It doesn’t get much worse than this.
The government has got itself involved in an effort to build “strategic partnerships in agriculture” with Israel, assisted by the Israeli embassy.
The Chief Science Advisor to the Ministry of Primary Industries, John Roche, is scheduled to speak at this on-line event on 15/16 February, which has been organised by Agritech New Zealand.
This is an outrage!
Israel’s agriculture sector is based on ethnic cleansing, war crimes and human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.
Our government and our farmers (Federated Farmers are part of this) should be demanding Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their land instead of helping Israel profit from this stolen land.
Israel is a racist, apartheid state* and its agriculture sector is based on:
- Abuse of International law. (eg Illegal Jewish-only settlements built on occupied Palestinian land)
- War crimes (eg Illegal settlement building on occupied Palestinian land is a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court)
- Violation of United Nations Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. (eg UNGA 194, UNSC 242. UNSC 2334)
- Ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land and the blatant refusal to allow refugees to return to their land (UNGA 194)
- Frequent racist attacks by Israeli settlers, backed by the Israeli Defence Force, on Palestinian farmers (eg here, here, here and here
- Seizure of water supplies and blatant theft of water from Palestinian farmers. (eg here and here)
- Destruction of Palestinian crops and olive groves (eg here, here, and here)
- Instances of draining sewage onto Palestinian land and crops (eg here and here)
- Indiscriminate aerial spraying of Palestinian farmland along the border with Gaza. (eg here, here, here, and here)
This Agritech seminar is a celebration of ethnic cleansing, war crimes and human rights abuses.
Withdrawal is the only moral and ethical course for the government.
*Background on Israel as a racist, apartheid state
Early in 2021, B’Tselem, Israel’s largest and most respected human rights organisation, released a report calling Israel “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid”
In April 2021, the Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning US-based organisation Human Rights Watch released a 213-page report detailing how Israeli policies constitute crimes of apartheid and persecution.
The recently deceased Nobel Peace prize winner and South African Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, said international solidarity such as BDS is critical to ending injustices like apartheid.
“I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing in the Holy Land that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under apartheid,” says Tutu.
“We could not have achieved our democracy without the help of people around the world, who through… non-violent means, such as boycotts and disinvestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the apartheid regime”
Bishop Tutu says when it comes to Israel we should “Call it apartheid and boycott!”
It’s also worth recording here Tutu’s words that for anyone “to be silent in the face of oppression is to take the side of the oppressor”. Taking the side of the oppressor is precisely the position the Ministry of Primary Industries is taking with Israel through this event.
This speaks to the character of NZ government.
But this is how war works. USA threatens to got to war with Russia. USA beats Russia in the women’s world rugby sevens 36-12. Now where does N.Z. fit in the grand scheme of things again?
I think your post is in the wrong place. There is no reference whatsoever to my post at all, unless that is your point….
Never again! they cry as that stomp on Palestinians with their israeli made jackboots
Are those the same Palestinians who launched 3 wars of genocide against Israel? And lost? We know who do the stomping and wear the jackboots. Probably got them surplus from the Nazis they supported in WW2.
YAWWWN!
Second that!
Well both of you should do a Rip van Winkle. You won’t be missed with such puerile contributions.
Well you’d know all about puerile contributions. They’re your signature drek.
How to do it
The price of being a member of our Western Civilisation is to be part of having double standards over every moral issue and to also accept extreme levels of corruption and hypocrisy from our military/industrial leaders.
Why did the PLO reject Israel offer in 1998 for a link between Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with total control over 70% of the Temple Mount?
Answer: Stupidity
Would you buy a shit sandwich, especially when you know the bread wrapping will be stolen from you?
So why did the PLO reject Israel offer again?
So you would buy a shit sandwich! No wonder you can’t understand why the PLO didn’t.
Oh, do you mean those losers who have turned down their own state 8 times, having been continuously offered everything they were demanding?
Again, AOM why did the PLO reject offer, and before you use the shit sandwich reply, that is not a answer.
Sorry if a blunt assessment to the situation was too difficult for you to understand. The simple answer is that one party went to negotiate and in your words, only got an offer. there was no agreed resolution for the same reasons that Europe is now facing a catastrophic was facing over Ukraine – the intransigence of the most heavily armed and US supported party.
Of course, you will come back with the usual sorts of Israeli-centric responses, but for once could you please provide evidence to support any contentions you offer.
More twisted nonsense. The Palestinians have been offered everything they asked for and have refused to negotiate or recognise Israel. Their virulent racial and religious hatred started the conflict and their rejectionism prolongs it. And drop the old US support of Israel canard. They put an arms embargo on Israel for 19 years. The Israelis’ dazzling victory in 1967 was won with French and Czech weaponry.
