Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer are demanding that the New Zealand Government expel the Israeli ambassador if Israel does not immediately implement a ceasefire and open safe humanitarian aid corridors for Gaza.
“We condemn Hamas for murdering civilians and taking civilian hostages. We also condemn the retaliatory actions of the Israeli government. The indiscriminate bombing of Gaza by, destroying hospitals and civilian apartment buildings, is unconscionable,” said Rawiri Waititi.
“Targeting civilians is a breach of international law, as is collective punishment – there can be no justification for blocking civilian access to water, power and humanitarian aid.
“Hamas must immediately release hostages and work towards peace. Israel must end their violent onslaught in Gaza and allow international aid groups to help the Palestinian people. If they do not do so immediately, then Aotearoa should expel their ambassador,” said Mr Waititi.
“Western countries are wilfully in denial about the long term aggression by Israel against Palestine. They have instituted an apartheid regime and have blockaded Gaza by land, air and sea,” said Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
“The genocidal rhetoric of Israeli ministers and officials is well documented. Their attempts to dehumanise the indigenous peoples of Palestine must be resisted.
“Israel’s colonial occupation of Palestinian lands, engineered by the British Empire, has led to decades of pain, suffering and bloodshed. The international community must exert pressure to end the occupation, the blockade, and the continued confiscation of Palestinian land.
“We must acknowledge the atrocity of colonisation and the intergenerational trauma and extremism it produces. We must continue to fight for peace and justice for all indigenous peoples who continue to suffer from violent colonisation and imperialism,” said Mrs Ngarewa-Packer.
Isrealis are scared, they’ve mobilised 350k reservists who’ve done 2 years. The isresli army isn’t that great. Some units are good, some special forces and technical units are good but the main forces the Infantry and tank Battalions aren’t that great cause they become even less good by being pulled back from conventional military duties into policing duties and I think NZDF planners should ease up on there constabulary duties at home. Point is most isreali reservists spent there time learning how to break the arms of ten year old children and how to rough up 15 year old girls and how to belly shoot 60 year old men. That’s what isreal has done. It’s the brutal occupation that has created hamas let’s not get it twisted. Hamas is not going to heel. Neither will they recognise the state of isreal. The possibility of peace after a hundred years of brutal occupation is so far away hamas has to be eliminated and move the settlements right back.
Expelling the Israeli ambassador is the best way to voice an opposition to the genocidal apartheid regime which has been ignored and downplayed for far too long.