PRESS RELEASE

Whanganui group backs legal challenge over Gaza-linked spy satellites, as Whanganui-based lawyer joins case

The Whanganui Palestinian Solidarity Group (WPSG) is throwing its support behind a High Court legal challenge filed this week against the Government's approval of spy satellite launches linked to Israel's military campaign in Gaza. Judicial review proceedings have been filed in the Wellington High Court against former Space Minister Judith Collins and current Space Minister Chris Penk, challenging their approval of BlackSky spy satellite launches from Rocket Lab's Māhia site, on the grounds the satellites risk supplying Israel's military with targeting data for use in Gaza.

WPSG says the case has particular resonance in Whanganui, with local lawyer Ruby Haazen, who lives in the district, part of the legal team acting for the three plaintiffs. The group says the case matters because the war in Gaza is ongoing, and it builds on Whanganui's own record of speaking out on the issue. In May 2024, Whanganui District Council became the first council in the country to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, after WPSG delivered a petition signed by more than 2,000 local people to a full council meeting.

WPSG spokesperson Sophi Reinholt says, "We strongly support the filing of these legal proceedings, which serve to ensure that Aotearoa New Zealand upholds our legal obligations under international law. Our country has a proud record of standing on the right side of history. We hope to continue that legacy. The horrors in Gaza have not ended with the so-called "ceasefire".

“Over 1,250 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire was put in place, with no meaningful improvement in the flow of critical goods into the closed-off territory. We take great pride in a Whanganui-based lawyer being part of this case to ensure an end to New Zealand's complicity in facilitating genocide."


About the case

The claim, brought under the Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Act 2017, argues Collins and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment knew, when they approved BlackSky's satellite launches in late 2023, that its satellites had previously been used by Israel — and failed to consider New Zealand's obligations under the Genocide Convention and broader international human rights law. Rocket Lab, the New Zealand-founded space company, is BlackSky's primary launch provider and launched a BlackSky satellite from Māhia in March. In April, new Space Minister Chris Penk approved a further 26 BlackSky launches, which the plaintiffs are seeking to stop.

The three plaintiffs are Yasser Abdulaal, a Christchurch electrical engineer whose extended family has suffered repeated Israeli air strikes in Gaza; Maher Nazzal, an Auckland IT professional; and Dr Timoti Te Moke (Ngāti Rangitihi, Tapuika and Tonga), a doctor at Middlemore and Auckland Hospitals. The case is backed by the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA).

Haazen says: "The UN's Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel has found Israel to have committed genocide in Gaza. Many scholars, such as Omar Bartov, and international organisations such as Amnesty International and the International Association of Genocide Scholars, have also found Israel has committed genocide in Gaza."

"In January 2024, the International Court of Justice found it plausible that Israel's military operations in Gaza risked irreparable harm to Palestinians' rights under the Genocide Convention, putting all states on notice of their duty to act to prevent genocide. New Zealand is obliged to live up to that duty."