AOM, the PLO did not come to negotiation…they stayed locked in their rooms until the summit was over…then ran to the media stating Israel did not talk to them…
That stupidity allowed Ariel Sharon to win the I
Israel election, and together with HAMAS/FATAH remove the PLO…shit sandwich indeed
This is as bad as South Africa 1980’s if not worse. We wouldn’t play footy with them but we are doing agricultural partnerships with this unspeakable regime. The Jews of all people should know better when it comes to genocide, boot…foot.
How can we put some pressure on our blind and ignorant politicians?
What genocide, moron? The Palestinian population has increased 7 fold since 1948. The Palestinians blatantly and openly proclaim that their aim is to destroy Israel and yet you accuse Israel of genocide! Empty slogans do not the truth make.
Uri Avnery –“Why does the peace offensive frighten the Israeli government?
If somebody had come to us on June 4, 1967, and told us that the entire Arab world was ready to make peace with us within the borders existing on that day, and that the Palestinian leadership, too, was prepared to declare an end to the historic conflict, we would have felt that the Messiah had come.
But on June 5, 1967, we started a war that changed everything. We were soon in control of the whole of Palestine and huge additional territories. We declared that we were holding them temporarily in order to trade them in, but, as is well known, appetite comes with eating. We started to annex territories (East Jerusalem with its surroundings and the Golan Heights), and to cover the West Bank with settlements.
In the eyes of the Israeli leadership, the peace initiative – any peace initiative – is nothing but an evil conspiracy of the peacemongers to rob us of these territories. It would compel us to put an end to the settlement enterprise – which has not stopped for a moment since 1968, and which is even now in full swing – and to dismantle the existing settlements.” https://electronicintifada.net/content/israeli-government-fears-peace-initiatives/6430
https://peacenews.info/node/3849/hamas-has-offered-peace
“One of the most powerful lies of the current Palestinian crisis is the claim that “there is no partner for peace” – and that Hamas in particular is an irreconcilable fundamentalist force of destruction. The reality, successfully suppressed throughout the British media, is that Hamas has long offered a long-term truce with Israel on the basis of the 1967 borders. ” …
…. “Instead, Israel – with full US and British backing – has repeatedly rejected such proposals out of hand. The Hamas peace offers undermine Israel’s plans for domination, and therefore they are a threat that must be erased. The Western press obliges with selective amnesia. While such realities are suppressed, there is little likelihood of a decent outcome to the present crisis.”
The Zionist regime is an apartheid one, but it is not like the old South African regime.
Zionism is settler colonialism, a much more cruel form of colonialism than the Boer regime was.
The intent has always been to rid the land of Palestinians..to steal their land, their water, and expel the people or make their lives so miserable that they go away.
As for what’s being done to the people of Gaza, that is genocidal.
And shame on our government for looking the other way..that is being complicit.
As fellow human beings we have a moral obligation to oppose the Zionist regime.
A good source of information on the situation is to look for articles, and interviews with the American-born , Israeli academic, anthropologist, activist Jeff Halper.
We should demand that our government heed the message of Dr Mazin Qumsiyuh
‘STAY HUMAN”
ps We’ve met both Jeff and Mazin. Good men!
Ethnic cleansing, genocide, war crimes, human rights abuses, apartheid….you’re describing the Palestinians superbly.
You really should refrain from comment, you daft woman and stop embarrassing yourself. Our Gov’t has always ignored you, same as Minto.
When people resort to name calling and unfounded assumptions, it is obvious they have run out of excuses for abhorrent behaviour such as Israel’s ethnic cleansing, genocide, war crimes, human rights abuses and apartheid.
gabys sexist as well as racist ,,,
and no one is surprised.
back on topic ,,,,
Israel Greenwashes Ethnic Cleansing With Ali Abunimah & Ariel Gold https://youtu.be/hHJjmmYc6TI?t=4360
Lois please explain how Boer SA was not ‘settler colonialism’ ,I’m genuinely fascinated to hear the difference.
virtue signaling doesn’t scare the zionists (they are not the totality of jews but a large-too large faction)
the other arab countries could have helped greatly by taking in refugees 60/50/4030/20/10 (take your pick) yrs ago but preferred a suppurating running sore in isreals side in the poverty stricken and increasingly crowded camps….the other arab countries I’m thinking saudi would rather fund terrorists worldwide than help refugees..any taken in would now be fully assimilated in their societies…butttt nooooo.
Settler colonialism is the intent
to totally replace the indigenous ..to disappear them…even erase evidence that they ever existed,,rename locations, destroy villages… That is the Zionist agenda ..it continues today.
The Boer regime was cruel but not like that!
If you really want more explanation, read Jeff Halper.
“The Jews of all people should know better when it comes to genocide, boot…foot.”
