it said New Zealand and other countries recognised as a terror organisation.
“Hamas attacks Israeli civilians on a regular basis and the flotilla to Gaza will not promote peace or assist the Palestinian people — it will only inflame the situation in the region,” the embassy said in a statement.
The embassy said Hamas had turned Gaza into a “terror centre” and called the actions of Treen’s flotilla of boats a “cynical public relations stunt” motivated by anti-Semitism.
Treen said the activists were trying to raise awareness for those living in Gaza, who were being kept in an “open prison” by Israel without enough food or medicine.
He also accused a Kiwi diplomat of taking sides with Israel rather than representing him as a New Zealand citizen.
He claimed the unamed New Zealand consulate official in Israel interviewed him in the presence of that country’s security services and did not believe Treen when he said his belongings had been “stolen”.
The official also implied it was Treen’s fault he had been tasered, the activist claimed.
“Then he said I didn’t need a lawyer I just needed to sign the deportation paper straight away and I can be sent home,” Treen said.
“It was a disgrace, unprofessional, he shouldn’t be in that job.”
A Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said New Zealand’s Honorary Consul to Israel visited Treen in detention and provided him with “an appropriate level of consular assistance”.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade continues to advise against all travel to Gaza,” he said.
“This includes any attempt to enter Gaza by sea in breach of Israeli navy restrictions or participating in any attempt to break the naval blockade.”
They beat the [captain], then threatened to execute him.