A letter from the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA), written to Minister of Agriculture, Damien O’Connor, as well as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nanaia Mahuta, has been published in a Press Release, urging the Government to pull out of a forthcoming on-line AgriTech seminar with the Israeli agriculture sector.
In support of PSNA’s appeal, we have sent both Ministers the following Open Email:
Dear Nanaia Mahuta and Damien O’Connor,
With regard to the “coming together” of New Zealand and Israel at the forthcoming AgriTech online summit:
The international community has passed hundreds of resolutions in the UN Security Council, General Assembly and Human Rights Council, calling on Israel not to annex Palestinian land and not to impose any of the 300 illegal settlements it has in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Palestinian agriculture is ravaged by land-theft and sabotage, committed by both Israeli forces and illegally-imposed settlers. Boycotting Israel, as exemplified by BDS, is civil society’s way of supporting human rights and international law – setting an example to governments and world leaders.
In a recent interview, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Michael Lynk, reminded the world that there will be no end to Israel’s Palestinian human rights violations until it is held fully accountable for them. He observed “annexation has been illegal in international law, since the end of the Second World War. The international community recognised with the founding of the United Nations in 1945 that countries are not allowed to have acquisitive ambitions beyond their own borders, either in forms of colonialism or in forms of trying to expand their borders.” The 2010 amendments in the Rome Statute on the International Criminal Court hold annexation to be a crime of aggression.
Israel‘s leaders must be made to understand that, if they fail to put an immediate end to their human rights violations, they will be forced to face exclusion from international trade, cultural and investment associations. Sadly, world powers such as the United States, continue to aid Israel.
Where do you both stand on these crucial issues? Does your Government unequivocally support human rights and international law? Or does it place greater emphasis on trade and solidarity with our ‘traditional allies’? Collaboration is complicity.
Sincerely,
Leslie and Marian Bravery
Auckland
YES this…. “Or does it place greater emphasis on trade and solidarity with our ‘traditional allies’?”
NZ is a trading nation!
The slave trade is trading ,,,
Weapons , drugs and people trafficking are all markets you could ‘trade in’.
When it comes to trading ‘I’m right’ is morally bankrupt.
Unsurprisingly, it seems either you have misinterpreted the sentence you botched in quoting or assume the writer was solely referring to Israel as a trading partner. It pays to read what is written rather than make stuff up to suit your point of view.
Anyway, what do you expect Israel to trade, when the purpose of the AgriTech seminar is to access well established NZ intellectual property to grow trees all over stolen land where there is a dearth of water? NZ needs neither military stuff that has been tested on human guinea pigs nor high level spy and surveillance systems for population control. What else is on offer?
Every nation is a “trading nation” you moron… The total absence of any real thought highlighted by your comment is actually a worry. Especially as the level of political discourse in this country has plummeted to the depths of self interest, and mindless bigotry.. Comment like this will no doubt find fertile ground with those who chose to use lumps of cow turds to think with rather than the brains we used to use… Week by week, I find myself becoming more, and more ashamed to be a kiwi, thanks to this sort of shallow drivel passing for a debating point… Damn!!, even the Aussies are sounding smarter then kiwis right now. Give that a few seconds thought, assuming that isn’t too much like hard work for you… .
Didn’t Whaleoil go to Israel? There must be money there if the Dark Side want to mix with them. Is Labour going to be attracted to the Dark Side too? Perhaps NZ could offer Israelis help with restoring some Palestinian animal and farm resources that have been unfortunately decimated by fighting instead of talking and reasonable agreements.
It makes you woner how much zionist money is mucking with our politicians and governments ,,,, https://youtu.be/U1bQzcx9iBE?list=LL&t=70
https://youtu.be/hHJjmmYc6TI?list=TLPQMzAwMTIwMjLiIkWiGqA4yw&t=3084
https://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-arming-neo-nazis-ukraine/24876
isreal should be worried about the sudden and unique ‘jew love’ from fundamentalist fascists, that support is predicated on isreal achieving it’s ‘biblical borders’, whatever the fuck that means, then poof ‘the rapture’ and all good xtians going to heaven whilst the jews go to the fiery furnace- no place for ‘christ killers’ in evangelical heaven..so yup yank nutbar support bit of a 2 edged sword, let’s hope ‘the rapture’ doesn’t involve the nukes isreal hasn’t got..hemm hemm.
Say no to alliance with land-theft and agricultural sabotage!
