A.D Leason: father of 18-year-old detained from intercepted Gaza-bound flotilla weighs in on situation

The father of a New Zealander reportedly detained from a Gaza-bound flotilla intercepted by Israel says he spoke to his son last night.

Eighteen year old Samuel Leason posted a video online - pre-recorded in case of emergency.

His father, A.D Leason, says Samuel described a submarine circling the flotilla, and a blockade of military vessels ahead.

"We were comforted by the fact that the Israeli Defence Force has announced that they weren't going to attack vessels, sink them or shoot people in the water like they did on another occasion. So we took comfort from that."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The teenager is among three New Zealand citizens who have
been detained by Israeli Defense forces off the coast of Gaza.
The three were with Greta Turnberg on bord of flotilla
trying to reach the Gaza Strip. Now Ad Leason is
the father of eighteen year old Samuel Leson and is
with us. Hi Ad. Yeah, I'm very well, thanks mate,
you've been in touch with your son at all.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, the last time you spoke was last evening, New
Zealand time.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
And is this before the IDF came on board.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah, so we kind of spoke to him last night,
and all of the signals were suggesting that something was imminent.
There was a submarine had surfaced and was circling the flotilla,
and there was the blockade of various military vessels in
the distance between them and the Gaza beach, so it

(00:54):
was all kind of lining up. We were comforted by
the fact that the Israeli Defense Force has announced they
weren't going to attack vessels, sink them and shoot people
in the water like they did on on another occasion,
So we took comfort from that. And the way it

(01:14):
looks like it's playing out is that they are boarding ships,
taking people and and processing them on their on their battleships.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
And then what presumably just sending them home? Are they Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:29):
I mean I think again the pattern seems to be
they put them in these detention centers. There's there's some
hundred thousand Palestinians and in these massive detention centers. So
the activists get thrown in there. Some activists choosing to
kind of get a get a fast track deportation, I

(01:50):
think at their own expense. Other other activists have chosen
to sit it out in the cells as a kind
of a witness to the war crimes that are taking
place and taking their you know, taking their fight into
the cells. I guess Samuel announced last night that he
would be, you know, staying on a little bit longer.

(02:13):
So he's choosing to talk.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Him out of that at all.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
Look, I don't know if you've ever raised teenagers. They
do exactly what you say. They are totally obedient and compliant,
which which of course is not true. So he's a
young man with his own mind. He's had he's had
a strong and rich Catholic formation within an anarchist community

(02:40):
called the Catholic Worker. So he's he's been exposed to
lots of different ideas. He's been in the Mardi world
and drawing deeply from I guess all sorts of traditions,
and he has made up his own mind. What can

(03:00):
you do?

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Okay, listen, any expectation from the New Zealand government here?

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Well, yes, we've got a fantastic history of standing up
to French nuclear testing in the Pacific and and apartheid
in South Africa, and we can we can go back
through our long and storied history. Unfortunately, we've got an
administration who seems to be content to be sitting on
their hands, asleep at the wheel while a terrible the

(03:30):
most arguably the most obscene atrocities of our generation, because
it's it's done by a modern country just like us,
one we do sports with and trade with. And we
see the Israelis as close friends. And now they're now
they're descending into some sort of barbarism. And and Winston

(03:51):
Peters unfortunately is you know, is touching himself at work
and not doing his job. He's just he's looking the
other way. And his ministry are doing a fine job.
They're communicating, they're helping, but they're working within the parameters
of the Minister which are very restrictive.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
All right, Adi, thanks very much, appreciate your time, best
of luck with everything. Ad Leson, who's the father of
Samuel Leeson who's been arrested by the IDF. For more
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