Dear Mr Peters,
Thank you for responding to my letter of concern about the behaviour of the NZ Honorary Consul in Israel during my detention in that country for trying to break the siege of Gaza and deliver medical supplies to that part of Palestine.
I completely accept and was aware that the MFAT travel advisory for Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories advises against travel to Gaza.
I was also aware of and accepted the fact that the NZ government has limited ability to provide assistance.
Because of those facts, I accepted that in attempting to travel there I was doing so at my own risk.
However, my concerns were about the behaviour of New Zealand’s Honorary Consul Mr propper when he met with me at the Israeli prison.
I listed five central areas of concern
1) The consul interviewed me in a room with prison and other security staff of Israel present. He was the only consular official to allow that to happen. He had accepted the Israeli claim of lack of rooms available when that was subsequently proven to be a lie.2) He presumed the injuries I had suffered were somehow my own causing.3) He accepted the lie that the prison officials could not access my property being held in another room.4) He rejected my claim that property had been “stolen” when the vast majority of my property had not made it into the luggage that was transferred to the prison. I never got my property back except for a handbag and wallet with most of the money missing.5) He pressed me repeatedly and strongly to sign a self-deportation waiver without consulting the lawyers who were on their way to the prison.
Your only comment on my complaint was that Mr Propper was:
“As an Honorary Consul Mr Propper is neither an agent of the State of Israel nor your personal representative. His role was to offer consular assistance to you in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, and we are satisfied that he did so.”
I went to the trouble of reading this convention to see how it matched up with my treatment and do not see how his behaviour matches us with the following description of his role:
” (i) subject to the practices and procedures obtaining in the receiving State, representing or arranging appropriate representation for nationals of the sending State before the tribunals and other authorities of the receiving State, for the purpose of obtaining, in accordance with the laws and regulations of the receiving State, provisional measures for the preservation of the rights and interests of these nationals, where, because of absence or any other reason, such nationals are unable at the proper time to assume the defence of their rights and interests;
Mr Propper did nothing that could be described as seeking the “preservation” of my rights in any form. In fact, he acted to actively undermine them.
I did not expect Mr propper to be my “personal representative” but nor did I expect him to behave as if he was an agent of the State of Israel – which in fact he did.
If you choose to simply ignore the complaint and refuse to even investigate, as appears to be the case, then other people could become victims of his unprofessional behaviour in the future.
Yours Sincerely,
Mike Treen
Good on you Mike
Just like Freedom Riders in the segregation days of the States were ticked off and derided,but persevered nevertheless, some day tipping point will be reached and the NZ govt will rediscover its sovereignty and back heroes like you
My God Treen – let it go! You purposely provoked the Israeli Defense Force by wanting to break through a legal blockade and against the advise of MFAT. They should have kept you there longer in my opinion.
Oh Mandy another Zionist are you!
Agree 100%.
100% disagree because history is repeating itself endlessly.
Legal blockade? The Zionist State’s blockade of Gaza is 100% illegal in international law. In fact, such a blockade is an act of war.
The extreme violence, theft, and incarceration inflicted upon Mike Treen and his compatriots is nothing short of scandalous.
If our FM and the NZ government had any guts they would have kicked the Zionist diplomats (AKA Spies) out of NZ permanently and severed all diplomatic ties with the Fascist Zionist Occupation.
For what was this gross mistreatment inflicted? Attempting to deliver medical supplies to a human population under relentless siege by a fascist occupation masquerading as a ‘state’.
How about you keep your fascist opinions to yourself, and perhaps educate yourself in reality instead of believing fascist propaganda?
This is appalling. Winston is not acting in the interest of New Zealanders or NZ. You need to now go to the PM, Winston works for her/us not for the Zionist state.
Clearly its time to call an end to the use of Israeli citizens as Hon Consuls.
This is not acceptable.
The latest news I have is that the medical supplies still have not been released and delivered to Gaza. The hospitals are receiving so many seriously wounded , often shot with illegal ‘dum dum’ bullets meant to permanently cripple, that they cannot cope.
Mandy..the siege is a cruel form, sadism is the word Noam Chomsky uses, of collective punishment..not legal..criminal Your ‘provoked IDF’ were vicious thugs.
Why does the so-called ‘free world’ continue to look the other way?
The Freedom Flotilla participants are very brave humanitarians.
Full support to you Mike for your brave and principled stand. Unfortunately this Labour led government is turning out to be very very disappointing. Jacinda’s idea of not frightening the horses is pusillanimous and lacking in substance. Even her promise at the outset of her term was weak and touchy feely: “I want the Government to feel different. I want people to feel that it’s open, that it’s listening, and that it’s going to bring kindness back.” I’m still waiting.
I am not naive enough to think that I could fix this, but that does not stop me from trying. I can report the following from skymining. This Rift anomaly is formed by dual “Lightless Pits” straddling the Rift they induce, creating a structure like a ÷ symbol. An eerie siren song issues from each of the lightless pits.
