Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu tells UN chief Ban Ki-moon planned Gaza flotilla must be blocked

The Israeli enemy asked the United Nations on Friday to help prevent activists sailing to Gaza on the first anniversary of the bloody Israeli seizure of a Turkish ship that tried to reach the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office quoted him telling UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that a mission of around 15 ships expected in late May "was being organized by Islamic extremist elements, among others, with the goal of creating a provocation and bringing about a flare-up."

The Free Gaza Movement, a pro-Palestinian activist umbrella group, said the May flotilla would comprise 15 ships with international passengers including Europeans and Americans. "We sail not just for Gaza," the group said in a March 31 posting on its Website. "We sail to confront an entire apartheid regime that must be dismantled through citizen action."

Netanyahu claimed Israel was "committed to acting firmly against the flotilla," according to the statement.