In an interview with Newsmax on Monday, Ofir Akunis, consul general of Israel in New York, dismissed the aid ship intercepted by Israel over the weekend as looking for “public relations” and not to provide humanitarian help as the activists on board claim.

Israel on Sunday intercepted the vessel piloted by the Freedom Flotilla, a group that includes Greta Thunberg and European Parliament member Rima Hassan, which was bound for the Gaza Strip.

The ship, the Madleen, “is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry wrote in a social media post Monday morning.

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