I think you mean the Israelis- your sort of vitriol results in Jews being attacked all over the world- life expectancy in Gaza is very high by the way, and human rights via the Hamas dictatorship very low.
Well said, Leigh. It’s useful idiots like Griffiths, Minto and Bravery who help to prolong the conflict and ultimately do the so-called Palestinians a great disservice.
who help to prolong the conflict
??????
Can someone translate that??
(It doesn’t compute)
Agreed, all Jews should not be held responsible for the actions of the Kahanists that control the Israeli administration.
Now to your second point. It is disingenuous to spray comments around without context. Please provide the relative life expectancies of Israelis and Palestinians – both are said to live in a democracy and therefore have equal access to all resources and goods and services.
Control the Israeli admin??? Don’t know much do you? Kahanists were banned for years and are not represented in the Coalition (Arabs are though) and are no different from any other proactive nationalist group. Your problem, aom, is that like all your ilk you find the whole idea of strong, assertive Jews anathema. You prefer them to be submissive victims. Not anymore boyo!
The Kahanists were banned but their philosophy sure as hell permeates much of the Israeli government ranks as you well know.
As for the rest of your comment – just the usual mindless twaddle.
Some of us are waiting to see the response (with substantiated evidence) to your comment below. Please don’t waste people’s time by doing your usual trick of presenting one person’s opinion piece as unimpeachable truth or derail the debate with unassociated propagandist drivel.
Great news! The Ben and Jerry boycott of Israel has so far cost Unilever $26B. The EU is quietly defunding the NGOs that Israel designated as terrorist supporters and a prominent Saudi paper has stated it’s time to stop supporting the Palestinians. Hat trick!
Well, you might have read about Ben and Jerry’s but obviously you didn’t understand what you read. Unfortunately, The Times of Israel doesn’t support your claim. It was the parent company, Unilever, worth around 26 Billion Euros that had a drop in profit .Ben and Jerry’s is only a small subsidiary that sure as hell didn’t lose $26B, it is only worth $39.3 million.
Is this (https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2021-005625_EN.html) the defunding you claim? Big deal! Only one organisation has been defunded and Oxfam has been told to stop funding until the situation has been clarified. Of course, you may have more recent information if Israel has recently provided the required evidence, in which case, you should present proof.
Instead of quoting opinion pieces it would make sense to do some homework: https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/05/19/Saudi-Arabia-reaffirms-commitment-to-Palestinian-state-with-East-Jerusalem-as-capital
Of course, by now your tactics are very well understood by TDB regulars so you won’t have won any converts.
Splitting hairs there again aom. Israel’s international relations are flourishing. Get over it.
So you are happy to be called out for providing deliberately misleading information in your comments?
Splitting hairs applies when there are minor differences, not when blatantly dishonest statements are made. There are a few choice names for that.
Piffle.You alone have the erroneous end of the stick
Actually, struck me how deliciously ironic the accompanying graphic is: the caption sums up the Palestinians beautifully and the little damp sqib BDSer is spot on. He is never going to take down the Jewish Goliath because he’s wearing an excellent quality IDF helmet…the helmet of righteousness.
Eek! “Precision Farming” ie: taking the humanity out of farming, this is scary shit, is this what you want, farmers? A hackable farm?
In light of the relatively human concepts of re-wilding, re-generation and natural animal-husbandry this is as scary as a ute tax:
‘Precision Farming Ltd provides farmers throughout New Zealand with an advanced electronic farm management platform to improve farm productivity and profitability. Key to the benefits we deliver to farmers in their ability to aggregate, analyse, decide and delegate from their own centralised database – rather than having to work with many suppliers’ databases that deliver data relevant to each supplier. Precision Farming’s system is not like simple recording systems where farmers can merely record what they already knew or store records they already had. The Precision Farming platform is an information system that gathers real time data from sensors, GPS units & devices in tractors & trucks and spreaders and sprayers, irrigators, effluent systems, and health & safety systems. This information is presented any any smart device not only to make informed decisions, but also to implement those decisions by sending orders to contractors, instructions to staff or signals to electronic controls.
Precision Farming is an exclusive technology partner to Ballance Agri-Nutrients’ MyBallance farm management system for nutrient, compliance and sustainability across their 19,000 shareholder-customers, because we provide their farmer-shareholders with 360º information on their farm. Nutrient information is important, but not the only information that is important, so Precision contextualises Ballance data. Precision Farming processes all MyBallance outbound orders for commercial spreading throughout New Zealand.’
Holocaust Memorial Day…January 27th. Yet we still have those like aom, Minto, Griffiths, Bravery and more stoking the fires of antisemitism, supporting and apologising for the new Nazis and begrudging the Jews a tiny sanctuary that would fit into NZ 13 times. Nothing learned.
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