Phew! I thought you were referring to 3 Waters for a moment. LOL
The Minto mob have really got their knickers in a knot over this one. I hope the Conference will be fruitful and productive. Incidentally, the Charters of Hamas and the PA don’t even mention land…the focus is on murdering Jews.
gabys pants are on fire … :0
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/sep/21/hamas-al-qaida
“The two are radically different – the position of the democratically elected Hamas is about land, not religion, creed or race”
the Hamas leader Khaled Meshal — “clearly stated that the Palestinian struggle was anything but a conflict between Muslims and the Jewish people. He insisted that the Palestinians were fighting against the occupier who had dispossessed them of their homes and lands, regardless of religion, creed or race.”…
… “This mirrors Ismail Haniyeh’s response, after he became prime minister in 2006” …..
… “This comes after Meshal had himself publicly rejected any attack committed anywhere in the world which exploited the premise of the Palestinian struggle.
His comments on democracy were equally enlightening. He explained that since the Palestinian people included the entire political, religious and ideological spectrums, Hamas would abide by the outcome of their vote, respect the rights of different faiths and political views, and refrain from imposing Islamic law against the wishes of the people. ” …..
… This position has been condemned by al-Qaida and the leading Salafi-jihadi theologian Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi who stated that they and Hamas shared “neither ideology nor doctrine”
Israel supports and fights for/with al-Qaida and ISIS, in Syria and against Hamas in Gaza,,,, https://youtu.be/yiVb7_CVD9o?t=330 ……. and you will never hear gaby or other Zionist supporters ( hi Anne ), condemn this.
Once more ,,, Hamas has been condemned by al-Qaida and the leading Salafi-jihadi theologian Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi who stated that they and Hamas shared “neither ideology nor doctrine”
reason, wasn’t hamas position ‘we will drive the jews into the see’ or as the PR company they employ told them such slogans are ‘bad optics’?
hi gagarin — the question of yours is covered/responded to in the guardian link above….
Also I expect being democratically elected to Govern has made the political wing of Hamas more pragmatic and realistic….
This progress is to be welcomed, but Israel has a long history of Assassinating moderates when peace threatens …
https://imeu.org/article/israels-history-of-assassinating-palestinian-leaders
“2012 – On November 14, two days after Palestinian factions in Gaza agree to a truce following several days of violence, Israel assassinates the leader of Hamas’ military wing, Ahmed Jabari, ” ,,,, “Although Israeli officials know that Jabari is in the process of finalizing a long-term truce, and that he is one of the few people in Gaza who can enforce it, they kill him anyway, marking the start of a week-long assault on Gaza that kills more than 100 Palestinian civilians, including at least 33 children, and wounds more than 1000 others. ”
“2004 – On April 17, Israel assassinates Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a co-founder of Hamas and its leader since the assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin a month earlier. Rantisi is considered a moderate within Hamas. ”
“2002 – On July 23, hours before a widely reported ceasefire declared by Hamas and other Palestinian groups is scheduled to come into effect, Israel bombs an apartment building in the middle of the night in the densely populated Gaza Strip in order to assassinate Hamas leader Salah Shehada. Fourteen civilians, including nine children, are also killed in the attack, and 50 others wounded, leading to a scuttling of the ceasefire and a continuation of violence. ”
“2002 – On January 14, Israel assassinates Raed Karmi, a militant leader in the Fatah party, following a ceasefire agreed to by all Palestinian militant groups the previous month, leading to its cancellation. ”
etc etc etc https://imeu.org/article/israels-history-of-assassinating-palestinian-leaders
Bravery’s anti-Semitic moral blindness ignores the countries that Jews have been expelled from. Wikipedia incompletely lists them under ‘Expulsions and exoduses of Jews’. Only one country could be guaranteed to give them a home – Israel – and there are no Jewish refugees today.
In contrast, Arabs (indigenous to the Arabian Peninsula, not present-day Israel) left under orders of their leadership, to return once surrounding Arab states defeated Israel. They lost and Israel closed its borders. Those Arabs who remained became Israeli citizens. Arab countries refused to take in the Arabs who left Israel, despite having the same language, religion and culture. Arabs states made them stateless refugees, not Israel, and used them to successfully manipulate gullible Westerners into increasing their anti-Semitism, to vilify Israel, and to enhance Islam by giving the ‘refugees’ the status of ‘victimhood’.
Right on. And the bottom line is that Bravery and ilk Indulge their disgusting antisemitism by supporting racist intolerant murderous Islamic terrorists.
As opposed to your Zionist racial extremism and support of murderous IDF terrorism eh?
In the words of an regular contributor on another topic on TDB says, “Please, please, please reassure me such an abysmal distortion of history was not learned under the aegis of the New Zealand education system. Such a decline of our once world-renowned pedagogy would simply be too much to bear.”
Not sure where she was educated but her interpretations of history are “Interesting” and often almost as distorted as yours.
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