The Israeli foreign ministry on Sunday rejected as "ludicrous" suggestions that Israel and the United States were using economic pressure to force fiscally strapped Greece into preventing boats from participating in an international flotilla to the Gaza Strip.

"Do these people have any proof whatsoever to such claims?" asked Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. "Their entire activity is aimed at demonizing the state of Israel. What are they saying, that we have used all the Jewish bankers in the world to cancel Greece's bonds? What kind of fantasy world are they living in?"

Organizers of one boat planning to join the flotilla, the U.S.-registered Audacity of Hope, released a statement Sunday asking the Greek government to explain why the leased vessel was being prevented from leaving a Greek port.