Israel’s new leadership demands the Aotearoa New Zealand government reassess its policy towards the Middle East
The swearing in of the extremist leadership in Israel demands the Aotearoa New Zealand government reassess its policy towards the Middle East.
New Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared his top priority is to build more illegal Jewish-only settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
This policy declares the leadership’s intention to
“advance and develop settlement in all parts of the land of Israel – in the Galilee, Negev, Golan Heights, and Judea and Samaria”. (These are the Biblical names for the occupied Palestinian West Bank)
New Zealand has bi-partisan support for UN Security Council resolution 2334 of 2016 which was promoted by the former John Key National government. It declares Israeli settlements on Palestinian land as “a flagrant violation under international law” and says all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, must “immediately and completely cease.”
“With the announcement of its intention to escalate these flagrant violations of international law, Israel is giving us the middle finger” says PSNA National Chair John Minto.
“If our support for international law and United Nations resolutions is to have real meaning, then our government must urgently reassess its relationship with Israel”.
The new Israeli leadership includes several extreme racists and supporters of anti-Palestinian terrorism such as Itamar Ben Gvir as Minister of National Security. Ben-Gvir has expressed support and admiration for Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish Israeli man who killed 29 Palestinians in a shooting at Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque in 1994. Just a few weeks before his swearing in as Minister of National Security Ben-Gvir described as a hero an Israeli soldier who shot to death a young Palestinian at point blank range – widely described as an assassination.
We have had our own deadly terrorist attack on a mosque in Christchurch in which 51 New Zealanders (including six Palestinian New Zealanders) were killed. Why would we have relations with a government whose senior leadership includes Ben-Gvir who for many years had a picture of the terrorist Goldstein on his living room wall?
Alongside Palestinian groups, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israel’s largest and most respected human rights group, B’Tselem, have all declared Israel to be an apartheid state.
“Because the new Israeli leadership has declared its intention to accelerate its apartheid policies against Palestinians, we should suspend our relationship with Israel and finally recognise a Palestinian state” says John Minto.
And despite everything being 100% past untenable NZ’s and for that matter, the UN’s response will be nothing and next to nothing.
We can get all active about rights for the disabled, transgender, Maori etc etc but we dont care enough about people being genuinely and totally dispossessed of their entire country to even condemn it.
Maybe there isnt anything we can do but as you pointed out, even Shon Key managed to be unequivocal.
Sorry Gabi, I’m with John, how can any govt and indeed its citizens support genocide by a fascist regime for their own gain. It beggars belief how horrendous human beings can be.
Sorry gaby, I’m with John. How can any govt or its society condone and indeed support genocide to further their fascist, master race, motives.
Sod ’em!
Barring the unlikely withdrawal of US Imperialist military aid for Israel, there is just one thing above all that does seem to grind this filthy bunch’s gears–BDS–“Boycottt, Divest & Sanction” so lets keep it up. BDS is at least one thing that ordinary NZers can do to support the Palestinians.
Trash the SodaStream, check where that jar of Olives or Tahini comes from etc. We need to run a sticker campaign on all Israeli products and run a political campaign to make sure UN Resolutions on Palestine are followed.
The PSNA has run just a campaign like that. They approached every Mitre 10 about Sodastream, unfortunately all Mitre 10s have to run with some products and this is just one of them.
Get involved if your not already, it takes people to organise these things.