A game of two halves

By
Malcolm Evans
-
16
1261

With the same shared history of tests behind them and after weeks of build-up, finally the big day came.  Close-up cameras caught the players’ emotions as national anthems were played, each including indigenous-language stanzas honouring their country’s cultural diversity. Then, with national flags flying and patriotic fans roaring their support, after the Haka – our affirmation of our multicultural “oneness”, the referee’s whistle started the game.

Captured either at home or any of the many public venues our anguished reactions to the game’s swinging fortunes and final heart-breaking conclusion will play on our TV scenes for days. And all of it will be repeated in our newspapers, as reporters and photographers, reinforced by the off-the-couch fans, rake over the ashes.

At clubs and pubs and at work every aspect of the test will be tested. The referee’s rulings will be debated along with that of the part played by his TMO colleagues trawling for infringements. But after a while, true to the tenets of the principles we espouse, we’ll say it was a game played in a good spirit, fairly refereed, and that the winner won. 

But alongside the world cup’s weeks’ long build up, another game has been taking place. That’s the game played when, in clear contradiction of all the high-minded principles and cultural diversity we cheered at the world cup, we support Zionism’s total rejection of those principles when it comes to Palestinians.

As we sing our national anthem, proclaim our patriotism and our support for a “rules-based world order”, in which freedom and the rights of all to live a full and happy life are cornerstones, yet we barrack for Zionists committing genocide to stop Palestinians ever scoring those points.  

In contradiction of our “declared shared values” we support Zionism’s denial of them to Palestinians. Pinned at the bottom of a collapsed maul of world cup distraction, news of the many thousands, including many Jews, who in recent days have filled our city and town centres protesting the evils of Zionism, is kept from us.

Not one of our reporters will debate the rules being broken in Zionism’s genocidal game.  And not one of them will question our politicians, the supposed TMOs of our humanity, turning a blind eye to the savagery they see before them on their screens. There will be no trawling for incidents of Zionism’s foul play in Gaza, no red cards, no yellow cards and no certainly no “players” sent from the field, unless they are dead Palestinian men women and children.

Truly a game of two halves in which Zionism, backed by an endless “bomb squad” of the heaviest most lethal replacements, is allowed to break every rule while Palestinians are denied head injury assessments, the blood bin, medical attention or even a waterboy. Unless we test our humanity and instead continue paying lip-service to our principles, the future for Palestinians is All Black.  

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But then, as part of its bought-and-paid-for pro-Zionism game, the media have shifted the goalposts and blown the whistle on such thoughts ever chalking the field.



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16 COMMENTS

  1. Ahh Mr Evans – you remind me of Mr Barnes – calling foul play on Shanon Frizzel where no rule had been broken whilst seemingly oblivious to Fav de Clerk’s delayed scrum feed at the finish. A somewhat one-sided affair altogether.

  2. I think it might a bit simpler than that M. They msm might be too scared to even touch on the subject. You know how fickle they already are. If there isn’t a woke social justice angle or a man/woman angle or some pretend victimhood angle that is only about and from a ‘certain’ unocorn generations perspective. The msm won’t touch it. It also might have something to do with ESG. Larry Fink has declared there is no more money to be made from forcing boards and executives to come up with woke policy for their prospective companies anymore because it’s damaging their brands. Thank fuck for that.

  3. You are totally correct although my thought is that the Gaze case along with the overall Palestinian situation is pure greed on the part of Israel & those who profit from the current situation. While there was widespread coverage of the results of the Hamas attack (not all true) there seems to be virtually no coverage of the extreme suffering bu the Palestine people both now & before this event.

  5. The Palestinians see bare knuckle survival, the Israeli’s see profitable opportunities, while Biden, the president of the U$A admits he’s a Zionist. I don’t know about you but I’m wrapping myself in tinfoil and standing on top of a hill with my thumb out for any passing ufo. Anal probings seems like a small price to pay to escape this shit. No pun intended. Russell Brand has well researched info re the usa military industrial complex.
    BTW? Is all this reminiscent of the 9/11 script? I know I’m paranoid but one must ask the question.

  6. Thanks Malcolm, excellent piece. The first 15 minutes on Sat night TVNZ news was devoted to that bloody game – something I have never liked I call it Thugby. Nowhere was the news that 20,000 people got out on the streets for Palestine and Gaza in particular. They mentioned two protests Auckland and Wellington and left out the other 8 centres.

    • There were 500k that marched in London and Dublin there were tens of thousands even in France where they weren’t allowed to display Palestinian flags. Rugby is part of our country nationalistic feature and I hate the game good job ABs now I hope we can concentrate on more important shit like the cost of living, rising rents etc…

      • I am guessing that a lot of those that marched in Europe were Muslims themselves who would also march in support of Isis given half a chance and in no way surprised that you have a problem with rugby / the All Blacks Stephen (no good as a kid – blame the game) . .

    • “I call it Thugby” – A lame comment and to be honest not even close to being ‘as clever’ as I imagine you think it is.

  8. The British are responsible for planting zionism a political ideology into the cradles of the Arab world firstly to control their trade route to India the jewel in the british crown (Suez canal) than to split the region into manageable regimes by making multiple promises than renarg on their BS. This was a colonial project that was thought out in the late 19th century into the 20th Century.

    If anyone believes that european jews ancestral homelands is in Palestine than they need to stop taking their meds. The Jews have been a pawn in this geo-strategic hussle mainly perpetrated by christian zionist that held very strong anti-Semitic beliefs.

  10. Israels UN ambassador has called for the UN to be de-funded because
    “Every honest country should de-fund the UN until the bias stops, until the antisemitism stops. We can no longer continue business as usual. The UN is structurally flawed because one – third of it’s member states are Muslim country’s”
    The Hasbara and Chutzpah of Israel must be and should be challenged at every turn to expose the moral corruptness and blatant War crimes against Palestinians. Israel is continuing to try to cancel Arab voices based on dishonest and spurious claims often based on no facts.
    If we are to believe as Israel claims that the UN is “structurally flawed” because 1 in 3 Members are Muslim, what must we believe then that the Piss weak UN controlled by 2 out of 3 NON Muslim members who then Veto UN resolutions calling for a cease fire are?

  11. To be old fashioned, I’ll be honest, and admit that I’ve not yet seen this documentary but from the shorts it does look heart breaking. Netflix. ‘Born in Gaza’. A Spanish documentary which by and of itself also seems interesting.
    I’ve watched and read a lot of material, i.e. pictures and words, on Palestine and Israel and one thing stands out more than any other thing. There’s a fuck of a lot of money to be made for the U$A military industrial complex using the logical fallacy that there’s somehow this warfare raging between Palestine/Gaza and Israel.
    Well, there may well be but what’s inarguably a fact is that there’s also a lot, and I mean a lot of money to be made there too. It shouldn’t be glossed over by the all bought and well lobbied MSM here that America’s top 5 weapons contractors made $196B in 2022 https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/08/07/americas-top-5-weapons-contractors-made-196b-in-2022/
    I mean, these guys are knowingly killing kids, dads, mums, their pets their families then banking the money. While I’m no God bother’er, is there anything at all that’s more evil than that? My farts are up there so I’m told but in all seriousness…
    What we could do is find out who those companies are and selectively starve them to death. Here we go!
    General Dynamics. Northrop-Grumman. Daniel Defense. Lockheed-Martin. Boeing. The list goes on. Find out what their less aggressive perhaps and more domestic companies are then don’t give them your money! I wonder where the money you pay those four now foreign owned banks goes to return them such ‘good coin’ ? I wonder where our the 14 billionaires have OUR dollars invested?

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