This mutually exclusive bifurcated hole abomination blocks the creative mind from moving forward and sets it against “The Enemy”, worsening the Rift and fuelling the rage of it’s counterpart in a feedback cycle. Victims are caught in a feedback loop of perceptions of good, evil, justice and hope which are not properly defined, (as a point of view, a pejorative term, a vain pose, and an illusion if unjustified – they have not learnt their lessons) the participants are a combination of ignorant, proud, malicious, wrathful, greedy, and gullible, vengeful and hateful and of course there are the totally spiritually innocent dependents, the lovely ones. It’s a mess.
I have crossed many photon streams to create suitable candidate zen crystals capable of vectoring a psychoviral cascade payload to the problem and when it is properly prepared it will be deployed.
Hope may only be a ghost right now but we can refine and distill that. We have to make them want to work together to create something better. Ha we will probably all die trying. Peace out love Lolbagz
Sure the age of the two fish pulling in different directions (divide and conquer the world) is coming to an end, to be replaced by what exactly is the question.
Hello Mike Treen
Did you or your family stop the Holocaust ? Did you care
Did you ever support a Jewish person on their way through Western Hatred?
Do you think with Hamas that Jews should be be exterminated again. Or are you just inciting Palestinians to do that for You ?
What would you do if your family was handed over to Hamas and their dreaded goal of genocide.
In the name of Wisdom, please leave normal innocent people out of your war mongering Mr Treen.
I think peace is a better thing than your bravado. I really do.
If those, who have been victims, do the same to others, how are those who call for an end to the cycle of violence warmongers?
Peace does not occur without justice, lest by the “heel on the head of the opppressed” forever (to quote a Knesset MP, quoting an author).
The world is guilty because the Jews have been victims.
The world can cleanse itself of this guilt by ignoring the oppression done by Jews to others.
An interesting argument.
The world is guilty because the Jews have been victims. The world can cleanse itself of this guilt by ignoring the oppression done by Jews to others. Is this your argument?
There is no peace without justice … or is there an exception where the heel of the oppressor is on the head of subjected humanity forever (to quote a Knesset MP on what he would have done to Ahed Tamimi if she had slapped him). The Knesset MP gets his inspsiration for this language from a novel (itself based on a bible metaphor).
How is the world a better place, if we allow the victims of oppression to oppress others? And how is it warmongering to oppose oppression. And how is opposition to Zionist oppression of another, guilt for the oppression of Jews?
I’m sick of TDB banging on about Israel – Winston and the rest of the country have far bigger fish to fry. Please take your fetish elsewhere Mike.
Is Israel a fetish to fish for man?
And if we see it so, will the land fished out of water be fried by those who reign hellfire on their adversary?
This is in line with the response from Winston Peters when I requested he demand the Israeli government immediately release all flotilla participants and ensure the cargo of medical aid be promptly delivered to Gaza.
“Thank you for your email of 30 July 2018.
New Zealand believes the situation in Gaza is unsustainable, and has consistently called for improved access for humanitarian and other essential supplies into Gaza. In order for this to occur, we believe that Israel’s legitimate security concerns will need to be fully addressed.
The New Zealand Embassy in Ankara, responsible for Israel, provided consular assistance to Mr Treen. We have been advised that Mr Treen is now on his way back to New Zealand. Information on the assistance that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade can provide to New Zealanders detained overseas is available at https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/arrest-and-detention.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade continues to advise against all travel to Gaza. 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. A full copy of the travel advisory is available here https://www.safetravel.govt.nz/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories.
Yours sincerely
Rt Hon Winston Peters
Minister of Foreign Affairs”
As if I would have expected anything different..
Thanks for your efforts Mike, while others may see this situation as unimportant (as required as part of their employment – see above comments) i believe it is integral to New Zealands reputation to advocate for the rights of States like Palestine who are marginalised and demonised as per the standard colonisation process.
Brigid
Do you do anything about housing in New Zealand for our numerous disadvantaged people?
If not, why not Brigid. ?
Do you support Palestinian’s continuously stated intentions to exterminate Israelis – as well as non Israelis ?
Do you believe that the entire planet should belong to Islam – and Islam only?
Do you do anything for the people who are killed by Islam ?
Do you support their dead families?
Would you like to be part of Islam’s war against the World – Brigid. ?
Bomb Paris yet again. Destroy people of London?
Tell us all Brigid. Please. Where is your mind Brigid ?
what a fake account of issue to do with Palestinians who suffer at the hands of Israeli oppression daily and for decades!!
And the Islamphobia troupe spewing from your BS is what Israel encourages as it one of the mechanism that hides Israeli aggression towards Arabs which westerners lap up with their racist views towards dark people of that part of the world
Get a life you hasbara troll your lies and obfuscation of facts is sickening to say the least.
Israel and the Middle East is a Minefield better to stay out of there and leave it to the Politicans ?
One reason, and one reason alone why Israel is restricting the flow of goods into Gaza. Because Gaza’s Hamas government continues to source weapons for attacking Israel and is sworn to Israel’s destruction. End this attitude and the blockade will also end.
[…] Zealand representative did on my behalf. Winston Peters responded on behalf of the government and I replied to his brushing off of my concerns here. But treatment appeared arbitrary and random. A few people got most of their stuff back. Most did […]
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