ANKARA

Opposition lawmakers in New Zealand on Wednesday sought the expulsion of an Israeli envoy from the country and imposed economic sanctions on Tel Aviv, according to Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

The call for the Israeli envoy's expulsion came a day after Wellington joined its allies in imposing sanctions on two right-wing Israeli Cabinet members.

Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick described Israeli actions in Gaza as "genocide" and urged the ruling coalition government to support her bill in parliament and impose economic sanctions on Israel.

Swarbrick said the US pushback was "probably precisely part of the reason that our government has been so scared of doing the right thing," describing it as "cowardice on the government's part."

"What else are you supposed to call it at the end of the day?" she said, adding: "At a bare minimum, the Israeli ambassador should be expelled, Palestinian statehood should be recognized, and a special category of visas for Palestinians should be introduced," according to the RNZ.

She called the government's recent sanctions against two Israeli ministers "symbolic" and lamented that it had taken nearly two years to reach this point.

On Tuesday, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway, and the UK sanctioned Israel's finance minister and national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, "for inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank."

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of Te Pati Maori, referred to the latest sanctions as "political hypocrisy."

"When it comes to war, human rights, and the extent of violence and genocide that we're seeing, Palestine is its own independent nation ... why is this government sanctioning only two ministers? They should be sanctioning the whole of Israel," Packer said.

She urged the New Zealand government to suspend all diplomatic ties with Israel, impose sanctions on Israeli companies and military officials, and provide additional support to international courts.

"It's not a war; it's an annihilation. It's an absolute annihilation of human beings ... we're way out there supporting those allies that are helping to weaponize Israel and the flattening and the continual cruel occupation of a nation, and it's just nothing that I thought in my living days I'd be witnessing," she said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon defended his country's decision to join other countries in imposing sanctions on Israeli ministers, saying his country "would not be backing down."

"We have a view that this is the right course of action for us," he said.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid