Back in late 2006 Israeli General Moshe Ya’alon planned to come to New Zealand to speak with local Zionists.
When news filtered out about his impending visit human rights lawyers got to work and quietly approached the Auckland District Court to issue a warrant for Ya’alon’s arrest. He had been Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Force from 2002 to 2005 and under his command extensive human rights violations and war crimes were committed against the Palestinian population of Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The application sought his arrest on suspicion of grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949, which is a criminal offence in New Zealand under the Geneva Conventions Act 1958 and International Crimes and International Criminal Court Act 2000.
For example the evidence included how Ya’alon had authorised the dropping of a one ton bomb on a house in a densely packed suburb of Gaza with the aim of assassinating a suspected Hamas leader. More than 15 Palestinian civilians were killed in the attack which could only be described as a massacre.
The application was heard by Judge Avinash Deobhakta and suppression orders prevented publication while the court took a weekend to consider the issue and read through a substantial volume of material supporting the application.
On the Monday morning when the court resumed the Judge declared there was a prima facie case against Ya’alon and “good and sufficient reasons” to issue the arrest warrant. The suppression orders were maintained to allow the police to arrest Ya’alon without giving him time to evade arrest as is typical with war criminals.
However the police sought advice from Labour’s Attorney General and Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen who immediately sighed papers to stay the proceedings against Ya’alon. The suspected Israeli war criminal was allowed to continue his visit untroubled by his bloody past.
Fast forward to 2014 and Israel launched a murderous, genocidal campaign against the Palestinian population of Gaza resulting in over 1800 Palestinian deaths – mostly civilians and many children.
And who is the senior Israeli overseeing this campaign? None other than the same Moshe Ya’alon who is now Israeli Defence Minister.
Labour has never been strong when it comes to support for the Palestinian struggle. Even after the latest wholesale massacres the party has aligned itself squarely behind the obsequious Murray McCully – as close to National on policy towards Palestinians as it is on economic policy towards New Zealanders.
The Israeli leadership are pleased with Labour and Israeli Ambassador Yosef Livne met with Labour Foreign Affairs spokesperson David Shearer at the height of the latest Israeli brutality. Unbelievable.
The Mana Movement and Green Party have taken a much more principled position in calling for the Israeli Embassy to be closed and the ambassador sent packing.
The most important lesson here is that if you let a war criminal like Ya’alon go free they will do the same thing again and again… and so the brutal oppression of Palestinians continues…
Labour has many amends to make to the Palestinians of Gaza.
Why is labour so supportive of the Israeli attack on Gaza, would Mickey Savage have supported Israel attacking the Palestinians and killing so many innocent civilians. Can someone from Labour please explain I’m perplexed.
Mickysavage AKA Greg Presland explains Labour and National’s joint position.
http://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-03082014/#comment-859640
Why is it that Labour and National’s joint positions are so much more diabolical than anything supported by just one of the two?
I remember George Monbiot launching a similar plan in the UK to arrest Tony B(liar) as a war criminal. Unfortunately that also seems to died a death, despite a reward being offered for anyone serving the pompous prat with an arrest warrant.
Labour soft on war crime.
selectively soft
Arresting an Israeli general on a speaking tour? Yep, a very realistic idea. Don’t see how that could backfire in any way whats so ever.
I think Mana should rule out ever giving support to the party and directly aided and abetted this war criminal and gave him effectively a thumbs up and a free pass to continue the genocide. Imagine the statement that would make for Palestine.
After all the brutal atrocities committed by the Israeli government on an imprisoned population, how anyone on the Left could vote for a party that wants to keep diplomatic and trade links with such a murderous Right Wing regime? Especially when there are two good Left Parties, Greens and Mana to choose from?
First we have a fight here to change the government. Because if you dont get labour across the line, then the Greens and Mana will stay in opposition, and the corrupt insidious John key regime will continue to abuse and marginalize NZers and sell off what remains of New Zealand to their foreign offshore interests. Pressure can always be mounted for a stronger stance against Israel after NZ gets rid of its own right wing tyrant, otherwise nothing will change, will it? it will only get worse.
Word! 😉
I am a Labour Party member and supporter. I don’t think their policy on Palestine is good enough.
I will email the party and strongly advocate for them to change it.
Shearer’s stance is particularly disappointing as he of all people should be leading the opposition to Israeli occupation and slaughter.
He hides behind a wish for ‘nuance’, forgetting that Israel doesn’t do nuance when it comes to massacring Palestinians.
Disgraceful John. I agree with every word you wrote.
In case John Minto did not notice: there is a war being fought between the dark barbarian forces of Muslim extremism and terrorism and, on the other side, civilised way of life. Israel is on the forefront of this war, fighting it for all of us so that we, our children, grandchildren, etc. have a chance to live in a civilised democratic world, rather than in a backwards cruel and feral world of shariat, where the value of human life is nothing. While Israel is using its rockets to protect its chidrent, Hamas is using children and women to protect its rockets.
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